In the Halloween mix, my brother learned that they dress up at his new company. In fact, they dress up in by department, and have a contest! His department had narrowed it down to a Pirate Theme and he was going to come up with some sort of get-up.

I said I would add “boots” to his outfit.

These are super easy.

Halloween Boots

Supplies and tools:

• faux leather (black? brown? red? white? you could go a million directions!)
• elastic cord
• thread to match
• sewing machine
• scissors

You need the most basic of measurements. How tall do you want them to be? The question here is are you covering rain boots? Or are you making boots that go all the way up? Are these for a kid or an adult?

How big around is the character’s calf at that height? Allow for pant, jeans, tights or whatever to be worn underneath. These were for my brother, he is tall and was going to wear pants under so these are XXXX high and XXX around.

You will cut out a cuff (mine flairs out slightly), and the leg portion.

The mantra “right sides together” is not going to apply to this cuff. Sew the right side of the cuff to the wrong side of the boot.

Then, sew the cuff with the right sides together, and go down in the boot for just a few inches. (this section will be hidden when the cuff is turned down) Then take the boot tube, turn it inside-out, and sew the rest of the tube right sides together.

Sew a short length of elastic cord to go under the arch of the shoe. It will hold the sides down and give the boot a little more fit.

At this point you are done. If you want to wear brown boots with brown shoes the covers will read like spats, and look really good. But, if you don’t have shoes that closely match, you can take it one step further. You will cut a strip with one rounded side (at the toe) and a concave curve at the other side (where the arch of the foot meets the cover.)  Right sides together, sew around the curve, and this will cover the toe. If you want to go a step further, put a small tuck in the front of the toe area, and this will hold the front over the toe of the shoe and give the toe box more definition. (I did not have access to my brother, modeling his shoes, so I could not do that for this pair. He wore them as-is, but I would do the toe darts if I had it to do over again.)

These were the perfect Johnny-Dep style Pirate Boots. The “slouch” factor was just right. They fit him perfectly, and slouched without being an annoying accessory.
Happy Halloween, and happy costuming!