White Rabbit - Completed

This was a very last-minute and makeshift costume, and that probably shows, but it was fun anyway.  

I put this together specifically for and wore this at WonderCon 2013.  Living in Long Beach at the time and being lucky enough to have pro badges, my roommate and I went to the convention on something of a whim.  Some friends who were staying with us for the weekend had a booth in Artist’s Alley, so we planned to just help with their booth and cruise the floor without the fuss of costumes - it was going to be a laid back weekend.  On Saturday morning, however, we decided it might be fun to dress up after all.  

Our options were limited to begin with, and most of my costume things were packed up in boxes for my impending move.  We really only had Dorothy and Mad Hatter as actual ready-to-wear costumes.  I didn't want to wear Dorothy again until I had sewn one myself and it was sized to me, and I didn't have my Ruby Slippers on hand anyway.  My roommate wasn't really thrilled with wearing her Mad Hatter as it was either - it needed some repairs - so she decided to ditch the water-spotted skirt and wear some wide-leg trousers with it instead.  In a stroke of rare genius, I remembered that I still had my novelty bunny ears unpacked and got an idea.

I initially planned to dress as the March Hare to match the Hatter.  It seemed simple enough.  When I looked up an image of the Hare, however, I knew almost immediately that I didn't have anything that looked close enough - I had pieces of similar styles, but not in the right color palette.  And unlike the Hare's brown ears, the ears I had were white and pink.  Then I just started pulling things out of the closet that matched the ears and were similar in style to what my roommate was wearing.  Simply by the nature of the pieces - primarily the white on the ears and the white blazer - the costume evolved into a generic dapper white rabbit.  By my association with the Hatter people still recognized me as belonging to Alice in Wonderland so I became the White Rabbit, but the design was very much my own interpretation and not meant to be screen accurate or even screen reminiscent (as I was putting the costume together I never even looked up an image of the film's White Rabbit, and looking at the White Rabbit after I realized his clothes are very similar in color scheme to the March Hare so my wardrobe was just as unsuited).

With the Hatter.  (Photo from http://www.mouseinfo.com/forums/content/2037-disney-character-cosplay-2013-wondercon-day-2.html)

In the end I used the ears, a pink and purple plaid belt (as a necktie), white silver-pinstriped blouse, pink cardigan, ivory blazer, black wide-leg trousers, white socks, and black flats.

Detail.  (Photos from Free Isabelo and Steve Lee DeZarn)

It wasn't very grand and I didn't even stay in costume the whole day but it served its purpose, and I’m actually quite proud that I was able to make this from things just in my closet, the ears being the only actual costume-y piece.

 *All photos are property of their respective owners.

Rosie the Riveter ("We Can Do It!") - Completed

Another backlogged post that I started and saved as a draft months ago.  

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Still no progress on the Marion Ravenwood Cairo Market costume, still pending a decision about the future of my sewing machine.  But I've had a few other things develop, so I thought I'd go ahead with that in the meantime.

The "We Can Do It!" Rosie the Riveter is another costume that I had been casually planning on for a while and then sort of just fell into.  The poster was something I had always liked, and always thought would make an interesting and unusual costume that might still be easily recognizable given how often the image has been reused.

RESEARCH:

J. Howard Miller's 1943 "We Can Do It!" poster for Westinghouse Electric.

United Press International's 1942 photo of Geraldine Hoff at American Broach & Machine Co. in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which is believed to have inspired the Miller poster.

Rosie's poster look is pretty straightforward and, by this point, fairly iconic.  She has a red and white polka dot bandana tied up over her hair, and wears a blue work shirt and pants or jumpsuit - as all that's visible is her torso, it's open to interpretation - with the sleeves rolled up and an employment badge pinned to the right collar.  Her nails are painted with what looks like a pink polish, and the rest of her makeup is very subdued: natural lips, fairly neutral eyes, and full outer lashes.  Geraldine Hoff looks essentially the same in her photo, though her clothing looks more definitively like a jumpsuit and she may be wearing darker lipstick.

