Straps for toddler ballet flats

I love wearing ballet flats. I have numerous (too many) pairs of them in every texture and color. I would love it if Addie could wear them too, but they always slip off of her feet.

When I found pair of rainbow sparkle flats in her size for $5.50 I couldn’t pass them up. I figured I could sew some pretty pink ribbon on each shoe and we could tie a bow to make sure they stayed on her foot.

Then I realized that if I used ribbon, she would never put on her shoes by herself. So I decided on elastic straps. I chose thin elastic (1/4″) and placed it toward the front of the shoe, but not so far forward it would be useless.

Turns out, it was still useless; the shoes kept slipping off of Addie’s heels. So I cut the elastic out of the shoe.

Next, I tried 1″ wide no roll elastic and moved it toward the back of the shoe. It now hits right at the highest part of her foot and the shoes don’t slip. I made bows out of light pink satin blanket binding and sewed them very securely onto the middle of the straps to make them a little more attractive.

Finished product is pretty darn adorable…I still have no idea if Addison will actually wear the shoes.  But if nothing else, they’ll look great on the floor of her closet!