Alter Sandals for Pregnant Feet

Intro: Alter Sandals for Pregnant Feet

I have fat feet. They are wide, they are swollen, and no shoes fit me. I'm 34 weeks pregnant with twins, and my normally wide feet are ridiculously huge.  I was so excited to get my new sandals in the mail, and was very sad when at the widest setting, they were way too tight. I know that after the pregnancy they will fit. I wanted to wear them without changing them in any permanent way. (If you've ever bought new Birkenstocks, you know how much they cost, and you'd feel the same way about adding holes, etc. )

So here is an easy, quick and surprisingly comfortable way to alter them without damaging them.

STEP 1: You Will Need:

You will need sandals that are too tight.
Yarn and Yarn Needle
1" wide elastic. ( used for pajama waistbands)
If you have black elastic, that would be even better, but all I had was white.

You might ask:
Why not just poke a new hole?
  - I know these will fit after the pregnancy, and I didn't want to do any permanent damage, because they are brand new. That's also why I didn't just order a bigger size.
Why just not buckle them?
  - I tried wearing them not buckled, and almost wiped out. Too hard to balance and not loose your shoes.

STEP 2: Sew the Elastic

Thread your needle.
Start by coming up through the elastic and up through the first hole.
Go back down the second hole, and tie the end of the yarn so that it doesn't come undone.
(see pictures) Don't worry about the knots. You don't feel them, or see them.
Continue to go up and down in and out of the holes, and fasten off.

STEP 3: Get the Right Fit.

Now poke the little post though the elastic to get the right fit. You can try trial and error, or get someone to help you if you can't reach your feet.
Tuck the elastic under the buckle, as if it were the original strap. Trim it so it doesn't hang out too much. The original strap rests over the buckle.

You can also do this for the strap over the toe. Mine fit okay, so I didn't need too.

STEP 4: Have Comfy Feet.

Test them out, and enjoy some comfy feet. Now your feet won't hurt or go numb from wearing shoes that are too tight. They are very easy to slip on, and you don't have to fold yourself like a pretzel to tie them. Then, when the pregnancy is over, and you feet are no longer swollen, just snip off the elastic, and you're back to your original birks.

Enjoy!

Comments

[Daily Fitness tips]

You are real Jeanious its a awesome idea after reading these Tips for Pregnant Women i m little confuse about which shoes my wife wear in pregnancy you solve my problem

[tbonilla1]

Awesome idea!

[gemtree]

Oh, that's just SO clever. My sister gets an injured leg swollen occasionally. I will send her a link.

[Amiga500]

I like the non-damaging part of this.  I ended up with Crocs sandals, which still didn't fit right, so I put them in the dryer for a bit, to mold them to my feet.  Good fix at the time, but you can't get those back to the size they were.

[seamster]

At first glance I thought the title said "Altar Sandals for Pregnant Feet." I thought, "Special sandals for pregnant brides? This is going to be really weird."

Fortunately, this is much more normal and useful than whatever I was expecting.

[domestic_engineer]

yeah, when i published it I had a panicked moment that I used the wrong word. (altar instead of alter)

and I8nite, I had the same thought about pregnant feet.

but
"how to modify your sandals so they fit your big fat feet"   just didn't have a good ring to it. :)

[seamster]

If my wife had a pair of birks, we would have had to do this with our last pregnancy. As it was, she just stole my pair of crocs for the last few months...

Darn pregnant women, just doing whatever they want!

[domestic_engineer]

That's right!

I would have stolen my husbands shoes if he wasn't a size 13! :)

[l8nite]

I had the image of dozens of little feet popping out of one huge foot, has to be the wildest totally sober vision Ive ever had, I was laughing so hard the dogs started barking....

 Really great idea though

[jatoha]

Very clever!