MY VERSION:

It all started with a blue jumpsuit.  Though the poster's depiction of her clothing is open to interpretation, as far as I'm concerned if it's the right shade of blue with an open collar (and therefore presumably snaps or buttons up the front) and sleeves that can be rolled up, it's good.  On one of my many thrifting adventures a few years ago, I found a men's blue jumpsuit of the mechanic variety.  

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I literally had no use for it at the time, and I wasn't even thinking about Rosie, but it was something one doesn't really come across often and a steal at $2, so I grabbed it.  When I got it home I was pleased to find it was pretty much a perfect fit for me, but even so it sat around unused.

Jump ahead to last Halloween, when I had no plans but ended up going out with a friend that night very last minute.  I almost reused my flapper costume, but feeling lazy and being more concerned with comfort, the idea for a makeshift or generic Rosie popped into my head.  I used the jumpsuit, a vintage (but not red and white) headscarf, a vintage watch pin, and my black paddock boots, plus false lashes and some red lipstick and red nail polish.  I wouldn't say the costume was a great success - outside of my family, only my friend and her parents verbally recognized and appreciated it.  But it did push me to think about putting together an "art accurate" version based directly on the poster.

Just a few months ago, I started actually looking into finding and acquiring the other pieces I would need.  I was lucky to have the jumpsuit, since that would have been potentially one of the priciest pieces of the costume.  I figured I would reuse my paddock boots since the poster didn't give anything to go by and they looked accurate enough for the time and job.  All I really needed was a red and white polka dot bandana.  Simple enough, right?  Wrong.  I was actually surprised how difficult it was to find a plain ol' red and white polka dot bandana.  The majority I found on eBay and even Etsy were shaped permanently into headbands or were the wrong size or reversed colors or made of too-sheer material or strangely expensive.

While doing another search on a whim sometime later, this time just through Google I think instead of an a specific store website, I found Rosie's Daughters.  They have a store on their main website, as well as an Etsy store at RosiesLegacy.  In addition to the perfect "art accurate" red and white bandana, they also have a variety of other Rosie-inspired products.  Of particular interest to me was their replica employment pin.  I hadn't even really thought about an employment pin.  It's a detail of the poster that doesn't really come to mind when visualizing the image.  But having one would make the costume that much more accurate and their interpretation of it was too good to pass up.  I ended up ordering just the bandana and employment pin for now, as that's what I need the most for costuming purposes, though I plan to get a few more things at some point (including the blank posing poster).  I won't go into the specifics of the items or the store here, because I'm already working on a product review post for it.  But essentially, both the bandana and pin are as close to perfect as I can imagine and I'm extremely pleased with both so far.

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Since I ended up with all the pieces by early October, I considered debuting Rosie on Halloween.  It was a close choice between Rosie and the flapper costume I wore several years ago, but in light of comfort and originality, Rosie tipped the scales.  A few friends and I also decided we wanted to go to the Queen Mary's Dark Harbor on Halloween since they were allowing costumes that night and none of us had gone before.  Because of that, I thought I'd play up the creep factor a little and do a vampire or zombie take on Rosie.  I ultimately decided on zombie.  I colored some small lengths of embroidery thread black with a marker to make stitches for my wrist and arm but later scrapped these in favor of stitches drawn on with waterproof eyeliner.  I also repurposed an old white washcloth as a work rag and added "grease" smudges with the black ink washed off my hands while coloring the original stitches, plus added a "bloody" handprint with my red fabric paint.  

My roommate is much more adept at makeup than I am, so I enlisted her to do my zombie makeup which she and I decided on through a number of tutorial videos and movie screencaps. 

Hair done, initial Rosie and zombie makeup done, pre-retro makeup.

