Fluevog Time!

Severo and I had a mini date to Abbot Kinney and the Fluevog Store to try on some shoes and get entered in the Win 10 Years of Free Shoes contest. (See more about that here, on Fluevog).
By the way, this is not a sponsored post. I just adore Fluevogs.

The Tiger print display. Sigh.

I happen to have art that I created in the '80s while a freshman at Otis available on Society6 that coordinates so nicely with that tiger print:

Society6 link for tote

We'll get back to the Tiger stuff.

First, I tried on the X and O print Receptive
Yeah, cute:

Cute, but not an "I must have these now" situation.
Plus not the correct size.

Next up was Cleo. Cleo I could not get over my high instep. No photo.

Then I took off my socks and tried Dede.
I coerced Severo into trying on Chalky for the photo op possibilities.
Plus if he wins the contest, he'll buy me shoes!

Stylin' but WAY too painful for both of us.
The gals in the store had a good laugh at Severo's loud groaning over the pain.
"Now you know what we go through ALL THE TIME!"

My Wishlist and Scorecard:

I didn't try everything because the poor Fluevogists have to run upstairs to get the pairs.
The store is tiny.

Then, on a whim, I tried Sugarsnap:

They are SO CUTE! I am in love!
Why oh why are they on Mini heels?
Why can't they be on the lower Enneagram heels?
I will be obsessing over these for a while.

They have entered my Wishlist, despite the heel height.

And, speaking of Fluevogs, I'm almost finished with an A-Z blogging challenge of Fluevog Art. (Third year).
Mosey on over to Pattern Recognition and take a looksee.
Or check the #fluevogpattern hashtag on Instagram.

Linking with
Patti's Visible Monday
Cherie's Shoe and Tell
Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike
Shelbee's On the Edge of the Week

Clogged, In a Good Way

I went to a clog close-out sale today, at the Santa Monica Airport Flea.
Here is how most of my collection (I left out a few exotics) looked at dawn:

I took this for reference in case I needed to remember what I already owned.

It was bright yet chilly, so I piled on accessories

Mismatched hat with mock braids. It's warm.
I wore extra thick socks -- to avoid buying "Torture Clogs".

Once at the flea, I made a beeline to Zingara, who was having a fabulous sale --
Sven wooden soled clogs at $49/pair vs $100+

Aren't those saddle shoe baby clogs adorable? Want!

Zingara used to have a shop on Abbot Kinney, before it became an overpriced, overhyped international shopping destination.
I did a post about the shop (and Abbot Kinney) here.
Phase two she moved to a "container shop" in the West Adams district. (I never got there).
Now, for Phase three, she's going in a new (undisclosed) direction, without her inventory.

I bought two pairs.

Bronze backless . Brown backless 2-tone suede.
Not to worry, I DID buy pairs!
The mismatched socks came that way -- I bought them at a cute country store in Vermont.

My collection grows!

Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday
Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike
and Cherie's Shoe and Tell

Happy clogging!

Is It Wrong To Match Your Shoes To Your Dress?

I say no!

I'm a titch disappointed that Redbubble printed the sandal graphic on shiny fabric (I don't think my other Fluevog Dress is shiny but I forgot to check this morning). Every lump and bump shows -- I guess I should be thankful that I sized up to 2X. Sigh -- I need more undergarments -- a slip would smooth things out a bit.

The dress, and MANY other Fluevog Sandal Clog items (for which I get a commission), are available here.

See better, up close photos of the sandals here.

Linking up with

Patti's Visible Monday

Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike

Cherie's Shoe and Tell
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness

Fierce 50 Fun In the June Gloom

It was fun despite the lack of sun. 

Day after simulation of my attire, including the hat and goodie bag c/o Chico's.
The "Matadors" muumuu has a good back story that I told in this old post.

About 30 women from the Fierce 50 Facebook group convened under the Hermosa Pier on Saturday.

There was a drone, and lots of InstaHusbands taking photos.

We didn't let the gloomy marine layer get us down.

Can you tell we all got into the 4th of July spirit with our red, white, and blue attire?

Rena's and my red toes in the cold, cold sand

What came in the goodie bag?

"Hello Beautiful" pouch with Madison Reed hair care samples

Arctic Cool cooling towel -- so awesome!

Mom Energy, by Ashley Koff and Kathy Kaehler

Dermalogica lip treatment -- LOVE!

