Peggy Sagers: In the late 19th century, rubber-soled shoes made their debut, first known as plimsolls in Britain, and later called sand shoes or sneakers.

As tennis surged in popularity among the British upper and middle classes, so did the need for footwear that could keep up with the game.

Designed for performance, tennis shoes quickly evolved beyond the court.

They became everyday essentials, icons of youth culture, and even symbols of rebellion.

Today on "Fit 2 Stitch," we're making our own tennis shoes.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ male announcer: "Fit2Stitch" is made possible by Kai Scissors.

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♪♪♪ announcer: Plano Sewing Center.

♪♪♪ announcer: Elliott Berman Textiles.

♪♪♪ announcer: And WAWAK Sewing Supplies.

♪♪♪ Peggy: Shh, you can't tell anybody, but this is my favorite show of the series.

I absolutely am so excited.

Cindy is here, and we have had so much fun making these tennis shoes.

Cindy's going to take us step by step and show us how.

I never thought you could make a pair of shoes.

Cindy Vance: Without an industrial sewing machine.

Peggy: But they're gorgeous, like they're really--okay, go.

Cindy: And you can have so much fun.

Peggy: They are fun, there's no limit.

Cindy: No, so this--these are for my husband, this is what he wanted.

Peggy: You made your husband a pair of tennis shoes?

Cindy: I made my husband a pair of tennis shoes.

Peggy: And did he pick out all the fabrics?

Cindy: He picked out the fabric.

He wanted black, he wanted the white stitching.

Peggy: Really?

Cindy: Yes, and he wanted the contrast thread to sew it together, so then I made myself a pair of-- Peggy: That's pretty impressive.

Cindy: Yeah, made myself a pair of Chanel sneakers.

Peggy: Okay, let's take a look at those, just for close up.

So these would figure--Chanel tennis shoes, you got the fabric.

Cindy: I got the fabric.

Peggy: The tennis shoes would cost $1,500.

Cindy: At least, at least, if you could get them.

Peggy: You got the fabric, and you--what did you do?

Cindy: I quilted the fabric.

Peggy: These are amazing.

Cindy: Attached it to the lining, and then just hand sewed it into the shoe, and they fit.

Peggy: And you love them?

Cindy: And I love them.

Peggy: And so--well, we'll go over cost, right?

Cindy: Right.

Peggy: Okay, wow, that's amazing.

Cindy: You could also make them out of leather that doesn't have any lining.

Peggy: Wow, that is so cute.

So you could do any color leather, and you're gonna tell us all about that.

Cindy: Right, and then I made a pair out of Harris tweed for something warmer.

Peggy: Oh my gosh.

Cindy: Changed up the lace.

Peggy: For winter little tennis shoes.

Cindy: For little winter tennis shoes.

Peggy: You know, tennis shoes are just worn everywhere today.

Like, in Neiman Marcus they actually have an embroidery booth where you can buy--you can pay $700 for a pair of tennis shoes, and you can have them embroidered for free if you-- as long as you--this is better.

Cindy: And you could embroider it yourself.

Peggy: This is better, and plus, they're not $700.

Cindy: No, and then I made a pair out of water-resistant canvas, so here's your water shoes.

Peggy: So these are like--okay, I got so many questions.

Look at these.

Cindy: And then this is another white denim.

Peggy: I've always loved a white on white tennis shoe, but I could do any-- Cindy: You could do any color sole.

That's what you get to decide.

Peggy: Where do we start?

Tell me where we start.

Cindy: We start with deciding: do you want the natural colored soles?

Do you want the black soles, or do you want to do it in white soles?

Peggy: So I can find and buy any soles.

The only thing I'm looking for is them to have the holes?

Cindy: You would like the holes, because you need to be able to secure it to the fabric.

Peggy: Okay, and I've looked around since we started doing this class, and some tennis shoes on the market actually have--you can see where they've sewn them on, but some are not, some are glued.

Cindy: Right, most of them are glued these days.

Peggy: Okay, all right, this is so much fun.

Okay, so we start with our sole, and we choose a size?

Cindy: Pick your size; these are European sizes.

So typically, whatever you wear in European size, the soles should fit.

You do want to have about a half inch room here.

After you pick your soles, you're going to decide on what you want to make it out of.

