Quick and Easy Shoe Liner Repair

I love shoes, but I hate shoe shopping. As such, I will go to any lengths to keep my shoes around for as long as possible. Last night, I noticed that the heels of my grey Vans were almost worn through, so I threw together a quick hack from various scraps of other projects to keep them together and wearable for a little longer.

All in all, this process took about 45 minutes.

Step 1: Bill O' Materials

Materials:

1/4" thick felt

packing tape

grey fabric

janky, messed up shoes

Tools:

Hot Glue Gun

Scissors

Step 2: Tape Up the Heel Edge.

Cut a piece of packing tape that is as wide as the hole in the back wall of the shoe, and long enough to extend past the seam at the bottom.

Place the tape over the afflicted area of the shoe, and smooth the tape down as much as possible.

The packing tape is useful for making the back of the shoe water tight, since some parts of the heel walls were rubbed through to the exterior fabric. Plus, it is also resistant to friction wear, so I figured that if my cloth plug fails, the packing tape would be an extra layer of protection.

Step 3: Cut and Glue Felt to Plug Up Depression in Worn Area.

I had leftover felt from a laser cutter project, and it was roughly the same texture and thickness as the sole of the shoe.

Cut the felt into a rough semicircle, large enough to fully cover the worn out area in the heel.

Apply a liberal amount of hot glue to the underside of the plug.

Seal the rear edges of the plug with hot glue, by running a bead along the back edge.

Step 4: Cut a Strip of Fabric for the Back Wall of the Shoe.

Cut 2 strips of fabric to create a patch for the back wall of the shoe.

Each strip needs to be about 3" tall and 3" wide.

I had some soft fabric leftover from a quilt that I made that was also a similar color to the shoe, so I used it.

Step 5: "Hem" the Edges of the Patch.

I could sew, but I really didn't want to. A hack this quick and dirty doesn't deserve the time of setting up my sewing machine.

I hemmed the sides of the fabric by laying a bead of hot glue down on each of the 4 edges, and folding the edges over.

Step 6: Glue Fabric Patch Into Place.

Put a liberal amount of hot glue all over the back side of the patch, especially on the edges of the patch.

Gently mold the fabric into place over the packing tape.

Step 7: Make the Shoe Watertight.

After you're done with the patch, you might as well take the time to fix any other wear and tear. Hot glue does an adequate job of sealing up any gaps.