Flats are practically the most popular type of girls’ shoes for spring and autumn, and I, among many others, have a certain affection for them. I’ve got a variety of flats in my wardrobe, but when I saw a perforated pair in a shop, couldn’t help but buy them!)

Look at the texture, the holes in it… Do you see? See that? :)

That’s a true canvas! And we all know what to do with it — cross stitch it, of course!)

I cannot say that I really liked the shoes in their primeval kind, but the idea has captured my mind :)

To begin with, draw or find a pattern. I, as a fan of geometry, love plain shapes and lines and, without going through the hassle of brainstorm, drafted a simple pattern on a graphics editor, not for the pattern itself, but mostly for picking the colours:

Find threads and set to work :)

The first thing to do is to slightly unfold the insole from one end of the shoe. If the insole can be removed, that’s even better — put it aside.

Now start cross stitching. Use a usual cross. I wanted to get voluminous gross stitches and so I passed double thread through the needle. Start the first row from the bottom of the side opposite to that with unfolded insole. Needle through the upper layer only! This would help to keep stitches away from girl’s gentle skin.

Pass the needle through the first two holes and fix the thread (like on canvas).

You’ve made first half of the stitch. Pass the needle through the next hole.

And cover the stitch.

Make the next stitch in the row:

Continue up to the opposite side of the shoe.

In this photo I tried to show, as far as possible, the back free of stitches.

When the row is done, pass the needle through the shoe right under the insole.

Cut off the thread, make a knot and fix the end with instant glue.

Stitch the next row the same way using a different colour.

And the rest of the rows.

That’s what comes out:

To be honest, I wanted to stop here according to my original idea and not to go beyond stitching. But the flats looked too simple and incomplete (like in a book: ‘Ostap was inspired’). And I decided to complement this uncomplicated motif with seed beads.

Fix a thread similarly.

Pick up a bead:

And pass the needle through the next hole:

The seed beads were quite large, so I decided to omit holes between them:

Go on with the row:

I would recommend to take a longer thread for zigzag stitching so that you needn’t cut it off all the time. If your thread is over, knot it the way you’ve fixed mouline threads.

Go on filling the rows, I did it in chess-board order:

And stop :)

The flats are done! Glue the insoles to their places with instant glue or put them back. You can take your new shoes for a walk :)