Shoe Mod

They were just about perfect, but they needed one small modification.

I bought these Mary Jane shoes the other day because they’re exactly what I want for tromping around this summer, and they’re made by Merrell. Merrells fit me very nicely.

mjblue.jpg

I didn’t mind the decorative trim on the strap, though I don’t plan to wear them much with blue clothing, but the zigzag trim, solid blue, bothered me. (The strap trim could be replaced, but I don’t think I’ll do that.)

So I took a permanent black ink laundry pen and carefully dyed all the blue thread (trust me, not my photography — that trim looks black, just like the shoes, in real life):

blackmj2-400.jpg

It took about ten minutes, and now I love the shoes. (I was careful not to touch the pen to the body of the shoe; I’m not sure what the solvents might do to the tech fabric, but I knew from experience that the ink wouldn’t harm the thread.)

I’ve used this trick on my favorite knock-around Bagallini bag, too, when something white scuffed up the nylon a bit.

I bought my Mary Janes at REI, but LL Bean sells them online. (And probably a hundred other places do, too.)

This entry was posted in Tips. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *