How to Sew Pointe Shoes

There comes a point in every girl’s life …

when she gets to live vicariously through her daughter.

I think you know my ignominious past with ballet. I started late and was the tall chubby duckling amidst tiny swans. And then I tried again on the Upper East Side in a refined studio, now an adult and at the proper weight. But I was travelling to Asia a lot and was too tired to do it seriously. My final endeavour was in a grunge studio in SoHo where all the “beginners” were professionals and I was wearing pink tights and pink ballet shoes with huge bows (forgot to cut the strings) in a sea of black. And then I got pregnant.

With this girl.

Thankfully, she has the body for dance and started at just the right time so she doesn’t have to suffer such humiliation.

But I have to sew the pointe shoes.

There are better tutorials than mine, but if you’re here, this will do in a pinch. There will be one elastic that you have to cut in two. Fold the end of one like this

and sew it in place, preferably in a square for the maximum amount of strength in the seams. (I didn’t do that because I had no thimble and my fingers began to hurt, but this will hold).

Measure your (daughter’s) foot in the shoe so you know how much to gather on the other side of the elastic. Make sure you sew the elastic outside the shoe or you’ll get blisters. Also, make sure that the elastic is not twisted before you sew it in place.

You should pull the drawstrings (not too tight) and make a double knot. You can snip them so that they fall above the end of the pointe shoe and not on the floor. But don’t cut them too short or you can’t adjust them later.

The ribbons are the easiest. You can fold the heel of the pointe shoe down to see where the sides pucker and pin the ribbon in place there, but an easy method (for beginners) is simply to sew the ribbon to the right (or left, depending on which side) of the seam.

Like so.

Again, the ribbons should be sewn in the form of a square, and you should aim  to sew them to the canvas interior so that the seam is hidden on the outside. While this is not possible for the elastic, which needs to hold securely, it is possibly for the ribbons.

Alas. You live and learn.

And then a girl(s)’ dream comes true.

Plié.

Hop!

Hop!

Look mom – I’m flying!

Aw sweetie – what form!

I suppose I shall have to take them off eventually.

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