I later toned it down a little by removing the chin shading (which on a round-faced person like Rosie or Geraldine is cute, but on my pointy chin made me look like a certain illiterate and manly Disney villain) and blending the neck a little more and putting some light powder over it.  I thought it might be too dark originally, but afterwards seeing how it faded throughout the night I almost wish I had just left it alone.  Beyond that I just did my normal makeup - foundation, powder, and filled in eyebrows - before the zombie stuff plus some basic retro makeup - black winged eyeliner, false lashes, red lips - after.

My roommate on the left as a vampire Professor Umbridge (Harry Potter), our friend in the middle as a sexy fox, and my zombie Rosie.

Sexy fox, me, and another friend as Beaker (Sesame Street).

The costume went over a lot better than I expected - since I wasn't really expecting anything.  The highlight of the night was some guy coming up and asking if he could take a photo with me.  I even did the poster pose.  Runner up for best moment of the night: when a very tall, semi-drunk, scantily clad woman told me how awesome my costume was and that mine was way better than the Rosie who got called up for the costume competition (consolation: the contestants were chosen by random drawing, not by quality).  We also went to a bar down the street from our apartment later that night, and my costume got some kudos there too - the Binder Full of Women in attendance especially liked it. 

Given that this was just Halloween and not something like a convention - literally the only other times/places I've had strangers ask to take a photo of me in costume - I wasn't expecting any recognition or attention.  I had picked Rosie in order to be comfortable and historically fun (plus, since Dark Harbor is ship themed), not necessarily to be fashionable or conventional (I've done the sexy nurse for Halloween and I'm mostly over that) or completely Halloween relevant (though that is why I put a zombie spin on it).  I kind of get the feeling, though, that it maybe wouldn't have happened if I'd dressed like a flapper or whatever else.  As prevalent as it can be in popular culture, Rosie still isn't something you see as a costume too often, at least compared to more traditional choices (I've only ever seen two other than mine in person - one at SDCC and one at Dark Harbor, both of which were modified and improvised rather than literal interpretations).  So maybe being historical and unusual was catchier than I would have thought.  It just goes to show, history is always a winner. 

Overall I'm really happy with how Rosie turned out.  It's the most comfortable costume I've worn in years, apparently great for Halloween while also being relevant (pop culture) for conventions, and is just generally great fun.  I'll definitely be wearing it again, and it's bound to become a really great fall-back and alternate costume.

*All photos are property of their respective owners.
*My use and opinion of the products listed is by personal choice and availability.  I am not paid to use or endorse them.

Ruby Slippers Prototype - Completed

And the final result:

Photo by MSN

Photo by Brent Allen Thale at www.wingedmammal.com.

Photo by Chuck Cook.

These were all taken at SDCC 2012.  The first photo is by me, the others are by various photographers we met throughout the day who were nice enough to give us a link to view the photos online or send us the photos after.  (I'm planning to do a proper photo session of the second version pair sometime in the fairly-near future, which will not only yield better and more photos overall, but finished photos of the higher quality pair.)

As for some retrospect on the process itself, I'm glad I waited until I had a long span of interrupted time to do it, because the sequin-gluing alone probably took about 10 hours or so (or about that many episodes of Firefly) including a few breaks.  That part isn't really a start-and-stop project that can be done between other chores or amidst a busy schedule, at least not for me.  It seemed better to just be able to sit down and do it straight through, stopping for a break only after completing a side or a whole shoe.  It gets a little tedious - even with background music or movie - and a little hard on the back and hands towards the end, but I think consistent results make up for it.  The painting and bow-making was more easily a start-and-stop process, so was spread out over bits of free time during a few weeks.