Do you want to make it out of leather?

Do you want to make it out of fabric?

Choice is yours.

Peggy: And do you know how thick to make the leather?

Does it matter?

Cindy: Typically for these leather shoes, it's going to be a thicker leather, but you could do it out of a thinner leather.

It'll just have more drape.

Peggy: Like an apparel leather?

Cindy: Like an apparel leather.

Peggy: So maybe it doesn't stand up quite like that.

Cindy: Doesn't stand up, but you could also quilt it, which I'm gonna show you how to do later.

Peggy: Oh, you could quilt the leather?

Cindy: You could quilt the leather.

Peggy: Oh, that's a great-- Cindy: And that'll give more structure and it'll stand up better.

Peggy: So the ones you quilted, did you quilt them just because you liked the quilting, or did you quilt them because you needed the stability?

Cindy: I quilted them based on how I wanted it to look.

So if you'll see these ones, they're cross-quilted.

Peggy: So this was just a plain fabric before you started?

Cindy: Just a plain fabric.

Peggy: You did all this?

Cindy: And I quilted all of it, yes.

Peggy: And so--you're gonna tell us, I need to just shut up.

I'm just so excited.

Cindy: And then this one, I quilted it in a way to showcase the Chanel logo.

Peggy: All right, so this fabric wasn't even quilted when you started?

Cindy: No, no.

Peggy: All right.

Cindy: So then once you decide on your fabric or leather, you're gonna decide on what color wax-coated nylon do you want to put on there?

Peggy: 'Cause that's around the--that's going to show.

Cindy: That's going to show.

So in this case here, I did black because I didn't want a high contrast.

Peggy: Okay.

Cindy: In this one here, I did a brown so it would kind of match.

Peggy: Oh, that's pretty.

That's really pretty.

Cindy: And then this one here-- Peggy: You matched the sole.

Cindy: Mhm, so you got all kinds of options.

And like I said, on my husband's, he wanted black, black on white, just to keep the whole black and white theme going.

Peggy: So if you're making a pair of shoes for somebody, you can consult them, see what they're doing, but if you're doing it for yourself, you get to do whatever you want.

And I noticed on this one, just curious, leather.

Like, say hypothetically, if I'd wanted this sole to be all white.

Cindy: And you wanted white thread here?

Peggy: Yeah.

Cindy: Yeah, the problem is going with a dark because I experienced that with this.

If I did--I did this in white originally.

The white starts to pick up the fabric dye or the leather dye.

Peggy: So the white starts to get blue or dirty looking.

Cindy: And because you're going around this shoe twice, by the time you get to the back half, it's already turned gray.

Peggy: Okay, that's a great tip.

Cindy: So if you're going to use white stitching down here, this should be light-colored.

So on these white shoes here, I could have done white in the bottom here, and it would have been fine, but I didn't want that high a contrast on these.

Peggy: So your options are you either match the thread to the soles, the thread to the fabric, or contrast?

Cindy: Or contrast.

Peggy: Okay, gotcha.

Cindy: However creative you wanna get with your thread.

Peggy: Okay, and you just bought waxed thread.

That's all waxed thread?

Cindy: This is all waxed--I just bought a bundle of different colors, so I had lots of options, because you'll wanna take your thread and lay it in here to see, do you like how it looks?

Peggy: Sure, and the waxed thread just helps you get it--it's not any stronger, it just helps you get it through.

Cindy: It does give it a little more strength.

Peggy: Okay, than regular thread?

Cindy: Right, and it will--it grabs and holds, so when you're pulling it through, you need to make sure you're pulling it tight and keeping it--good tension on it because it's gonna grab it and stay put.

Peggy: I just am so excited about this concept.

Cindy: So then the next thing is decide on the color of grommets that you would like to use on your shoes.

So being leather, you would do eyelets.

Eyelets do not have a backing on them.

Peggy: Oh, and grommets do?

Cindy: And grommets do because if you use eyelets on fabric, you can pull the eyelet out.

Eyelets set themselves.

Peggy: Because it'll ravel around.

Cindy: It doesn't have a backing, so it just--it doesn't have enough to grab.

Peggy: So leather doesn't need it.

I see, okay, that's a great tip, so say that again, eyelets?

Cindy: On leather.

