DIY Skeleton Feet Shoes 2 Ways!

Two days before Halloween way back in 2013 I whipped up my very first pair of skeleton shoes. My nephews were small and trick or treating was still a huge thing for them. I’d get up early on Halloween and drive about 130 miles one way. And that night I would walk with the boys to collect candy from door to door to door.

Now a lot of adults wore full on costumes.

I thought that was pretty darn cool but not something I was interested in doing. First off Halloween in Oklahoma is either freezing cold or burning hot. It could swap from one extreme from one year to the next. Until it started go get dark on THAT HALLOWEEN you didn’t really know what to expect. It’s like Will Rogers said… “If you don’t like the weather in Oklahoma, wait a minute and it’ll change.”

The Halloween of 2012 I wore a totally awesome Halloween tee with a whole bunch of Halloween cupcakes on it. But my youngest nephew was in this phase where he did not get personal space. He’d put his face a few inches from yours to talk to you. Or he’d sit there and pet your arm as you watched TV on the couch. And this Halloween shirt was just too much for him. Over and over and over he’d grab at my shirt and ask… “Which cupcake would you want to eat?”

I’ve gotta tell you, that night, I got all sorts of grabbed. Not wanting to deal with that whole business again in 2014, I decided to wear my Halloween spirit solely on my soles. And these DIY skeleton feet shoes were born!

This post was originally published on October 29, 2013.

How Are You Going to Make Your Skeleton Feet Shoes?

Today we’re going to make these fabulously spooky kicks in 2 different ways… If you’ve got a fancy cutting machine, use the SVG file to cut the design and apply to your shoes with heat. If you don’t, print the design to transfer onto your shoes and paint with fabric paint.

The SVG file is scalable in a photo editing program or your cutting software. Using a measuring tape you can determine the size you need your feet bones to be and use the same file for any size shoes!

(Jump to the directions for the Painted Skeleton Feet Shoe Tutorial. Or continue reading for the HTV directions.)

Heat Transfer Vinyl Skeleton Feet:

Making your shoes with HTV is going to be the easiest and fastest way, hands down. I used glow-in-the-dark heat transfer vinyl but also considered using flocked white or plain old every day white HTV. Use whatever strikes your fancy. Or whatever you have in the craft stash!

Cutting Your Vinyl

Stick your HTV shiny side down onto a standard grip cutting mat. If you don’t have a brayer, might I suggest you buy one? Rolling it over your material presses it a little deeper into the adhesive on the mat making it stick much better. This is worth the investment when you’re cheap like me and rock old mats all of the time :)

Scale the skeleton foot SVG file to the appropriate size for your shoes in your cutting software. Duplicate the foot and flip horizontally before cutting.

Weed away the extra HTV making sure to get all of the little bits and pieces out.

Applying the Vinyl

Stuff your shoe to make it firm enough to take pressure. A rolled up washcloth is a good size for most shoes.

Preheat your iron as needed. For a mini iron, set the heat to high. Place the sticky side of the carrier sheet onto your shoe. Finagle the placement as necessary and starting from the center of the design and working out in a circle, apply heat directly to the carrier sheet. Be sure NOT to apply heat directly to the HTV as it will melt onto your iron surface. The HTV will begin to take on the texture of the fabric of your shoe, helping you to know when the transfer is complete.

Use a sharp craft knife to quickly trim and remove any HTV that has attached in places that doesn’t look right. While the HTV is still warm, it will easily come away from the canvas.

Slowly peel away the carrier sheet but keep your iron handy. If any vinyl comes away with the sheet gently place it back onto the shoe and apply more heat. Quick reminder – ALWAYS apply heat to the carrier sheet and not directly to the vinyl as it will melt.

Repeat for your second shoe and this pair of HTV skeleton feet shoes is done!

Painted Skeleton Feet

How to Print Your Skeleton Feet to the Correct Size to Transfer

If you already have photo editing software, like Photoshop, that you’re comfortable using, size accordingly there and use this link to skip down to the tutorial.

