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A pair of inline figure skates, in front of a black background. The skates have orange wheels, and are sporting skate covers with a brightly coloured, wild geometric pattern.
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How to Make Skate Covers

Custom skate covers are a lot of fun to make AND to wear. This tutorial will show you how to pattern and make them - and how to customize!
Prep Time5 minutes
Active Time10 minutes
Total Time15 minutes
Keyword: boot covers, figure skating, how to make boot covers, how to make skate covers, skate covers
Yield: 1 Pair of boot covers
Author: Marie
Cost: $5

Equipment

  • Sewing Machine
  • Serger (Optional)
  • Stretch Sewing Needles

Materials

  • Spandex
  • Thread to match
  • ¼" - ⅜" elastic

Instructions

Making A Skate Cover Pattern

  • Lay your boot on a piece of paper.
  • Use a pen to and trace around the outside of the boot, from just under the sole at the toe, to just under the sole of the heel.
  • Be sure to keep your pen straight up and down, the whole way around.
  • Use a ruler to draw a line between the start and end points.
  • Draw another line about ½" away from the first one, to serve as a bit of a seam allowance.

Cut Out Your Skate Covers

  • Cut two sets of skate cover pieces.
    I’ll usually fold the fabric in half, place the pattern down, and cut through two layers at once.
    This will be enough for one cover - repeat to make the second.
  • As a note on positioning the pattern:
    Make sure you know where the greatest degree of stretch is, in your fabric.
    Generally speaking, one direction will stretch more / more easily - up and down, or side to side.
    Whichever way has this greater degree of stretch, position your pattern so that the greatest stretch goes between the toe and the heel, NOT up and down.

Sew Your Seams

  • Sew straight seams up the back and front of one of the skate covers.
  • Keep the good sides facing together and stretch HARD as you sew.
  • Finish these two edges with a zig zag or serger edge. Repeat on second boot cover.

Apply Your Elastic

  • Apply elastic to the top and bottom openings of the skate cover, stretching the elastic and the fabric as you sew.
  • You’ll want the upper edge elastic to be about the same size as the opening (if you use elastic at all - feel free to just hem it!).
  • For the lower edge, you want the elastic to be tight enough to hold the skate cover in place.
  • Generally speaking, I don’t flip over the bottom edge, as I find that the raw elastic allows for a better grip on the boot.