Over the weekend I chanced upon some wicked awesome shoes. They had so much going for them: They were bright orange! They were platform wedges! They were 60% off retail! But, as luck would have it, the last available pair was a half size smaller than my usual. Undeterred, I tried them on. The length of the footbed matched my foot just fine, but the shoes were so tight at the vamp that I could barely squeeze my toes in, leaving my heel dangling off the back. I bought them anyway. Hey, I figured this would make for an excellent opportunity to document how exactly I go about stretching some shoes. Also, omg they’re so cute and make me so tall.
First, I misted the underside of the vamp with several pumps of shoe stretch spray.
Then, I inserted the shoe stretchers and adjusted them until they were just a few turns beyond taut. This is a bit difficult to explain, but while adjusting the stretchers, you’ll reach a point when you first begin to feel resistance. In my experience, you don’t want to do too much stretching beyond this point. Even an eighth of an inch can make quite a bit of difference in fit and leather shoes will naturally give and stretch with wear. Remember, you can always stretch shoes just a tiny bit more, but once they’re overstretched, there’s no going back. Anyway, I left the stretchers in the shoes overnight. And in the morning…
…they fit! They’re still a bit snug here and there, but it’s nothing a little wear and extra shoe stretch spray can’t fix. I am so happy with them. WOOHOO! WOOHOO!