I was so excited to get the new issue of Craft and see that the theme is shoes, so I decided to do a shoe roundup! I've always been intrigued by handmade shoes, whether they be knit, sewn, crocheted, or repurposed, and I've found quite a few great tutorials/patterns around the web for you to check out if you're into the idea. And if you're not, hopefully these shoes will get you excited about the thought of shoe-making!

I'll start with some crochet versions, because I'm way into these ultra-recycle-tastic plastic bag sandals! They are by mleak on craftster, and there's a tutorial, yay! I'd love to know how long these guys last and if they start to hurt after awhile... hmmm...

Also crocheted are these super cute mary janes by April Magnuson, which are slippers, but you could put some kind of durable bottoms on to wear them outside. That goes for a lot of these shoes coming up, you could either wear them around the house, or attach them to flip flop bottoms, or recycled tire rubber...? Just throwing out ideas here.

More warm-weather shoes, here are some ballet flats sewn by iheartohmy on craftster. Super cute and basic - you could make them totally personalized depending on what fabric you use, or you could use fabric paint or pens and go crazy! And, tons of room for creativity with the embellishments also - instead of (or in addition to) a bow, think buttons, broaches, beads, embroidery.....

Craft has always done rad things for feet - back in issue 02 Janaina Vaughn designed these sewn mary jane slippers. And they're made from recycled jeans, yeah!! The Craft blog was so cool to put the pattern up as a free pdf podcast download!

And speaking of mary jane style slippers, I happened to post a free pattern for this knit version a few months ago. It's a quick and easy project for you knitters out there! 

Also for the knitters, floofle put out a free pattern for these so-cute espadrilles that use recycled flip flop bottoms! They look like the perfect spring footwear! And if you like to improvise with your knitting, you could totally use the basic idea of this pattern to try out different styles of shoes - I made a couple different styles awhile back that were improvised, never figured out a pattern, but hopefully they'll give you some inspiration.

If you're in a part of the world where Spring is not yet showing its face, you could whip up a pair of wool boots and wear them while you still can - I made those long ago using a felted sweater and posted a tutorial here on craftster. Pretty darn easy and super cool looking! You can check out more recycled-sweater boots around craftster, like these by melodicdreams and jpilgrimd.

Lastly, a collection of knit shoes/boots with no free tutorials - interweave knits has a gallery of super unique knit shoes, from sandals to high heels to boots. And, those knit boots by cocoknits, love them!! Think I'm gonna have to buy the pattern when I finish up at least a few of my current knitting projects...

One more thing, if anyone who has read this far has no interest in making shoes and/or wants to buy a pair of super good-for-the-earth ones, take a look at the Blackspot Unswoosher and Sneaker sold by Adbusters. Totally organic, recycled, fair labor, vegetarian, awesome.

Ok I hope you've been inspired to make yourself some superduper custom creations for your feet! Have fun and show us what you come up with!!