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Upcycling Ugg boots – Recover and Fix old Ugg boots

Because sometimes a small rip can completely ruin a perfectly (otherwise) pair of uggs, I wanted to share how I fixed these sad pair of Ugg boots and gave them a second life by upcycling them.

before ugg boots

The daughter of my best friend had this very sad Ugg boots she was going to toss into the trash. Since we have the same size of shows, I immediately saw potential on them and thought I could try to fix them (they were hardly worn and my same shoe size) I always wanted to play with boots, so it was an awesome opportunity =]

fixing ugg boots tutorial

If my fix didn't work at least I knew that they were going to the trash anyway so I had them to explore and play conscience free =] I am happy to report my fix actually worked and I've been wearing them for the past year very successfully. I did want to wait for a see how they worked before I shared this post, I just didn't imagine it was going to take me 14 months to actually finish the post.

ugg fixing tutorial

After I fixed the ripped sides and sealed the seam with glue that the whole area got a little darker (because of the glue), so I decided to cover the front part of the boots (my plan was to cover the whole boot, but then I liked them just like this) So if you have a stain that's bugging you, or just want to add some color to your Uggs, this can help you accomplish that =]

I do want to point out something before you try this:

  • I am no shoe fixing professional, so if you have a small rip and your boots are fairly new you might want to consider taking them to a professional to have them fixed. Uggs are not cheap so I would hate for anyone to ruin their boots.
  • This process was very time consuming, so if you want something fast, this project might not be for you. After applying glue you have to let it sit for a day or so, so if you are fixing rips and covering (you need glue for both) you are looking at a minimum of 2 days.

So if you are committed to trying my fix, I am going to explain how I did this and list all the materials I used =]

The materials to fix Uggs

  1. Your fabric of choice, I used a thicker home decor canvas
  2. Newspaper, for you to trace the shape of the front boot
  3. E6000 glue
  4. I used Premium invisible thread but you can also use any strong upholstery threat
  5. Quilter's Curved Needle
  6. Scissors
  7. A round tip knife
  8. Normal pins (not in the picture)
  9. *Optional: pliers (not in the picture)
materials for fixing uggs

*If you only want to add the fabric and don't need to fix any rips, you will need the exact same materials.

The fixing process

(I apologize I have no pictures to show the process, I fixed them in such a rush, the night before leaving for ALT summit last year, I forgot to take pictures) but to make up for this, I created graphics that I think work even better than the pictures would =]

As you can see in the image below, the rip on the boots I got was pretty severe, so the first thing for me to do was to sew the rip close, to do it I used the curved needle and upholstery thread. Sometimes it can be a little hard to sew through the leather, so to help myself I used pliers to pull the needle in the hard places.

the rip in the boots

After the rip was sewed, I added glue on top of the seam (this makes it waterproof too) I spread it with the knife and tried to have a medium-thick layer. Let it sit for a whole day so it can get completely dry before moving to how to make the cover for the front of the boots.

The steps to cover them

1 make a template: To cover the boot I first made a newspaper template of the area that I was going to cover. To do this I first filled the boot with newspaper so that it's sturdy (like when you are wearing them) to hold the paper better, then I placed a sheet of paper on top and used pins to “pin” (just poke the pin through the boot seam) in the center (top and bottom) of the boot and also one on each side, I just used my fingernails to mark the seam of the boot, you can also do it with a pen, go all the way around inside the seam. After this remove the pins and cut the template with scissors.

2 cut the fabric: Once you have your newspaper template you can cut the fabric, to do this fold the fabric so that the right sides are facing each other, place the template on top of one of the wrong sides, and mark leaving at least a 1/4″ seam allowance (this will be the part you are going to fold in so that the edges of your fabric don't fray) To me it works better when I iron down the seam allowance so that I don't have to keep pushing the fabric when sewing.

graphic tutorial for fixing uggs

3 attach the fabric: To add the fabric to the boot, I first added glue to the bottom edge of the seam (not exactly on the seam but on the boot part as close to the seam as you can) carefully put the fabric as close to the seam as possible, pin it in place (pin all the way around the fabric) and then helping yourself with the round point knife, slowly “push” the fabric into the bottom seam* (this will help keep prolong the life of this “fix”) afte that, use pins to secure the fabric in place, carefully sew the fabric to the bottom binding of the boot and let the glue dry.

tutorial for fixing uggs

* In the photos below you can see that I sewed the sides but not the bottom seam, after a couple of months the bottom part started to show some wear and I decided to sew that too, just to make sure that it was going to last longer, so I recommend sewing it from the beginning.

4 sew the fabric: After the bottom seam is dry, carefully sew the rest of the fabric piece. I kept the pins there until I finish sewing. Remember, since the boot, it's hard to use the same holes the seams already have, and if it's too much grab the threat when sewing instead of going through the leader.

boots after
close up of the fixed boots

On the above image, you can see a close up of how I sewed the fabric piece to the boot. I skipped some wholes that the boot already have, just because I was a little tired, but I would recommend sewing all of them for a more “long-lasting” result.

tutorial for fixing uggs
fixing boots with a rip uggs
tutorial for fixing uggs
tutorial for fixing uggs

So there you go!
I wish I would have taken pictures of the process, that always helps me =] but I will not be fixing more boots for a while. If I do I will update this post but for now, I think this is a little help to those who want to try it out!

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Izabela

Saturday 19th of October 2013

OMG ur site has just saved me. I have ruined my very new UGGs and I was devastated, but thanks to your site I will be able to salvage them and use them again, thank you so much as soon as am done I will send you pictures xxx

Aranya

Wednesday 16th of October 2013

You have done such a beautiful job with this boots! I loooove it. http://www.metromela.com/2013/07/women-shoes-art-of-picking-them/

Carla @ Sweet Little Nursery

Monday 15th of April 2013

Love your creativity, and in times of recession like this, this is a perfect solution! I just love it.

Ned

Sunday 7th of April 2013

That's amazing! You did a great job on them and thanks for sharing the whole process of salvaging them in so much detail!

Anni

Wednesday 3rd of April 2013

I love this! you are so resourceful, it's amazing!

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