Craft Fashionable Doll Flip-Flops!

       The key to understanding just 'how' a doll's shoe is made is to think about how it made from the inside out. You build a shoe by assembling it's inner parts first, then working your way to the outside parts last.

       Flip-flops are much simpler shoes to put together compared to boots or high heels. In America, it can get very hot during the months of June, July, August and September. So, these are the kind of shoes many folks wear during those months if they are not at work. Children love flip-flops so it only stands to reason that they would want to dress their dolls the same way.

       With flip-flops, you don't wear socks! These shoes slip quickly on the feet to guard them from burns and cuts but they can just as easily slip off for those impulsive dips into a swimming pool, river, lake etc... Most of these kinds of shoes are inexpensive and are characteristically playfully decorative for girls or women. Little boys and men traditionally wear more sporty versions of flip-flops.

The finished flip-flops shown above are made from paper.
Each pair has a different theme: red paisleys, beach 
combing flip-flops and a cool spring blue floral
theme for our third example. Each of these 
flip-flops goes with a different doll's outfit.

Supply List:

• decorative scrapbook papers
• foam sheets for souls of flip flops
• trims: buttons, ribbon, sea shells
• hot glue gun and hot glue
• tacky craft glue
• doll - to measure her feet
• light weight cardboard
  

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Trace around your either your doll's foot or shoe to make a pattern for the interior of the doll's flip-flop first. Cut this tracing from light weight cardboard.
2. Glue these cardboard patterns to the backside of decorative paper. Cut this paper a little larger than the cardboard patterns so that you can clip around the edges and then paste them around the edges of the cardboard templates. (see photos)
3. Next, cut a wide band (from cardboard) to hold the flip-flop onto the doll's feet. Check to see that the band will work for the shoe by wrapping it around the top of her foot. There needs to be enough length to glue to the underside of the cardboard inner shoe. 
4. Cover this band with paper and white glue.
5. Attach the band using both tacky glue and masking tape to hold it in place. 
6. Now trace around the the flip-flops to mark the craft foam sheet with a pencil. 
7. Cut out the foam soles and hot glue these onto the bottom of the shoes.
8. Cut long, narrow strips of foam to hot glue along the edges of the the flip-flops. This will cover up uneven surfaces and make the flip-flops look clean and professionally made.
9. Hot glue trims to the tops of the flip-flops to give them unique fashionable looks. I attached blue buttons and ribbon to the floral blue pair, black bows to the red paisley pair and tiny sea shells to the beach themed pair of shoes.

Left cardboard cut-outs drawn from our doll's favorite slippers. Center, see the paper is a little larger
 than the cut-outs so that I can wrap it around the edges using white school glue. Right, the inside of 
our doll's paisley flip flops are covered.

Left, I check to make sure the cardboard band fits my dolls foot. Center, cover the bands with paper.
Right, now the band is attached to the underside of the covered cardboard flip-flop template.

Left, see the soles of the flip-flops are cut from a black craft foam sheet. I used white craft foam
for the other two pairs seen on the right. 

See the same kind of pattern as a house slipper here, only these are covered with fur...