It’s time for Project Sewn’s challenge #3: “If the shoe fits: use a favorite pair of shoes from your own closet as an inspiration for your outfit”.

My name is Lori and I have a shoe problem. And this happens to be my favourite of all 4 Project Sewn 2013 challenges (duh).

While I have dozens of ideas for projects based on this challenge, some of which I outlined in a recent blog post entitled Did Someone Say Shoes?, one week to choose a pattern and source the right fabric and get it sewn up isn’t realistic for me at the mo’. So I thought I’d turn this challenge on its head and instead of creating a garment based on shoes, I’ve designed shoes based on a garment I created. It’s no secret I’m a big fan of Shoes of Prey, an Australian-based company that lets you custom-design women’s shoes and ships them for free, anywhere in the world. (Bonus for duty-weary and currency-exchange-shock-weary Canadians and other non-US countries: prices are in your local currency, and the company takes care of all import duties.) Sorry if this sounds like an infomercial — I’m not shilling for the company, but I have purchased 3 pairs of shoes from them and I’m pretty excited about the fact that you can CUSTOM. DESIGN. YOUR. OWN. DAMN. SHOES.

Here’s the blouse I chose for inspiration, which I sewed and blogged about last August in a post entitled I Just Opened a Can of Whoop-Ass on this Blouse (yeah, I was feeling pretty smug about having tamed that slippery, flimsy fabric). It’s Burda’s 10/2011 Chiffon blouse with tie band #128B. I made it with a sheer fabric (not sure what kind?) with shades of dark blue, purple, turquoise, and white.

Since it has a bit of a secretary feel, but it’s also a bit sexy because of the sheer fabric, I thought a pair of high-heeled oxfords would be just the thing. Here’s what I came up with using Shoes of Prey’s online design tool:

Dark blue patent leather with turquoise accents and white snakeskin upper! With 4-and-a-half-inch heel! If I ordered these for real, I might go down to a 3-inch heel. But if I ordered them in my dreams, I’d definitely keep the sky-high heel.

They even have matching dark-blue patent leather shoelaces, and turquoise insole. LOVE.

I played around with a few other shoe designs but that oxford above is definitely my fave. Here are a couple of other options:

Now I’m having a really hard time not ordering up a pair of those lace-up oxfords. Must….restrain…..self……

If you want to order up your own pair of custom shoes, use this link to get $20 off your Shoes of Prey order. Enjoy!