If you don’t have photo editing software I’ll show you how to use the free online photo editor Canva…

Click this link to go to Canva online. You’ll need to create an account or log in with a social like Facebook to get started.

Once logged in click the “Create a design” button in the top right of the screen. In the Custom Size enter a width of 11, height of 8.5 and the dropdown to inches.

A document will open the size of a letter piece of paper with horizontal page orientation.

Click “Uploads” on the left-hand size of the screen and then click the “Upload files” button. Find the downloaded SVG file and select it. Click the foot shape below the Images tab and it will appear in the document. FYI – because it’s a black design in a black bar it’s difficult to see, but I promise it’s there!

With the foot selected grab one of the circles on the corner of the image and drag to scale to the correct size (though not visible in the image above, you’ll see the dimensions as you drag).

Right-click on the foot and hit “Duplicate” from the drop-down menu. Grab one of the two feet and move it over to the side so that they are no longer overlapping.

Select the newly added foot and click the word “Flip” in the tool bar above the canvas. In the drop-down select “Flip horizontal”.

Click the button “Share” in the top right of the screen and scroll down until you see the “Download >” option and click.

Scroll down and select “PDF Print”.

Select download and a PDF will download to your computer.

On my Windows 10 PC it will be in the “Downloads” folder automatically. You may need to select the location where the file will download. Be sure to save it someplace you can easily find it.

Open the PDF file on your computer using Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have this program, it is available as a free download directly from Adobe here.

Load your printer is loaded with cheap copy paper (the thin stuff, not the thick or glossy stuff).

Click the printer icon in the top toolbar or hit both the “Control” and “P” buttons on your keyboard at the same time to print the PDF. Under “Page Sizing & Handling” select “Actual size”. If your feet print out at the wrong size, try printing again and make sure this button is selected.

Whew! Pattern printed and ready to go?

Creating Skeleton Shoes with Fabric Paint

Back in the day I just used my printed feet as a reference and drew them onto my shoes. If you’re comfortable with that, I say go for it! But if you’re not comfortable free-handing no worries – I’ll show you how to transfer the design!

Trim out each of the feet with a little bit of extra paper around the design. On the backside draw over the design with a piece of chalk. The black lines are bold enough you can easily see the design through regular copy paper. I’d suggest trying to keep the chalk only on these lines to prevent unnecessary transfer of extra chalk onto your shoe.

Quick tip – I only have color chalk on hand so I used purple as it was the least bright of all of the colors on the black fabric. White chalk is the best bet because color chalk will tint your fabric paint even if only slightly.

Shove something inside of the shoe to give yourself a firm surface to work on. I used a washcloth.

Gently place the design directly onto the top of your shoe. Take care to only touch the surface of the shoe when you’re sure of placement to prevent any chalky smudges.

Gently push a few pins through the paper and the surface of the shoe.

Use a pointy object to trace the design on top of the paper.

This will push the chalk into the canvas of the shoe and transfer the design!

Note – I’m using my Oxford Punch Needle because the tip is very pointy and it’s made to be held in your hand so it works well. You can also use a ball point pen, very sharp pencil, tiny screwdriver… you get the idea!

Gently pry up the straight pins and pull the paper straight up and away from the shoe to reveal the chalk transfer. If you’re having a hard time grabbing the small heads of your pins, use a pair of scissors or needle nose pliers to help pull them up.

Applying the Fabric Paint

Squeeze a small amount of Matte White Fabric Paint onto a piece of scrap paper. Gently put your stiff-bristled brush into the paint and then gently dab away the excess on the scrap paper. Dry brush the paint onto the shoe, through the chalk. Set the shoe to the side and give the paint time to dry, at least 20 minutes.

Using puffy White Puffy Paint fill in the middles of the bones making sure to allow the paint to be tall enough to create a nice depth to the design. Feel free to layer a few thinner layers of puffy paint as opposed to globbing on because the paint might drip downward.

Give the puffy paint plenty of time to dry before handling, overnight is best.

If you’re crafty and already have fabric paint and chalk in your craft stash, these will only set you back the cost of the sneakers. That’s a win in my book!