Peggy: On leather, grommets-- Cindy: Grommets with washers on fabric.

Peggy: Okay, okay, good one.

Cindy: So then you can decide whatever color.

You can get grommets in any color you want.

Peggy: Sure, sure, I mean, I could even get red?

Cindy: You could even get red.

Peggy: Okay, I mean, when you think about it, there's a lot of different options you have on these shoes.

Cindy: Right.

Peggy: I think that's what makes them so much fun to me.

Cindy: So now once you've decided on your soles-- Peggy: Your thread color.

Cindy: Your thread color.

Peggy: You got your grommets.

Cindy: Got your grommets, you've got your fabric.

Okay, now we're going to get your pattern.

Find a pattern online that you like.

I do recommend you get one that has the stitching holes that are gonna line up with your soles.

Peggy: Yeah, so true confession, I tried to make these by your instructions, but I didn't listen to all of your instructions.

Cindy: When you're printing out your pattern-- Peggy: I didn't think I needed these.

Cindy: Right, and you also have to make sure that you're matching.

If it says 4 inches, make sure that 4-inch mark lines up.

Peggy: Because these actually match to the holes on the shoe.

Cindy: On the shoes, because if you don't, what can happen is when you go to line this up, you could be off by half an inch or quarter of an inch.

Peggy: And it makes a big difference-- Cindy: It makes a big difference because it doesn't fit up here where it's supposed to, so it's imperative that you print it to the right size.

Peggy: And also, I think--you haven't seen my horrible shoes yet, but I didn't--mine didn't print to scale.

Even though when I printed the pattern out, it said it was to scale, I really didn't-- Cindy: Take the time to measure the scale more.

Peggy: Not exactly.

I didn't do it--like, it was a quarter inch off, but what I thought--what I didn't realize, a quarter inch extrapolated to this whole shoe would be enough to completely annihilate the whole shoe, but you don't learn that until you actually start to attach it onto the shoe, and that's after hours of work.

Cindy: So it's better to--before going through all of this work, make sure that this is printed to exact scale because even an eighth of an inch can compound to a quarter of an inch.

Peggy: It did, and it messed up.

It messed up the whole shoe, so be careful when you print your pattern out.

I still haven't gotten the nerve to go back in and do it again, and you want these little holes.

This is amazing how important that is, so I am sorry that I didn't listen to you when you told me to do that.

Cindy: And if you wanted to know size, you know, how much fabric, this is a third of a yard.

Peggy: Okay.

Cindy: This is approximately 2 square feet of leather.

When it comes to leather, it doesn't have to be-- Peggy: It doesn't have to be straight.

Cindy: It doesn't have a grain, it doesn't have anything, so this can be manipulated around here however you need it.

Peggy: Sure, sure.

Cindy: When it comes to this, the same thing.

You want it one side, you're doing the other side, you're doing your tongue and flipping your tongue.

Peggy: So I noticed when you did the Chanel, you were worried about the logo, but if you're dealing with the solids or what you were dealing with, it doesn't make a difference, does it?

Cindy: No, it doesn't.

You can lay it however you want to on here.

Peggy: Okay, all right.

Cindy: So now you've decided on your fabric.

Now the next step is to quilt your fabric.

So what I did was take the exterior fabric and quilt it to the foam interfacing.

Peggy: Okay.

Cindy: Once you've done that, you're gonna lay it over here because that's just gonna give it structure.

Peggy: It does, it's really nice.

Mine is horrible.

This is so nice.

Cindy: And then you lay your pattern on here, trace around your pattern, flip it over, put your tongue on there, trace it, and flip it over, and the whole point of that is so that next you can attach that to your lining fabric.

Peggy: So you know, I know this is really crazy, but when I was going through this process, I kept forgetting that I had two shoes.

Cindy: It is hard.

Peggy: Isn't that weird?

I kept forgetting that I had two shoes, so I kept thinking, "Well, this is one, this is two, that's enough."

There's two shoes you're making.

Cindy: Two shoes.

Peggy: So that was just a weird-- Cindy: And you have to make sure you get enough grommets for two shoes.

Peggy: Yes, yes.

Cindy: So then once you've got that together, now I've layered the lining, the exterior-- Peggy: Right sides together.

