Kasut Manek (Beaded Shoes)
January 8, 2009 | Manek |
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Finally, I finished my second pair of Kasut Manek. It has been the most eye-straining project I have done. Average people take about 2 weeks, even months to complete but I took about 12 days (working throughtout day and night). I did my first pair about 9 years ago for my wedding, unfortunately it was stolen during a break-in.The manek or beads I used is Size 15 Japanese Seedbeads. I used 7 colours: white, sliverlined blue, yellow, sliverlined yellow, opaque green, opaque chartreuse and black. There are manek shoes made from bigger beads, size 11 but personally I prefer the smaller size as it makes the pattern look finer and better.
First of all, clamp a 16-count cross-stitch cloth onto a rectangular frame, trace an outline of the shoes cover of the pattern and size you want (I got it from the shoes-maker who is going to do the final part of the shoes). Start of with sewing the top and bottom outline (blue colour beads in my picture shown below). Next, start sewing the beads from the center of the pattern. The bead should be sewn in diagonal direction on a square of the cross-stitch cloth. Pick one bead into the needle for every square you sew. 
Upon finishing, you can give your manek shoes cover (shown above) to your shoes-maker to attach the sole and heel in order to complete the kasut manek. Choose the colour you prefer for the sole and heel. I used blue for the sole and white for the heel. The shoes-maker will need to measure your foot in order to perfectly fit your feet. If you can’t present yourself there, you can trace your foot outline on a paper and measure the width of the widest part across the upper arch of your feet. Some shoes-makers will want you to come again to fit the shoes before he nails and fixes it permanently.
***Update***
I developed a step by step tutorial for manek shoes beading:
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Hi,
The slippers are lovely. Do you like conduct lessons on how to make those lovely slippers? I am interested.
Gracie
Hi Gracie, I don’t conduct classes for the beaded slipper at this moment. I might write a tutorial on how to do the beading once I complete some of my on-hand projects.
thanks darling
those shoes are beautiful! I love them!
Beautiful! I’ve never seen this done. Something I must try.
lovely shoes. I’m keen to learn the skill. Please really do consider about teaching. If you r giving lessons please inform me.
wow! this is awesome! my friend’s mom used to make shoes like these but she made them into pumps instead.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2718/4475286082_9f3faa8ced_o.jpg
Great job!
Thanks for the photo, those shoes are beautiful
You friend’s mum must be a very patient person as this consume lots of time!
Hi there,
I would like to try doing these beaded shoes but have no idea where to get the face shoe shaped pattern from. Would you mind sharing it or giving instructions on how to do it? Thanks in advance.!
Like Weiling, I too would like to do my own beaded shoes following your detailed instructions. Thanks for sharing these. Very grateful if you would also share the instructions on how to get the shoe face shape for close toe and open toe. Am looking forward to beading my own pair of shoe. Many thanks.