How to Make DIY Yarn Ball Canvas Shoes – Free Tutorial

As you may already know, I’m a Crochet Designer too. And that means I’m pretty obsessed with yarn! I have seen lots of pairs of crochet themed shoes, but none that I was really in love with, so I made these Yarn Ball Canvas Shoes.

After making the DIY Watermelon Canvas Shoes, I felt pretty confident in my shoe painting abilities, so I decided to take the matters into my own hands and come up with a pair for myself!

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As you can probably tell, I have not sealed these shoes yet because I’m not 100% sure I’m done with them. I may add some crochet hooks and maybe add some detail to the purple parts, but I wanted to get this tutorial up for anyone else that may want to make a pair!

If I do make changes, I’ll add some update photos. I’ll probably make a few pairs anyway, so I’ll make sure to share as I go along.

**Updated photos at the end of this post

Ready to make yourself a pair of DIY Yarn Ball Canvas Shoes?

They’re super easy and just take a few materials!

Ball up some newspaper or tissue paper and stuff it inside

With pencil, draw yarn balls on the sides of both shoes. Don’t worry about extra markings, you can erase pencil from canvas! Set one shoe aside.

With Purple, paint the toe to the stitch lines, then paint the heel from bottom to stitch lines. I used a wide flat brush for the majority and then a thin round brush for the edges.

With Aqua, paint the top and tongue trim (I accidentally painted one shoe tongue purple and one aqua… oops!) I used a thin flat brush for this part.

Move to the sides and outline the yarn balls in black. For the yarn tails, I did a full outline (like a rectangle). Allow black to dry a bit before moving on. I used an extra fine round brush / detail brush.

With Any Colors, paint in the yarn ball centers & tails; I used a round brush. Go over some of the black outline as well. This will clean up the outline, plus add a little bit of shading as the black will poke out from underneath. Allow colors to dry a bit before moving on.

With Black, draw lines over the color to create “yarn strands”. I used an extra fine round brush / detail brush. I did 3 full line in the center, then I did the half lines beside them. The half lines create the illusion that yarn is tucked underneath. Allow to dry a bit before moving on.

With matching colors, go back over the top of the yarn balls, thinning out black “yarn strand” lines. Allow paint to dry completely per bottle instructions. I used an extra fine round / detail brush.

>>Complete instructions on other shoe.

Once both shoes are set, spray with acrylic paint sealer, per can instructions. Allow to set as directed.

That’s it! You’ve got the cutest yarn ball shoes!

You can add all sorts of other details, like [painted] crochet hooks, knitting needles, swatches…etc. You can even jazz them up with glitter! Of course, make sure you do this before you spray with the sealer.

I decided on mini hearts!! I think they’re perfect now!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the DIY Yarn Ball Canvas Shoes tutorial!

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Written pattern and photographs © 2018 Sonya Blackstone of She’s So Creative. Please do not sell, share, or modify this pattern, but instead share the link to where the pattern can be found. Do not use these photos for advertising without written permission. Do not post this tutorial on your own website without written permission. You may sell any finished items you create using She’s So Creative tutorials.

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