Boot Buddy - Fabric Boot Form Tutorial

I may or may not have a boot obsession.

I have a lot of them. 

My husband can't seem to understand why in the world I would need more than 1 pair of brown boots. Bless his heart...

He also couldn't understand the absolute mess that they made it our closet.  I agree, see for yourself!

I know, so scary. They flop around all over the place, look a mess, get lost, and sadly there were even getting folds and cracking! *gasp*

I tried everything to find a better boot storage solution: 

Laying them down, 

squishing them together,

putting them under the bed (that's how you lose a pair ladies),

and if you look closely at the picture you can see that I even tried using hangers to form them. 

No good. 

But then I had one of those "Ahah" moments!

Why not make something that resembles the shape of a leg to hold them up? 

BINGO!

     Here's what you'll need:

 *  Strips of fabric that are appox 5"x 32" -give or take a bit

(You could take a 1/4 yard cut of fabric and cut it in half)

*sewing machine

*stuffing

Let's get started.

 1. First I trimmed my fabric scraps (yes, I totally used scraps) to the right length and width.  They don't have to be exact.  In fact, some of mine were wider and taller than others, and they still totally worked. I wouldn't recommend using fabric that is less than 4.5" wide, it will be way too hard to stuff.

 2. Fold your fabric piece like the picture above, right sides together, so it is approximately 5"x16". (One of my ends has a fold, but yours doesn't have to, you can cut it into two 5"x16" strips if you like)

3. Now, starting at one end, sew down the long side of the form, just a basic stitch.  You will want to leave one of the ends open for stuffing. Then sew down the other long side.
MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE AN END OPEN FOR STUFFING!

 4. Turn your form right sides out, and start stuffing.  You can use anything you want:

Plastic bags

batting

fabric scraps

old t shirts

whatever!

Plastic bags were definitely the easiest to stuff inside and move around.  I would suggest using them. 

But I did use a little bit of everything. 

 5.  Once your form is stuffed to your satisfactory, you need to sew up the end.
 Fold the unfinished edges inside, and shove it under your machine.

Like this...

 The sewn up end will look like this. Not the prettiest, but I'm not too picky. 

How long did that take you....4 minutes? 

I guarantee the next one will only take 3.

So make a bunch!!!!

They looked so cute it was hard to hide them inside the boots.

 This pair of boots was my worst offender for floppiness. 

And now look at them! Standing so tall!

 My closet looks much better, don't ya agree?

My husband was happy, I am happy, and I'm sure my boots are smiling too!

So go ahead, make some boot forms and get happy!

This is a great tutorial for beginner sewing.  Quick, easy, and fun to make!