Upcycled Crocs

I used to work in hospitality, wearing white Crocs in the bakery and black Crocs in the kitchen. I no longer need them but because they're still in reasonable condition I wanted to use them somehow. Since they're not really my style I was looking online for a DIY to spruce them up a bit, but couldn't even find a nice picture of an upcycled or redecorated pair. Sooo.... I had to come up with a upcycling idea all by myself. This Instructable is the result. It's not a step-by-step instruction, but rather an initial idea from where you can go and do your own.

You will need:

scissors

punch

small and larger crochet hook

First, give the shoes a good clean! You'll have them on your lap and pressed against your bosoms a lot so you don't want the soles grimey...

Second, cut the back strap and upper part of the shoe off, then punch holes all around the rim of the sole. I stabbed right through app 4mm from the top, at 4mm distance between holes.

With the smaller crochet hook, I pulled a cotton thread (dishcloth cotton is good) through the holes all around the rim of the sole. I could have used a blunt needle to sew around, but found it too hard on my hands. The thread shouldn't be too thin, otherwise it cuts through the soft material of the sole too easily.

The Croc buttons on the sole came in handy to attach crocheted straps.

The strap over the toes I crocheted directly on to the sewn thread. I imagine it would be easy to make straps from leather or fabric or woven mats etc and sew them on with fine thread.

The flip flop toe divider is held in place by a simple button for which I cut out some of the sole with small scissors. I intended to glue the button in, but forgot. I might still do this with a little hot glue.

In the end, I decided to leave the back strap and just have slides instead of sandals. I think it looks better...

I hope you enjoyed this brief Instructable. Let me know what you think of the shoes!