How to Make Naruto Sandals

Naruto is the main character in a Japanese-manga comic book and an anime-cartoon adaptation. Naruto is an adolescent ninja trainee who aspires to be the best in the land. His distinctive, high-topped, open-soled sandals are a fashion craze among today's teens. You can learn to make a pair of Naruto sandals on your own.

Things You'll Need

• 1/2 yard of cotton-duck cloth
• Thread
• Hot glue
• Flip-flops
• Upholstery tacks
• Scissors
• Sewing machine
• Hot-glue gun
• Fabric pencil
• Pins

Instructions

Create the Foundation of Your Sandals

1. Cut the thong off the flip-flops you want to make into sandals.

2. Cut the duck cloth in half and then fold a piece of the cloth in half to form a rectangle. Place the rectangle on a sturdy table.

3. Place the outside edge of your foot on the fabric rectangle, parallel to the long sides, with your ankle in the middle.

4. Use the fabric pen to trace the top of your foot on the cloth, from the tips of your toes, up your ankle and to the edge of the fabric.

5. Make a dark mark on the cloth where your toes meet your foot and another mark where your ankle meets your leg.

6. Use a short stitch on your sewing machine to stitch along the line on the fabric, from one dark mark to the other.

7. Cut the cloth, following the line you drew, but cut about 1/2 inch outside of it.

8. Cut a series of nicks into the edge of the fabric, just outside the stitching. Avoid cutting through the stitching.

Finish Your Naruto Sandals

1. Turn the stitched cloth inside out and match up the unsewn edges at the top.

2. Use the sewing machine to stitch from your first dark mark to 1/2 inch from the edge of the fabric. Make another stitch from the second dark mark to 1/2 inch from the edge of the fabric.

3. Turn the cloth inside out again and slide it onto your foot. Match up the two edges along your heel, pin the edges of the cloth together and draw a line where the heel seam will go.

4. Take the fabric off of your foot and stitch along the heel seam line to about halfway up your ankle. Then, trim the cloth about 1/2 inch outside the heel seam, turn the cloth inside out and stitch the seam the rest of the way.

5. Roll back the cloth at the toe and at the top to form cuffs.

6. Stand on top of a flip-flop and pull the fabric you've been sewing down tightly over your toes. Using the pins, pin the cloth all along the edges of the flip-flop.

7. Remove your foot and cut through the cloth about 1/2 inch below the bottom of the flip-flop. Then, fold the bottom edge of the cloth over 1/2 inch and stitch it.

8. Get the remaining duck cloth and cut a 5 by 4-inch piece of it, folding it lengthwise.

9. Stitch the short sides of the cloth together and turn the cloth inside out.

10. Center the piece of cloth on the bottom of the heel of the modified flip-flop. You should leave 1/2 inch of the open side of the piece of cloth to hang over the edge of the flip-flop, stitching around the top three edges of the piece of cloth. Then, fold the bottom edge over the bottom of the shoe and stitch it.

11. Remove one or two tacks at a time and put down a line of hot glue along the edge of the flip-flop between the holes. Push the fabric back down firmly onto the glue. Repeat this process around the entire flip-flop.

Tips & Warnings

• Be careful with the glue gun. It's easy to burn yourself if you're not paying attention while you use it.