Making Flip Flops – Friendship Bracelet Straps (Part 2 of 2)

• Flip flop soles (home made OR store-bought)
• Razor blade
• Sand paper block
• Plasti-dip and old brush
• Acrylic paint and brush
• Acrylic yarn in your choice of color(s)

Now we’re going to start making our straps. Take your yarn and cut long, 72 inch strips of each color. I chose 3 and I wouldn’t go above that (it will get really thick in between your toes if you do.

Loop the yarn at the mid point and shove through the hole you drilled near the toe portion. Knot the yarn so that it holds steady and doesn’t come up through the hole.

Flip that sucker over and start making a chevron friendship braid. Braid out for about 2-3 inches. Every once in a while put your foot on the flop and see if you you’re at the point that you want the straps to divide.

Divide the yarn into the left section and right for each strap. On the right continue your backward knots for several inches. I’d say 4-5.

Take up the left side and continue your forward knots for several inches as well.

When working on the next shoe, be sure to mimic the pattern and lengths you’ve already created on the other sandal.

Take your razor blade or an X-acto knife and on the backside cut around the hole near to toe to make it larger. Don’t go all of the way through, just through the first layer of cork.

Take your hot glue gun and run glue all around the outside edge of the yarn just under your knot and shove into the hole you’ve created.

Take your scissors and trim the knot off. You should have enough glue to hold it into place so don’t worry about it falling back through.

Now hot glue the heck out of that sucker. Don’t worry about it being bubbled up or whatnot, we’ll take care of that in just a bit. Notice how the yarn is kind of melted? Acrylic is plastic and will melt with the heat of the hot glue, FYI.

Shove the straps into the back holes. You might need something pointy to help get it through (I used the end of a paintbrush).

Put the flip flops on your feet and determine how tight you want the straps. Pull through underneath until you get a comfortable fit. Remember that friendship bracelets kind kind of have give or stretch (play with one and you’ll see what I mean). Keep this in mind and perhaps make the straps just a bit tighter than you would normally do.

Glue the heck out of the straps just like you did the toe strap. Allow to cool fully.

Take your razor blade and shave off the excess glue and whatnot, making the bottom as smooth as possible.

To finish up, I painted around the outside of the soles with some bright blue paint.

When dry, I hit them with my sandpaper block to distress them a bit.

Lastly turn your flip flops over and hit them with one last coat of Plasti-Dip to cover up the unsightly yarn glue gob thing happening back there.

And there you have them! Homemade flip flops from beginning to end! Whew. Hope you enjoyed this post!