Cindy: Right sides together.

Peggy: Okay.

Cindy: Pinned it all in place.

Peggy: This looks so good.

Cindy: And then you're gonna topstitch--or you're gonna stitch around the top of everything, leaving the bottom part open so you can turn it.

Peggy: Okay, so when you cut here, or when you--sorry.

Cindy: So yes, when you come in here, you're gonna leave yourself a quarter-inch seam allowance.

Peggy: Oh, I see, that's not much.

Cindy: You don't want a whole lot because when you have to turn this, you don't want a lot of bulk in that seam, but I stitched it twice so that my quilting lines won't pop out.

So once you have it all cut out, now you've got your piece.

Peggy: That's so pretty.

Cindy: I've turned it.

Peggy: It's so stable.

Cindy: Yes, it stands up nice, gives a nice shoe.

Peggy: It does, and my choices are just whatever.

Like, did you choose cotton for a reason, or--?

Cindy: Cotton breathes really well, so that's why I chose cotton for the lining.

Peggy: Well, you know, one other thing that really messed me up is when I put my pattern together, I put these two pieces together and I left an opening there.

Cindy: And when you do that, you're going to have the dart sewn up here.

Peggy: Right, so it hurts.

Cindy: Yeah, you want it on-- Peggy: It hurts on the back of my heel.

Cindy: You want it down here because it's going to be covered by this.

Peggy: Yes, that's a big thing.

Cindy: It's a big thing.

Peggy: Just an FYI.

Cindy: But you leave it open initially, and once you've got it turned, you're going to topstitch all the way around.

You're going to mark your grommet holes on the outside, okay, and you're gonna flip it over, lay your pattern piece on top, and then mark all your stitching holes on the inside.

Peggy: And how do you mark those?

Cindy: With my pen.

Peggy: Okay.

Cindy: So you just come along-- Peggy: So you just put a little hole in the paper?

Cindy: I put a hole in the paper.

Peggy: Oh, okay.

Cindy: This one didn't have it, but those were the holes, and then you just line it up because you need to make sure once you have this topstitched and pressed that it all lines up the same, and then you just come in here and mark all your little holes.

Peggy: Okay, so question: when you're doing that, does it matter if you're marking this side or this side?

Cindy: Yes, it does, because when this is sitting in your shoe like this, you have to see it here.

If you put it on the outside, you're not going to see that marking.

Defeated the purpose.

Peggy: You know, it's funny because when I did it, I thought, "Well, you can't see the holes anyway.

Why do I bother marking them?"

That's--because I missed this step on the right--you know, on the lining, I messed up the next step.

Cindy: And your linings was dark, so then if you'll use a silver-- Peggy: I did a nice black silk lining.

Cindy: Yeah, it was beautiful.

Peggy: It was beautiful, it's just they're terrible shoes, but they're beautiful.

Cindy: But if you'll use a silver, it'll mark on a dark.

You can see it on a dark thread--on a dark fabric.

Peggy: Okay, these are really great tips because all these little tips really make an easier process.

Cindy: Trial by error, yeah.

Peggy: Yeah, and a more successful shoe.

Cindy: So then once you've got all this marked, you've got your grommets marked, now it's time to set your grommets.

Peggy: Okay.

Cindy: So we need to get our grommets out here.

First you're gonna punch the holes.

Peggy: This is fun.

This is the fun time, I think.

Cindy: This is the fun, yes, getting creative with this.

Peggy: You want to wait until you're really upset at something in life.

Cindy: Punch your holes.

Put your grommet in from the front side.

Peggy: The decorative side is out.

Cindy: The decorative side is out.

Lay it on top, put a washer on.

Lay this on here.

Peggy: This is hard to screw up, yes?

Cindy: Yes, it is.

Well, you could if you put your grommet on the wrong side.

Peggy: Since I won't hit it when you're holding it, I won't-- Cindy: Let's protect the table.

Peggy: There you go.

No, no, I won't do that because if I miss, I'd hit your hand.

So just a couple hits is all it takes.

Cindy: That's all it takes.

Peggy: Okay, that was fun.=, let's do that one more time.

Cindy: Well, let's do it on an eyelet now.

Peggy: Okay, now you take--you don't try to cut that through.