For what I got in the end, I think the shoes ended up being pretty nicely cost effective.  I still have some sequins left over.  Not enough for another pair of shoes, but still a good amount to trim something with in the future.  From the original bead orders I did, the two orders of 50 rose montees was just enough for one pair of shoes, but I had enough bugle beads and rectangle faux gems for both the prototype and second version of the shoes (so four bows in total) and I still have some left over.  The final cost for the prototypes was about $23.  That doesn't include the supplies like the glue gun and acrylic sealer that I also use for other projects, but it does include the extra beads I used on the second pair.  So really, taking into account that the cost of the bugle beads and gems covered 2+ pairs, the real cost is lower.  Not bad at all for the final result and my first attempt at it, I think (especially considering that most ruby slippers run from the $20-30 commercial shoes that are only recognizable by being red and sparkly, to the $50-100 custom creations of varying quality and accuracy). 

The only bad thing was the fit.  Very unexpectedly, they were horribly uncomfortable to wear around during the day.  So much so that at one point I finally gave up and walked around in socks, just carrying the shoes in hand and enduring the good-natured teasing of the other Con attendees.  They fit well to begin with and were comfortable wearing around the house, but I bought the socks I wore with the costume only a few days before the convention and didn't really test the shoes with the socks before costume day.  The socks ended up being surprisingly thick, which made the balls of my feet feel great but made the toe area too cramped inside the shoe.  So I haven't decided yet what to do about that: try different socks or find better quality shoes to begin with.  That's definitely something I'll consider whenever I (inevitably) get around to making another pair.  I may also make a higher quality non-wearable replica pair for display using vintage shoes and authentic materials.

I might be making a few pairs of these to sell at some point - though with the improved techniques learned on this pair and applied to the second version - and if that happens, I'll post further information on that later.

*All photos are property of their respective owners.
*My use and opinion of the products listed is by personal choice and availability.  I am not paid to use or endorse them.

Ruby Slippers Prototype - Bows

After finishing the sequins, the next and final steps were painting in some black areas and making the bows. 

I already had some red acrylic paint from years ago, which admittedly is probably too old, but I wanted to use materials I already had as much as possible to cut down on the final cost so I used it anyway.  The color is Christmas Red, and it's by DecoArt.  The sealer is a matte spray for acrylic paint by Plaid (the Patricia Nimrocks line).  The bow materials are sheet plastic from a bottle and organza curtains, both of which I already had; and 5 grams of size 1.8mm x 4mm silver-lined red bugle beads, six size 10mm x 8mm red rectangle sew-on plastic faux gems, and 100 size SS16 light siam rose montees.

I began by painting in the back of the heel, the part of the sole which shows when standing, and those little black areas showing through the sequins and at the top of the shoe. 

For a more accurate display replica, I might add the red felt to the sole, but I didn't want anything interfering with my coveted no-slip surface.  For the same reason, I didn't paint that part of the sole either.  After the paint was dry, I sealed it with the matter spray (I chose spray because it seemed easiest to apply, but by its nature it also comes in contact with parts of the shoe I'm not sealing, in this case the sequins.  I did a test on an extra piece of sequin string ahead of time just in case, and it was fine).

For the bows, I did essentially what the original costumers did, but downgraded a bit.  Leather being out of the question for these particular shoes, I first considered using cardboard for the bows.  I later decided that I wanted something waterproof, however, just in case (I don't intend to get these shoes wet really, but I was thinking of incidental rain and moisture).  I experimented with several different plastics, mainly from the kitchen.  I finally used a ranch dressing bottle: the front and back were both flat, and the plastic was thick and sturdy so it wouldn't necessarily need a second layer.

I was able to get four bows from one bottle (enough for one pair of shoes if doubling the plastic layers, or two pairs of shoes using single layers).  I poked two holes in the center of each to turn them into buttons of sorts for stitching on to the shoe.   

For light use or display, the stitching might be overkill, but walking in crowds all day I didn't want to risk the bows popping off and getting lost.  Then I painted each red with acrylic paint and sprayed it with acrylic sealer, and after they were dry stitched them to the shoes.