Belt from Manna Dabholkar [hidden]

Lylo [Love Yourself Love Others] rubber bracelet

Tote (similar) and hat from Chico's

Big shoutout to Catherine Grace O'Conner and Jodie Filogomo for organizing this weekend series of events.
It was a super fun time, meeting all these fellow over-fifty Fiercies.

Ladies, are you 50+ and interested in joining the revolution? 
Find us on Facebook and Instagram @the fierce50revolution

Linking up with
Patti's Visible Monday
Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness
Judith's Hat Attack (finally wearing a hat in a post!)
Cherie's Shoe and Tell
Rena's Fine-Whatever

The Fluevog Sandal Clog Has Risen

Oh how I love these sandals!
On Saturday, they were sprung from Repair Jail. On the advice of Petrea at Fluevog Abbot Kinney, I took them to Miracle Shoe Repair in Playa Del Rey. I wanted a gentle touch -- these treasures are 25 years old! They needed new soles, front and back, and the back of the heels required a little rebuilding.

You can see two strata of heel repair: the dark upper layer was added in the 90s by Zinke's in Pasadena

To try and inspire myself to do some work on Repair Mountain, I pulled all the garments that coordinated with the sandals:

I found a lot of items! Did I do anything? No, not yet.

Remember this photo? (from this post)

I've been using the bottom skirt portion to cover the broken sewing machine.

Today's outfit -- the one I went out into the world in, not the staged one I posted on IG:

I had to make a run to Egg Slut for some VERY IMPORTANT taste test items and to Staples for printer ink.
Doesn't my dotty shopping bag coordinate nicely? Severo bought me three of them!
The little bit of walking I did gave me incipient blisters, so if I wear these tomorrow (highly likely), I'll need to wear socks.

I'm now supposed to be looking for missing art prints but instead I'm going to join Mr Lou on the couch.
It's how I Monday!

Linking up with:
Patti's Visible Monday
Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike
Cherie's Shoe and Tell
Shelbee's On the Edge of the Week

A Shoe Is Born #otisshoeworkshop

I MADE MY OWN SHOES!!!!!!! (In case you hadn't heard).

The right shoe is still on the last. The left one is more or less finished. 

I took an amazing week-long shoemaking workshop with Chris Francis at Otis, through the auspices of the Continuing Ed department. [Thank you CE, for underwriting my participation].
Seven of us worked 9-5, Mon-Fri, and 8-11 Sat and all made at least one shoe.
I'll post more about some of the amazing women that participated in subsequent posts --
this one is all about the process!

I'll show you some highlights -- get comfortable, kick your feet up, shoemaking has a lot of steps (harhar).
[I'll keep the images small, for easier scrolling. You can click on an image to see it bigger].

Day One: measuring

the last is first

foot tracing and measuring

comparing the tracing to the last, marking areas to extend

Day 2: Midsole

creating midsoles from scratch
leather is sandwiched between layers of a paper product called redboard

phase 1 of midsole nailed to last

adding steel shanks

adding more redboard to bottom of midsole

 Day Three: uppers - designing, patterns, painting

last covered with masking tape, design worked out

masking tape carefully peeled off last

truing up paper pattern

cutting the uppers from raw vegetan cowhide

folding the topline

stitched dart shapes back of heel

paint it RED!

adding leopard pattern

cutting pigskin liner

Day Four: sewing upper, lasting

attaching upper to liner at topline

covering the edges of midsole with vintage Thai silk

ready to begin lasting

first nails

oops, heel dart not in center. oh well.

prep for gluing in toe box

the pair is lasted

Day Five: heels, soles

prep for gluing upper to midsole and adding cork

next the nails will be replaced with tacks, which stay in the shoe

bottom is smoothed with sander and dremmel

we used plastic heels

plastic covered with pigskin, then dyed black

heel glued, it stands!

[Chris didn't want us sharing his method of making the soles.]

here, I'm waiting for glue to dry to stick the sole to the heel

I wrote a secret message inside the right sole

Day Six: delasting, insole, done

lining trimmed from topline
ready to delast!

tada!

after sinking screws into the heel and nailing in tap, the insole pattern is refined
I didn't catch what kind of leather we cut the insole from
I painted mine purple

it's a shoe!

Did you have any idea that all this went into the making of a shoe?

Linking up with
Patti's Visible Monday
Shelbee's On the Edge of the Week
Catherine's #SaturdayShareLinkup
Rena's Fine-Whatever
Cherie's Shoe and Tell