ORCHID HEELS: DIY

diy | wardrobe

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2024

Flower shoes = THE moment.

Like many of us on Pinterest, I recently saw the most beautiful Orchid appliqué heels from a brand called Tissimum. Now... these original heels cost, wait for it, $2,000 (although I have seen users saying they found a pair in TKMaxx, so maybe the ones I found were very overpriced).

However, for the obvious reason (ahem, cost), I will not be buying the original versions. But, fortunately, I do have the ability to buy a sprig of faux orchids, a budget pair of heels, and superglue. I had also coincidentally ordered some heels online in early preparation of the Summer, and one pair was perfect for the DIY heels.

It took me an embarrassingly long time to find a good quality orchid with the colourings I wanted, but I eventually found an orchid stick on Hobbycraft. I was specifically looking for white coloured flowers, to match the shoes, but I did see a lot of options of the Tissimum heels with white orchid flowers and green heels, or pink orchids.

I wanted to make these heels in inspiration of the Tissimum design I saw, whilst adding my own spin to make sure that the end result did not just look like I had bought a dupe (although there would also be NOTHING wrong with buying a good old dupe - particularly as it seems impossible to get ahold of the original Tissimum heels in the UK). I also love to use original designs as a moodboard, and then making something that ends up different, coloured by my own design-flare, whilst still giving off the same 'vibe' as the original.

The fiddliest part of the DIY was definitely attaching the flower to the heels, but I think that this was largely down to the fact that the toe strap I was attaching the flowers to was made of a clear plastic. However, when they stuck, they were there for good. Surprisingly for a first attempt, these heels are not only wearable, but they are beautiful! I managed to avoid the glue migrating too much, so the shoe remains pretty much undamaged in any way, and the flowers still hold their shape.

My top tip is to try and keep your cut as clean as possible when cutting an orchid flower from the stem. Try to get the cut as close to the flower as possible, without causing the flower to fall apart. This makes it easier to glue the orchid flat onto the shoe. Since I still have a lot of orchid flowers left, I may give this DIY another go with a different pair of shoes - so stay tuned…

I’m super interested to know if you give this DIY a go, so comment below with any of your top tips (and as always, let me know if you have any DIY ideas)!