For the fabric, I didn't have any red organza, but I did have a single off-white organza curtain.  Using the same red acrylic paint from the soles, I very lightly painted the fabric in a test area, just using enough paint to make the fabric red but not really saturate it.  After it was dry I sealed it with, again, the same spray acrylic sealer.  After the sealer was dry, I got the fabric wet and prodded it a bit, and the color held nicely.  (The unsealed paint comes off with water, and the sealer itself says on the instructions that it's not meant for fabric which will be washed, but for basic contact with water it seems okay.)  Both the paint and sealer also stiffened the fabric a bit too, which was actually helpful.

Once past the test process, I drew the bow shapes onto the fabric first so I wouldn't end up painting more fabric than I needed to. 

Then I repeated the paint and seal process, coloring outside the lines.  To help spread the paint and take up the excess, I dabbed at and wiped it with some makeup pads.

Before cutting anything out, I put the whole piece of fabric in an embroidery hoop to bead it.  Again, in some cases gluing the fabric to the bow and then gluing the beads might be okay, but I wanted extra strength.  (No photos of this process, because it was very long and drawn out and there were a few times I worked on it that I wasn't in a position to get any photos.)  For layout, I just directly followed the beading pattern on the original shoes, adjusting it slightly for the dimension of my bows.  Then I cut the bow out, but slightly outside the lines I drew, for the same reason I painted outside the lines: when I glued the fabric to the plastic, I could wrap this excess around the edges and glue it to the bottom of the plastic to make sure it was secure and nothing underneath would show.  

When it came down to gluing the organza to the plastic, despite being fairly thick the plastic of the bows warped very easily under the heat of the hot glue.  I learned quickly - and the hard way, unfortunately - that it was better to apply the glue directly to the fabric and wait a few seconds before sticking it down to the plastic; and then hold the whole bow against the shoe to forcibly preserve its shape while it cooled.  Hence, on the prototype pair one bow is a little wonky but the other looks better, and I applied the improved technique to the second version of the shoes I made so they look okay.  In future, I would definitely use a different material for the bow base and test it with heat ahead of time or use a different glue.

Next: the final result.

*All photos are property of their respective owners.
*My use and opinion of the products listed is by personal choice and availability.  I am not paid to use or endorse them.

Marion Ravenwood (Cairo Market) - Shoes

Raiders of the Lost Ark has long been one of my favorite films, and Marion Ravenwood's wardrobe ranked high on my costume list as well.  This year I finally decided to put her Cairo market outfit on my tentative to-do list.  It has some great 1940s and cultural styling, and I love the high-waisted pants and the predominant red throughout.  

I've set myself a deadline of October 2012, because ideally I'll be wearing it to Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland this year.  No, Marion Ravenwood isn't Disney exactly - she's certainly no Disney princess - and yes, people generally dress as Disney characters for the event.  But Disneyland has the Indiana Jones Adventure ride, so as far as I'm concerned that's good enough.  And it'll be awesome to be in this costume while in line for and on that ride and running amok through Adventureland.  (If I end up going to the party on two different nights, I'm considering wearing a prototype version of my Rule 63 Han Solo under the same justification.)

Being that this costume is going to be constructed in a somewhat... nonlinear manner pending repairs to my sewing machine, I've decided to relate the construction by item rather than stage of overall progress.  The shoes are what I can do now so that's what I've started with, then the pants and shirt will each have their own posts later, and the finished result will have its own post as well.

RESEARCH:

There aren't really many images available that show Marion's market shoes.  Even screencaps don't really manage to catch them well.  The best image I could find is this:

This is darker but shows another view - namely the top - of the shoes:

They appear to be an espadrille/wedge with a natural "rope" lower and red fabric upper.  The toe strap and ankle strap appear to be separate pieces of fabric as well, rather than a slingback style.  Sitting down to watch the film, and just re-watching this scene over and over, verified this and gave me a better look.  To a certain degree, this is also what pretty much all cosplayers of this costume have gone with, which is never a sure things but is generally a good sign or at least a good back-up verification when trying to decide just what is going on with a costume.

