Another Summer Holiday Project - Dyeing Some Shoes

The other day, in between waiting for the paint in LB's room to dry, as I was already in my painting clothes and quite messy, I decided to get on with another messy job I promised myself I would do in the summer holidays, namely dye this pair of brogues black.

These were my old brogues and I've since replaced them with another tan pair as they were looking very tired after several years of regular wear.  I only paid £4 for them originally from a charity shop, but as I'd quite recently got them re-heeled I didn't want to throw them out just yet and as a consequence, they were kicking around in the shoe basket.

I hit on the idea of dyeing them black as a back up pair of school shoes for LB.  I've bought her a new pair of shoes for school already, but as soon as she put them on instagram (as teenagers are apt to do) someone came back with 'they're too high for school'.  As far as I'm concerned they're not, but new rules state heels must not be more than 2cm high. These have a thick sole which might when combined with the heel come to over 2cm, but the heel itself isn't more than this.

Anyway, I decided that just in case, I'd dye these black and if the new shoes prove a problem, these can be used until the rules are relaxed a little as the term progresses (this usually happens) and she can get away with wearing the new ones.

I ordered a bottle of this Dylon leather dye from eBay (it cost £4.75) and set about applying the first coat.  It was a bit tricky with these because of the cut outs and having to make sure I got enough dye in the little holes to colour them properly, but the first coat seemed to go on okay.

The second coat I applied a few hours later, when the first had dried.  I left them overnight and the next day I used up what remained of another bottle of this dye that I'd used to dye some tan boots black earlier in the year. There was about a quarter of a bottle left, so in total they got just about 3 coats.  I then polished them with my normal shoe polish and I dug out some black laces from the shoe cleaning box and the shoes were transformed ready for the new school term.  Here's a picture of me wearing them.

I was really pleased with how they worked out.  I'd really recommend this shoe dye to anyone thinking of doing the same.  I might even start wearing them again myself as I don't currently have a flat pair of black shoes.  They may come in useful in the autumn/winter.

In addition, I won't be dashing out last minute like I had to last year, when the new school shoes I bought LB actually came apart within a couple of weeks. (They weren't super cheap ones either).  I know that these shoes have been tried and tested by me and are really hardwearing.