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How to Make Pull On Boot Covers

Boot Covers are a great way to transform a normal pair of shoes into a stunning costume piece. Here is how to make spandex boot covers.
Prep Time20 minutes
Active Time30 minutes
Total Time50 minutes
Keyword: boot covers, cosplay, cosplay boot covers, costume boot covers, how to make boot covers, spandex boot covers
Yield: 1 Pair Boot Covers
Author: Marie
Cost: $10

Equipment

  • Sewing Machine
  • Serger (Optional)
  • Tracing or Medical Paper
  • Scissors
  • A pen or marker

Materials

  • Spandex
  • Thread
  • Elastic

Instructions

Design Your Boots

  • Think about how high they will go - ankle length, below the knees, thigh high... whatever.
  • Think about any design elements you may be incorporating - Applique, colour blocking, piping, or whatever.

Find Your Base Shoes / Boots

  • Find a pair of suitable shoes or boots.
  • Generally speaking, I'll do this over a pair of shoes, not boots: this is the best way to make very lightweight "boots" that are take up fair less space in a suitcase!
  • As these are the shoes / boots you'll be wearing in your costume, make sure they're comfortable.
  • What you're looking for in boots or shoes to cover is that they are very basic, smooth, and don't contain any real textural elements - basically, you don't want anything that will show from under the cover.
  • Beyond that, consider the design of your source material boots. Do they have pointy toes? High heels? Chunky heels?
  • Look for something that works well with what you have in mind.

Drape Your Pattern

  • Wearing the shoe you intend to cover, drape the fabric over your leg.
  • If you’re confident in what you’re doing, you can use the actual fabric you’re making them with. Otherwise, find something with a similar weight / similar degree of stretch.
  • I find it easiest to do this on someone else / have someone to it for you, rather than do it yourself.
  • Whether doing it as a one person job or two, just take your time and pin it up how you want it to lay on your leg.
  • As always, make sure to keep the greatest degree of stretch going around the leg, not up and down.
  • I like to start with an initial "rough pin" to get the fabric roughly in place, and then adjust pinning as needed to work out any wrinkles.
  • Aim to get the pinned "seams" to line up straight up the centre front and centre back of the leg, and straight down the centre of the sole of the shoe.
  • (Note: I did this with no seam up the back, intending to cut it on a fold - you can pin all the way up the back for a more fitted seam)
  • Note: if you're using a full boot, rather than just a shoe: Be careful not to drape the fabric TOO tightly around the existing boot, or it could look misshapen when finished.
  • Also: You want to be able to get your foot in it!
  • Once you're happy with how it's draped, make note of any top edge locations or other areas of note - where you want a peak to be, where it should end behind the leg, placement for a design, etc.
  • Mark these spots with a pin or chalk/pen/etc.

Build Your Boot Covers Pattern

  • I like to trim the fabric while it's on the leg, allowing for ¼" seam allowance, but you may want to just use a pen/chalk to draw lines between each of the pins, outlining the overall pattern.
  • Be sure to do this all of the way around the boot cover, bottom included.
  • If you suspect that the two sides of the pattern aren't going to be symmetrical, mark which is the outside, and which is the inside of the boot.
  • Remove the pins, smooth out the boot pattern.
  • Clean it up. In this case, I straightened all the seam lines, and trimmed it to make both sides symmetrical.

Cut out Your Boot Cover Piece

  • In this case, I built in my seam allowance, so I just used my original, cleaned up "pattern" fabric piece to cut a second one.
  • If you didn't build in a seam allowance, be sure to do so when cutting your pieces out - ¼" all the way around works well.
  • If your pieces aren't symmetrical, be sure to cut them as mirror images - I like to fold the fabric over and cut the two pieces (say, the two outside leg pieces) at once.

Assemble The Boot Covers

  • Before sewing them up, be sure to do any colour blocking, applique, etc that you plan to incorporate into your design.
  • With the right sides of fabric together, sew all the way around your boot covers, aside from the top opening - stretching as you would sew any other spandex garment. (Or, if you did it on a fold - as pictured - just sew the front and bottom seams!)
  • Finish off the top opening any way you want.
  • I usually like to use elastic - the same size as the opening, NOT stretched - for a bit of extra body, but you can do a tighter elastic, or any type of hem. (Or a cuff, in the same way you would for a glove)
  • Turn the boot cover right side out, taking care to poke out any corners, the heel, etc.
  • Slip you boot covers on over the shoes.
  • You may be done here, or you may want to glue on some non-slip soles to the bottom.Not only will this prevent you from slipping, it’ll also prolong the life of your boot covers.