MY VERSION:

I spent quite a bit of time looking for just the right shoes online, primarily on eBay, Payless Shoes, and the like.  I found some viable options, all of which were A) good for my budget but needed alteration, or B) mostly good as-is but a little pricey.  Then by chance I found these at a local thrift store:

On an unrelated note, this is the first costuming photo taken in the new apartment in the new city.  Yay!

The natural lower part wasn't quite right, being a flat woven "fabric" rather than looped "rope," and the upper was a slingback rather than two separate straps and needed a bit of alteration - bow removed and all-over red paint.  But they were a stupidly good price and fit fairly well and, most importantly, were comfortable.  They were something I felt I could realistically wear for hours on end while running and standing around at Disneyland.

The first step was removing the bows - easy enough -

followed by the first coat of paint:

The paint is Jacquard Textile Color in 106 True Red.  I've used this brand before in 110 Violet for my Daphne Blake shoes, but the base of those shoes was a tan suede, so I only needed one coat for full coverage.  The fabric of these shoes, being cotton-based, absorbed the paint differently, which also meant it didn't dry as quickly.  The paint was also a lighter shade to begin with so the pattern showed through on that basis alone as well.  It obviously needed at least a second coat if not a third.

To be sure the first coat was dry and wouldn't compromise further coats, I let the shoes sit for 24 hours (I also figured this was a good idea given the much more damp climate I live in now - no more desert quick-dry).

To be continued pending coat number two.
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So three more coats later...  Yes, four coats total.  Each time a new coat was applied, it looked notably better that night right after painting.  But by the next night, it had soaked in and dried enough that the pattern was showing through more than it had seemed previously.  

This is after two or three coats (I took it two days after the first coat, but I don't remember if I was photographing the second coat before starting the third or photographing the third coat after finishing it):

Better than after just one coat, certainly, but the original pattern is still too visible for my taste.

For comparison, this is the same coat with the flash on:

The flash brightens the whole surface enough that while the blue on the sides still seeps through a bit, a lot more of the overall base is washed out.  With that in mind, I stopped after doing the fourth coat.  As far as appearances go, I think there's still too much pattern showing and I'd like to keep painting, but I'm worried about overdoing it with the layers and having the whole application get ruined.  So I'd rather stop now and hope the pattern isn't too obvious while I'm wearing the shoes than ruin what I've got.

Without getting drastic - I could cut away part of the side to make the straps more accurate - there's not much else to be altered, and I've already decided that I'm happy enough with them as-is.  They could be better, but the shirt I'm making won't be screen-accurate either.  So someday when I buy the authentic Romanian blouse, I'll probably get better shoes too, but for now I quite like these.

*All photos are property of their respective owners.
*My use and opinion of the products listed are by personal choice and local availability.  I am not paid to use or endorse them.
 

Ruby Slippers Prototype - Sequins

I took advantage of my day off this week and sequined my prototype ruby slippers.  This wasn't really on my costume schedule so to speak, but I've had most of the supplies for a while now and I've been eager to start it (which is why this is up before the post on the first step of Sally Jupiter, which was actually finished first).  This was my first time working with sequins in any way, and the first time I had used a hot glue gun so extensively.

RESEARCH:

As always, I started doing nothing but research on the originals, then comparing them to what replicas - wearable or not, available for sale or personal projects - were out there and what I thought I could manage.  I was lucky enough to find a photo of the originals on display that included in the shot part of the display notice, which details how and with what materials the originals were made.  I don't know which display it was from, and the photo itself was posted nondescriptly on tumblr.  Another great source was Schrum Studios, which sells very authentic-looking and high-quality replica supplies (if I ever make a screen-accurate pair for display and really put some money into it, I'll probably use their supplies).  Paraphrased in bits and pieces from both sources: The original shoes were plain white silk pumps from Innes Shoe Co. in Los Angeles which were custom-dyed red.  The sequins were burgundy, darker than "normal" or most used today so they would appear the right color on film after the Technicolor process (to my understanding, Technicolor lightened certain colors, so items would have to be made in just the right too-dark shade so they would show up as truly desired on film).  Unlike most (if not all replicas), rather than being applied directly onto the shoe, the sequins were instead sewn onto an overlay pattern, which was then sewn onto the shoe.  The bows were made from red leather, covered with red organza beaded with square red glass "jewels," red bugle beads, and silver-set red rhinestones (called, more formally, rose montees).