You actually like-- Cindy: I'm gonna punch it, yeah.

Peggy: Use a little hole punch.

Cindy: A little hole punch because you don't want this to fray, and if you happen to get close to the quilting line, I recommend putting a little Fray Check on there to keep it from going anywhere.

Peggy: Because a lot of times I'll just use the point of my scissors to like make a hole.

Cindy: And it'll be too big, your grommet might pull out.

Peggy: It does, it does.

Cindy: So if you're doing leather-- Peggy: So what is this little nifty tool here?

Cindy: It's a hole punch.

Peggy: It's a hole punch of different size holes?

Cindy: Right, so you can rotate to whatever size you need.

Peggy: Oh, that's cool.

Cindy: So I recommend before you punch your holes first, punch it on a scrap piece of fabric, test your grommet to make sure it's going to fit in here and be good.

Peggy: And what maybe thread loops through it so that it doesn't, you know, pull out or something?

Look how smooth that goes.

Oh, that's amazing.

Cindy: So now for an eyelet, the tools look the same, but they are different.

Peggy: Okay.

Cindy: So put your little eyelet down there.

Peggy: And this is leather?

Cindy: And this is leather.

Peggy: Because you don't have a back.

Cindy: Right.

Peggy: So what the--the teeth are just going to come through and get spread open.

Cindy: That's why this is rounded.

And so when you pound this, see how it just spread to the back?

Peggy: Oh, that's nice, yeah, that is nice though.

Cindy: And it doesn't go anywhere.

Peggy: It's plenty secure.

Cindy: Yep.

Peggy: Okay, so it doesn't need any great force, it just needs to lock in place.

Cindy: Right, so once you've done all of that, the last step to do on your shoe is to go back to your sewing machine and stitch this together so that you form a nice little-- Peggy: Dart.

Cindy: Dart.

Peggy: Like a little zigzag stitch?

Cindy: A little zigzag stitch.

You don't want to overlap, you just want to butt these together.

Peggy: So that zigzag will cover both sides.

Cindy: So we'll cover both sides, and don't worry how pretty it's going to look, because like I said, it's going to be behind this.

Peggy: Okay, so you've made that.

You got the grommets, you're good to go.

Cindy: Right.

Peggy: You've got your tongue.

Cindy: Got my tongue here.

Peggy: Okay, and now you're going to sew it all together.

Cindy: Now we're going to sew it on.

So I started on the insole-- Peggy: Question for you.

Cindy: Okay.

Peggy: Would you make these both first, or would you--?

Cindy: I would just because I want to be done with every step.

I don't want to forget a step.

Peggy: And you don't want to make one shoe and then go repeat it again?

Cindy: Right.

Peggy: Okay, so you'd make the both tops.

Cindy: I'd make both tops.

Peggy: Yeah, I'm listening to everything you say now because I didn't listen to you before, and I just really didn't do well.

Cindy: So I would get all of your sewing done, your grommet setting done, so you can put those tools away because you don't need these anymore.

At this point, you're just ready to sew it to this.

Peggy: Okay, okay.

Cindy: So I started-- Peggy: So I'm just curious--sorry, I don't mean to interrupt, but like how long do you think this process should take?

Like, give me a time frame just so that I don't think I'm super fast, or I don't think I'm really slow, because I don't think I had a vision as to how long it was gonna take me, so when it was taking a while, I thought, "Okay, like, I gotta cut out some of these steps."

Cindy: Well, when it came to this, I think because I did a simple quilting pattern, this only took 30 minutes to quilt all of this if even.

Lay it down, draw this out, topstitch again, we're talking maybe two hours from start to getting to where you're ready to sew.

Peggy: Okay, okay, I think that's helpful for me.

I know it's not about the journey--or it's not about the destination, it's the journey, but I'm very destination-oriented, so I appreciate that.

Okay, so now we're gonna attach.

Cindy: Now we're gonna attach.

The--you can start wherever you want, but the easiest thing to do is on most soles, they're going to have, and it may be hard to see, but an arrow on the inside.

Peggy: Oh, you can really see on the white?

Cindy: Yep.

Peggy: Okay.

Cindy: So when you got your pattern, your pattern also came with an arrow on one side, the same thing with the tongue.

It has an arrow on one side.

