FINALLY - How I made my Re:Zero Emilia bootcovers

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HEEYY ALLL... so. I realize it's been ages since I've gotten my lazy butt on this site, but I've recently travelled overseas back to my home country Philippines and have been too busy lately with my personal life to tend to my deviantArt ;A; So sorry to those I haven't replied to in weeks (I promise I will when I get the time!), but for now - time to finallly upload the half-tutorial, half-reflective-and-slightly-unfortunate-documentation of my cosplay bootcovers for Re:Zero's beautiful silver-haired elf, Emilia.  

Image result for emilia re zero

So as my last few distressed statuses have described, I was initially planning to create a my very first pair of cosplay bootcovers from scratch - all through the tiring, tedious method of hand-sewing as I am yet to own (and learn how to use) a sewing a machine. Really Sad The process actually started out pretty well - a bought about a meter of white spandex-like fabric, purple satin + ribbon and, after much test and trial, actually managed to end up with pretty okay results:



Thank goodness I had only created one of these lest I would've wasted an incredible amount of time and work, as Murphy's Law decided to rear its ugly head not long after and I accidentally spilled some of my strong-bonding, yellow shoe glue all over the side of its gleaning white fabric. Clap 

Needless to say - the bootcover was completely ruined, and I had to carry out the unfortunate task of not only trashing what I had already created but my entire Plan A of crafting these guys from scratch. :| (Blank Stare) Not a total loss though - I learned quite a number of things from my first try at hand-sewing a project and if any of you guys are curious about the process at all (and will hopefully give it a much more professional, successful approach :D (Big Grin) ) - lemme know and I'll write up a separate journal entry on it. Adorable Girl Anime Emoji (Kawaii Wink) [V6] 
:happy: 

Alright, on to Plan B for Emilia's boots. Wink/Razz 

Before the whole fiasco I was able to place an order for the rest of Emilia's clothes. The lovely RoleCosplay.com  was able to send me a package of her dress and skirt in only a matter of a week - and, to my relief, a lovely pair of socks that resembled her boots as well. 



Now, I could've worn these socks as they were and probably could've paired them up with some white heels (as I've seen a lot of lovely Emilia cosplayers do :) (Smile) ), but I still wanted to try and turn them into actual boots, so I set about using the tried-and-tested cosplay trick of turning socks/stockings into functional and easy bootcovers to do so. For those who have also bought a Emilia cosplay with a similar pair of socks (or any other cosplay whose bootcovers come in the form of socks) - you can use these to achieve a much more accurate portrayal of her shoes! Dancing dummy 

- - - -

1. Using a pair of shoes I purchased from a thrift store, I wore one of them and carefully stretched one of the socks over the shoe, taking care to slowly wrap the sock fabric over the front, sole, and the heel (the fabric will be quite tightly stretched over this part of the shoe). Once this was done, I allowed the sock to stretch over the back of the shoe and slowly wore it over the rest of my leg. 

MAKE SURE you are using a nude-colored pair of shoes for this process - you want the color of your shoes to blend in with your skin - any other color can obviously show through the fabric. 


2. Standing in front of a mirror, I gave the sock a bit of adjusting to make sure it sat at the ideal length (over the knee), allowing an excess of fabric to pop out at the tip of the shoe (this can differ depending on your height - but being a little person I had quite a few centimetres of excess fabric sticking out a the end =P (Razz) ). Carefully removing the sock cover from my leg, I then folded and taped this excess fabric underneath the shoe. 


3. Finally, the nerve-wracking bit: gluing the sock onto the shoe. While an easy step, you've only got one shot at doing this so please allow yourself to take as much time as you need to carefully cut and glue everything into place.

I started by snipping a bit of fabric right where it stretched at the heel, cutting just a little bit more at a time to the point where I could safely fold and glue just underneath at the sole of the shoe (I used hot glue for this method as it was quick and easy to use - though feel free to use whatever other strong-bonding glue you wish Meow :3). 



I then removed the tape from the front end of the shoe where all my excess sock fabric was bunched up, and cut off just enough to safely glue the sock fabric flatly onto the underside of the shoe as well. Note: Ensure that the fabric still hugs and covers the sides of the shoe where the rim or edge of the underside pops out - this will help you out in the next few steps. ;) (Wink)


4. Next up: the purple sole and heel fabric! :D (Big Grin) Placing the shoe flat onto some purple felt, I traced an outline of its sole (you can take some additional measurements of the width of the actual shoe sole to translate onto your outline for higher accuracy). I taped this cover into the precise position I wanted it to fit onto the sole. 


For the heel, I measured its circumference with measuring tape and made an outline for this on purple felt as well. As heels usually curve at the top where it meets the fabric of the shoe, I made sure to include this onto my outlined shape.

Lastly, I measured the outer edges of the shoe with measuring tape, wrapping it around from just the bottom of the arch of one side to the other, and translated this onto my purple felt. 

After creating a duplicate of these outlines for the other shoe - you should end up with something that looks like this (may vary depending on the design of your shoes):


Note: Do NOT be afraid to be generous with the width of your outlines - you can easily just snip the excess off once you've glued them on. I was lucky enough that the felt covers were an exact fit onto the shoes (for the most part) - but save yourself the risk of wasting fabric draw your outlines just a little bit larger than what you've actually traced/measured.


5. AND FINALLY - gluing these felt covers on. This step is easy, and pretty self-explanatory - but just like the 3rd step, just ensure you are being as careful and as patient as possible since irreversible mistakes can easily take place. For most of the surface area on the sole, I used a bonding agent specifically made for shoes, wood, and plastic just to ensure a tighter, stronger bond (especially since this part would experience the most friction when I finally use the shoes).  I then glued the edges of the fabric onto the shoe with hot glue. paste it 


(The taping - although looks as if it was done by a one-armed chimp, helps keep the cover in place as you glue the felt on little by little.)
I also used hot glue for the outer lining of the shoe, taking care to ensure there isn't a white gap between the edge of this fabric and that of the sole - we want the felt covering to look as seamless as possible. (You can use the taping method as well to make sure it stays in place as you glue it on.)


And then finally - I wrapped my final felt cover around the heel. 


6. -This can depend on how well the sock hugs the circumference of your leg, but since I had issues with getting it to stay up on its desired height - I decided to handsew an elastic garter just below the opening. Worked like a charm:yay:   



...and voilaa!!! Accurate and durable stocking bootcovers for Emilia! Some pictures of the final results:


Despite all the trouble and pin-pricking accidents that led me to finally get this project done - I am quite happy with the outcome!Are You Happy Stay tuned for a few test photos of my Emilia wig and make-up, and also my upcoming Teen Titans Raven cosplay for ToyCon 2016!

'Till next time guys - and hopefully I won't stay MIA for too long this time around xx Danisnotonfire 11 
Oh and btw - shoutout to my awesome new watchers, you guys are the sweetest!!! Adorable Girl Anime Emoji (Heart Dance) [V6] 
© 2016 - 2024 curiosityorarrogance
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NinDKSketch's avatar
Hey, it's nice to hear from you again after some time. I hope your trip was fun and I also hope that you get some free time soon. It was nice to read about how you crafted your Emilia boots, though some of those things went over my head since I don't craft/sew that much. I can't wait to see your complete Emilia as well as your Raven as well.