Client contacted us with request to embroider the black canvas Converse shoes as a birthday present for her partner. After the discussion with the client, we picked the colour scheme and agreed on the floral motifs.
We design different floral motifs for side of the shoes and wreath around the logo on the shoe. She picked the most desired design. For the outer side of the shoe client picked a motif of three pink roses made of bullion knots surrounded by tendrils in stem stitch with leaves in green in fly stitch surrounded by small flowers in shades of blue, pink and yellow in French knots. For the wreath around the Rubber Logo on the inner part of the shoe picked the wreath with leaves and small flowers in same shades as on the side of the shoe.
The stitches we chosen to use on the wreath flowers were French knots and Rosettes. We used the DMC threads for their high quality in colour fasting. As the Converse were in black colour, we decided to transfer the design onto the water-soluble fabric and then we easily positioned them on the side of the shoes, so they match. The whole design was stitched in two strands of DMC threads to keep the shapes sharp and maintain the delicate effect of the embroidery.
As the canvas on the shoes is thicker than usual embroidery fabric, we used Glovers needles by our go to supplier John James and occasionally had some help by using long nose pliers to protect our fingers.
Once the stitching was finished, we carefully removed the water-soluble fabric. To protect the stitching and not to have the water-soluble fabric all over the shoes we cut of as much as possible before we dissolved the water-soluble in water. After the drying, we applied water repellent sealant to protect the shoes. Once the sealant was dry, we put the original shoe laces back and gift wrapped the shoes into our branded canvas bag.
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Photography by Catherine East
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