Tutorial: Ninja Sandals (Sewing Free)

In an effort to combat improper footwear in cosplay I present the following:

This is a tutorial for making Ninja style sandals as frequently seen throughout the series Naruto

Pros:
- Quick and Easy
- Cheap, Probably $15 or less
- 95% Accurate
- Requires Little or no skill beyond what you've learned in elementary school
- When it's this easy there's no excuse not to have a pair
- Comfortable because the base is still a real shoe

Cons:
- Not immensely durable. 2-5 wearings depending on activity level
- 5% Inaccurate (The little roll/seam that is on the toe and heel)

Step 1: Supplies
-Scissors
-Sandals
-Hockey Tape
-Knee Length Athletic Socks

My Supplies: Link

As you can see I used strapped sandals. Thong sandals would only work if you wanted to keep the thong (like sand village sandals). Flip-flops will technically work but really don’t look as good because the back tends to suck in to the overhang between your heel and the end of the sandal. The back strap provides support and keeps an even rise on the back. The tape should be the same color as the socks. The socks should be, but don’t absolutely have to be, long, which will be explained further later. Lots of the socks will have a logo on them but when it’s on the ankle or higher it won’t be any trouble. I've also colored over a logo with a black sharpie one time I made them and it worked fine as well.

Step 2: Creating the Base

The base is made by pulling the sock over top of the sandal.
Link
Link

Obviously the bigger the socks that you got the easier this will be. However, the socks that I used in the pictures (the third time I made them) I used Size 6-8 Socks to cover size 13 sandals. They were a little shorter than I would have liked but it turned out well.

Step 3: Making the Cut

I’ve used the same sandals each time I’ve done this. I try to follow the line of the sandal to make the cut.

I marked it out here with a fabric pencil (optional, I only did this for the demo)
Link

From there I used scissors to cut across following the end of the sandal and the line I had drawn. Personally I just tuck my toes back and slice through but it would be much safer to take the sandals off before cutting anything. Whatever you’re comfortable with.

This is what it looked like after the cut:
Link

Step 4: Seal It Up

At this point the hockey tape is used seal the edges, keep it tight and keep it from fraying. The first place to tape is the top. Put tape the top of the sandal on the edge, wrapping it around to hold the sock to the sandal. It’s a little weird to explain so here’s a picture:
Link

The next place that needs to be taped is the other side left open by cut which is taped to the inside sole of the Sandal underneath where your toes would be. Another sample picture:
Link

This one wasn’t quite as neat as some of the other I’ve done but it works and you get the idea. In this part I had the sandals off for the tutorials sake but I've done it with the sandal on. Either way will work but leaving them on and having someone tape it up for you works really well.

Step 5: Finish Up

Looking at the reference pictures you can see that there is a larger cuff at the ankles. This can be created by folding down the extra length of the socks down into that cuff. Obviously this is the solution to there being a logo on the sock if there is one. If you don’t have the extra long socks it won’t look bad but it’s possible that a few people will notice the missing Cuff.

YOU’RE DONE!

Hoorah! Sandals! Your finished product should look something like this:

Link
Link
Link

For me it’s never taken me more than half an hour to make these, I could probably do it in less than 10 minutes if I tried. I even made a pair in the parking lot of a convention right before it started. If you have any questions feel free to ask!