Pointe Shoe Tips: The Dog Ate My Pointe Shoes

Is today good day? Not if your dog found your pointe shoes. Pictured here is a brand new pointe shoe. With teeth marks. So sad. All that was left of its mate was a small piece of leather from the sole.

Make sure to keep your pointe shoes out of reach of your fur friends. Even a brand new pair that doesn’t smell like your feet can become a nice al dente chew toy in minutes. Imagine the temptation for your pets once the shoes are worn by their girl a few times?

A good habit is to take your mesh shoe bag out of your dance bag every night and hang it out of reach. A good practice to let your shoes dry out safely away from furry helpers.

Pointe Shoe Sewing Tips: Sides Pull Away from Ribbons & Elastic

How to Keep the top edges of your pointe shoes from gapping

🎵🎶🎶 Now whip it. Into shape. Shape it up. Get straight. Go forward. Move ahead. Try to detect it. It’s not to late. To whip it. Whip it good. 🎵🎶 ~ Devo

Do the top sides of your pointe shoe pull away from your foot and anchored ribbons, particularly as you are rolling through demi-pointe? Consider adding a whip stitch that is stitched around the drawstring channel (so you don’t inhibit the drawstring function). The whip stitch will create a bond between your ribbons/elastic and the top of the drawstring channel, keeping everything neatly together.

Some dancers may not need to add a whip stitch to every elastic connection. The pointe shoe is this photo only had a gapping problem on the front elastic connection, so that is where we added an extra whip stitch. Do what works for your feet!

As always, your sewing doesn’t have to be perfect. No one will see your uneven stitching, but they might notice gapping sides!

Adding a whip stitch can bond your ribbons and elastics to the top edge of your pointe shoe.