Darning pointe shoes

[Squeaky]

sorry, nothing constructive to add but OH BOY does this thread take me back, my first pair of pointes and darning them - our DT sat us down one 'lesson' when we all got them and gave us a lesson.  She also showed us how to do ribbons correctly. 

Have to say I am a bit lazy nowadays and when I got my first pair (again) about 3 years ago after taking it back up I used the suede tips....  great for a while but then they go slippy.  Next pair will be darned!

[Tinkerbell]

One of our forum members (Frangipani) will darn shoes for you for a fee. :-)

Please can you point me in her direction as I can't find her in searching the members 

 

Thanks in advance

[Anna C]

Please can you point me in her direction as I can't find her in searching the members 

 

Thanks in advance

Here you are: :-)

 

http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/user/51-frangapani/

[drdance]

I used to darn my own shoes - it took me HOURS! And lots of blisters on my fingers. But my teachers frowned upon suede tips. Having worked at ballet companies it's interesting to see what the pros do - no suede tips around - they cut the satin and then darn one 'ring' all around the cut edge, in white not pink thread. Mind you I'm not sure if these were only class/rehearsal shoes. They also did lots of other things to customise their shoes that schools would HATE like cutting a 'V' into the vamp and cross-threading it with darning thread, sewing ribbons/elastics onto the outside of the satin rather than the insides, cutting sections of material out below the drawstring near the heel to make the profile lower etc etc

[rainbowmagic]

Having waited so long, and paid so much for my daughter's first pair, I actually felt quite nauseous watching various You Tube clips showing how the professionals 'prepare' their shoes for a performance!

 

I too had the blisters once I finished darning them but feel like I have been through another rite of passage. Suede tips are also frowned upon by my daughter's teacher so it was never an option for her.

[annaliesey]

Oh boy! I've had to hit this forum after watching YouTube ... Too many variations of darning methods and now I'm confused.

 

Don't know whether to cut satin off or not or darn all over with blanket stitch or x's. I just got given thread by teacher and sent on my way lol!!

[Dance*is*life]

I used to darn all my pointe shoes and even sew tape inside the ribbons for more traction.  I would stitch through the satin at the end of the row, then I would sew the thread to the other side of the block and return to the first point.  After that I would blanket stitch the two rows together, (occasionally catching the satin too) and then stretch another row across sewing it at the end and blanket stitch the next row to the existing row.  Hope that's clear!  I rounded it off at the top and stitched the last row all the way across to secure it all. I didn't stitch it all to the satin - no need.

 

I am really impressed at how many of you are handy with the needle! The parents of my students seem incapable of sewing on elastics and ribbons - they either get Grandma to do it or take it to a seamstress, who inevitably sews everything on in the wrong place. They are always coming off in class and I keep needle and thread in my teaching bag permanently, so that I can quickly stitch them on for them. I am NOT going to volunteer to darn the pointe shoes! I tell them to stick patches on if it's slippery.

[Harwel]

That's the way I used to darn my point shoes Dance*is*life. My mum taught me when I got my first pair and I used to take great pride in darning my own point shoes.

[along for the ride mum]

I've just done my first pair ever for dd, I got her to wear them for an hour or so first and then using a tip from a YouTube video I cut the end off a

 

finger from an old pair of rubber glove to help grip the needle and followed the instructions on the video, chain stitching around the outside of the area to be darned and then blanket stitching into the chain stich, backwards and forwards around. I was actually really surprised how easy I found it and quite pleased with the results although it was scary starting! Good luck

Ps tried to find the video I used to post a link but can't find it now, sorry

[annaliesey]

That's the approach I've gone for dance*is*life after asking dd what she wanted me to do. She just didn't want me to cut the satin as said that was too sad!! Haha

 

So I've used 4ply wool after watching a youtube clip (the one that had yellow marigold finger off it) and done a pencil mark then followed it round with blanket/cross stitch design.

 

I'd post a pic if I knew how.

 

Dds teacher not keen on patches as she mentioned about them starting to peel off sometimes but other than that I didn't have a clue what to do.

 

Dd just given them a test run and happy now they aren't so slippery and says feels even enough

[orchidblue]

I've darned 3 pairs of pointe shoes this week. I do chain stitch, takes about an hour per shoe if Bloch or Grishko. Freed take a bit longer. Hate the thought of cutting satin off!

[along for the ride mum]

 

Ok so that seems to have worked, this is the video I used

Edited to add that I also had to google how to sew chain stitch and how to see blanket stitch! What would we do without our good friends google and YouTube!

Edited April 18, 2015 by along for the ride mum