So that arrow has to line up with that arrow there because while they look the same, they're not the same when you try and line them up.

Peggy: That's very subtle.

Cindy: Yeah, so that arrow is very important.

Peggy: I think I might have done mine backwards.

Cindy: Live and learn.

Peggy: I know.

So what--if the arrow is lined up, the whole entire shoe will go, the holes, everything will line up?

Cindy: Right, right.

Peggy: Okay, so the job becomes much easier?

Cindy: Right.

Peggy: Okay, so how long--I'm just curious, how long did you know how to cut your thread?

Cindy: The--a good rule of thumb is--where's my--?

Okay, you take it and you lay--you wrap it around the soles of your shoe three times, and then give an extra 6 inches.

Peggy: Oh, that's a good rule.

Cindy: So obviously it's gonna take a lot more the bigger your shoe, so I can't say you use 3 feet because this may be 3 feet, this may be 3 1/2 feet.

Peggy: So three times around.

Cindy: Three times around.

Peggy: Plus a little more.

Cindy: Plus a little bit more.

Peggy: Six inches.

Cindy: And yes, it's a lot, but just double it up, and let it go as you need to.

Peggy: And talk to me about that needle size.

That thing is not small.

Cindy: No, it's not, but you need to be able to, on the tongue part, get in there underneath the tongue, and that's--when it comes to that, it's--because you've already got this sewn on and it's more challenging to get it in there, so you need something to hold on to.

Peggy: Okay, so we start sewing, and we're sewing the base on.

Cindy: We're sewing the base on, so I started-- Peggy: Look how good that looks.

Cindy: You're doing what's called a running stitch, so I came out, went in, out, in, out and in all the way around, even all the way down here, and then I went back.

And so by going back, going back into where I had gone before, and this is where you need to see your marks.

Peggy: Oh, the hole, the marks.

Cindy: Your marks.

Peggy: Oh, sure.

Cindy: To pull it out, so now you're completing your stitches.

Peggy: It looks so good.

Yours looks so good.

Cindy: It's easy to do.

I think everybody who does it, it's gonna look the same.

Peggy: It is, it's just amazing how, honestly, you just need to listen to each step.

Cindy: You need to do one step at a time.

Peggy: Yeah, should we show them?

Okay, this is super embarrassing, but we're just going to do it because you all will learn.

Cindy: That's what can happen.

Peggy: The lesson is listen to Cindy.

I decided I didn't want any stiffener, I didn't want it.

I wanted a nice, soft shoe.

My pattern didn't print out, so you can see that my tongue-- I have these air conditioning holes right in the end here.

Cindy: Well, part of that is because you didn't do the markings, and so you brought it too far down instead of-- the tongue is supposed to line up right at the edge.

Peggy: These are all these things that I know better.

This is the worst looking shoe ever, and this worst looking shoe took me like two hours to get to the point where I realized all the mistakes I had made, whereas if I had measured just correctly and listened to you-- Cindy: Well, and then it makes you think, is the pattern wrong?

Is there something wrong?

Peggy: Well, I actually did think it was wrong until I came to you, and then you told me what I had done wrong.

Cindy: Well, I asked if you printed it.

Peggy: So that's just good for embarrassing, but just know each of those steps is really important.

I just absolutely love this.

I told everybody this is my favorite show.

Thank you so much for all this work, and listen to Cindy.

That's my new motto.

Listen to Cindy.

Cindy: Thank you for having me.

Peggy: "In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different," said the iconic Coco Chanel.

This quote reminds us that true style comes from embracing what makes us unique.

Here on "Fit 2 Stitch," our goal is to celebrate that individuality and to give you the knowledge and confidence to be you.

From all of us in the studio, those behind the cameras, and our very supportive families, thank you for watching "Fit 2 Stitch."

Happy sewing.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: "Fit2Stitch" is made possible by Kai Scissors.

♪♪♪ announcer: Reliable Corporation.

♪♪♪ announcer: Bennos Buttons ♪♪♪ announcer: Plano Sewing Center.

♪♪♪ announcer: Elliott Berman Textiles.

♪♪♪ announcer: And WAWAK Sewing Supplies.

♪♪♪ announcer To order a four-DVD set of "Fit2Stitch Series 14," please visit our website at fit2stitch.com.

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