For my replicas, I wanted the general shoe shape to be right, the sequin layout to be similar, the finished product to be comfortably wearable and cheaper and more accurate than at least most commercially-available replicas.  Basically, I wanted the right balance of budget to make them look better but remain cheaper than commercial options, but not put in so much time or money that it would cut into my other projects (this being a largely secondary endeavor) or that I'd be afraid to wear and potentially damage them.  Maybe a tall order, but it worked out.

MY VERSION:

The hot glue gun I was going to borrow never materialized for various reasons so I finally broke down and bought one.  It's a Surebonder high temperature 40 watt gun that uses the standard .44" glue sticks.
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It was under $10, and I lucked out finding some cheap loose-in-a-bin 10" sticks which I stored up on for future projects.  So despite my initial hesitation, I don't feel so bad about dropping the cash for it, because I figure the more I get into diverse costuming, the more handy it'll be to have a glue gun on hand (I've already used it for another small project - Sally Jupiter's earrings - since).

The sequins are Wrights 1/4" in plain red (not the rainbow-y sparkly red).
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I bought whatever was remaining on the one spool the craft store had, which was I think around 20 yards on a 24-yard spool.  Whatever length I had, I ended up with a little extra after completely covering and trimming both shoes plus discarding a few sections due to mistakes.  The two tutorials I was loosely going by each used about 20 meters total.

For the shoes themselves, I'd been looking for something that was similar in shape to the originals, because I wanted to get mine looking as accurate for cheap as I could manage.  To look the part, they needed to have a slightly pointed but rounded toe, a medium-height curved heel like a cross between a Cuban heel and French heel, and a vamp/toeline that crossed roughly the center of the top of the foot.  For personal reasons, I also preferred something with a non-slip sole, and I needed a slightly larger size than I usually wear for heels in order to fit into them while wearing socks.  Pretty strict requirements, at least for my budget and my store options.  Luckily, that style of shoe has been popular for businesswomen and such in past years, so there tend to be pairs floating around the thrift stores and yard sales here if one looks regularly.  The shoes I finally found are just some plain pleather pumps I got at the thrift store.

The toe and heel aren't perfectly accurate but are still better than I anticipated, the vamp/toeline placement feels good for my feet, the soles are nicely rubberized and haven't slipped on anything yet (knock on wood), and I was lucky they were a size 8.5 (about one to one-half size too big, perfect for any socks).  As a bonus, the surface material was slightly texturized which I thought might help the glue adhere, and the insoles were padded plus there were also added cushion on the heel on the inside.

The tutorials I was following and a lot of the other handmade replicas I looked at glued the sequins around the shoe horizontally, which seems and maybe is easier than what I ended up doing.  But looking at the originals, there is a diagonal to the sequins, with the strings running vertically on an angle.  Despite my better judgement, I ended up doing something like that instead.  Luckily, there are a number of replicas out there using that same layout, so while I didn't have step-by-step directions with that process, I had plenty of finished-product reference photos.

I started several days prior by temporarily pinning some sequins to one shoe so I'd have an idea of what angles to glue them at and what gluing pattern to use - whether I wanted to do each side separately, or the toe separate from the sides, where I would start and finish, etc.  I ended up deciding on gluing each full side separately, starting at the toe and ending above the heel.  The heel would also be glued separately from the rest of the shoe, and each side of the heel would be glued separately as well.  I didn't leave anything pinned - all the pins came out and sequins came off days before I started gluing.  I also drew a line down the center of both the toe and heel to get an idea of where my borders for each side were.  (I didn't get any photos of this step, as I was making it up as I went along.)

When I got down to gluing, I started with one sequin at the very tip of the toe, and then looped the string up to the next row, then looped the string down for the next row.  Like so:

On the first side of the first shoe I kept an organized pattern of how many sequins I was laying down in each row (1, skip 2, then 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, etc.) but when I started on the second side, I realized the point of the shoe wasn't completely symmetrical (it tilted just slightly in one direction, making one side "shorter" to cover than the other) so I had to change the number of sequins per row.  After that on the second shoe I just put down as many sequins as needed to reach the center line without any numerical pattern.  I just continued that all up the side of the shoe, and did the same on the other side and on both sides of the other shoe.

 

This next part is a little complicated, because I was making it up on the fly in a moment of panic after realizing at the last minute I hadn't planned it out ahead of time.  I also felt like I didn't have enough hands as it was, and I was home alone, so no real opportunity to take photos or have photos taken while I was holding and finessing everything else.  (Hence, again, no photos of this step, which might have been useful).  To glue down the end of the string in back, I glued up to almost where I wanted the final sequin to lay.  Then I cut the string a few sequins up from there, pulled the now-loose sequins off the end of both the gluing strand and the long spool strand (and saved the loose sequins; important later), and put a touch of glue on the end of the spool strand so it wouldn't ravel in the meantime.  Then I put a dab of glue on the shoe under where the string ended, folded the plain (without sequins) bit of string under the sequins, and pressed the whole thing down.  Trying to cover all the black, I actually overlapped the sequins a little too much on the very last row, and it worried me at first because it looked odd.  But to make things match I had to do the same - intentionally this time - on the other side, and once both rows were up against each other, it looked fine and the extra overlap wasn't really obvious.

I repeated this exact process, minus the extra overlap this time, on the heels: starting with one sequin on the bottom inside center, then looping the rows up and down until I reached the top; cutting and stripping the string; and then gluing the end under and down.  After the heel was completely covered, I went back to the toe for touch-ups.  It doesn't really matter if the toe or heel is done first in this step, but I thought it would be better to let the heel set a while longer before prodding it.  

Even getting the sequin strings as close as I could to meeting at the center of the toe and heel, there were still a few gaps here and there.  On a red shoe it might not be so noticeable, but mine being black it was pretty obvious.  Here's where those extra loose sequins from the cut string come in.  Very carefully, I put a dab of glue over the "bald spots," making sure to get the glue on the shoe material more than the outer sequins, and used a seam ripper to pick up and place the sequins (with the ripper point through the sequin hole) on the glue.  I also used the point of the ripper to kind of layer the loose sequins under and around the sequins on the string.  If all the loose sequins are on top, it makes the gap-covering a little too obvious for my taste - too clearly a separate and distinct line - so I wanted them to blend in more.  I was careful not to get too much glue on the outer sequins or touch the gun directly to any sequins.  Both mistakes will melt the sequins pretty easily and quickly, or even just strip the red coloring. 

The last step - at least for the sequins - was to add a single string around the base of the shoe and along the top edge.  This is optional, based on what gluing pattern is used and how even the sequins are at the top and bottom.  On my shoes, especially because of the diagonal pattern I think, there were little spots of the shoe showing through along those edges.  So starting in the back, I glued a single strand horizontally all the way around the bottom of the shoe just above where the side meets the sole, and again the same along the very top edge.  I tacked down the end of the strings in back using the same technique as before.  At this point, the shoes look like this, recognizable but not quite done:

The next step will be to paint some detracting parts red, and make the bows.

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*My use and opinion of the products listed are by personal choice and local availability.  I am not paid to use or endorse them.