How to Sew Shoe Tongue

How to Sew Shoe Tongue If the tongue on your shoe has come loose or needs to be adjusted for better fit, you may need to sew it back in place. Here are the steps to sew a shoe tongue

 

How to Sew Shoe Tongue

How to Sew Shoe Tongue as Are you unsatisfied with how monotonous and generic your shoe looks? Do you want your sneakers to stand out from the others? Well turns out it’s not that difficult to turn your pair of kicks into a unique piece of customized art. Customizing shoes has been a trend for quite some time now. This article will help you to know how to sew shoe tongue.

There are many easy ways for you to transform your sneakers into a cool fashion statement. Some of the existing ways you can customize your shoes include painting unique designs, using custom laces, etc. One exceptional way you can upgrade your shoe is by adding custom tongues.

How to Sew Shoe Tongue

Traditional tongues can be quite dull and single colored, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You can easily transform them into uniquely designed parts by just sewing pieces of fabric onto them! It’s way easier than you think. So here’ show to how to sew shoe tongue! This article will help you to know how to sew shoe tongue.

You’ll Need to Sew Shoe Tongue

• A pair of shoes (Doesn’t have to be new)
• Scissors
• Needle
• Thread
• A sizeable piece of fabric (you can choose between a simple one or a designed one based on how you want your tongue to look)
• Fabric glue (optional)
• Paper
• Pencil

Step by Step Guide on How to Sew Shoe Tongue

Step 1

Remove the laces from your sneakers.

Step 2

Pull the tongue out of the sneaker. Now obviously the tongue is stitched to the shoe itself, what we mean is just bring the tongue out from inside the shoe.

Step 3

Place the tongue on top of a sheet of paper. Make sure the tongue lays flat on the paper.

Step 4

Using a pencil, carefully trace the outline of the tongue onto the sheet of paper.

Step 5

Cut the outline from the paper using a pair of scissors.

You may ask why you don’t just draw the outline directly onto the fabric, but having a paper cutout allows you to work with the fabric more carefully. Also as the entire shoe is attached to the tongue, it can be difficult to handle.

Step 6

Place the cutout onto a suitable piece of fabric. Make sure the design you want is included within the cutout.

Step 7

Using the pair of scissors, carefully cut the fabric in the shape of the cutout.

Congratulations! You’ve just gotten one step closer to sewing your own shoe tongue. Now you should have a piece of fabric in your hand that’s the exact shape of your shoe tongue.

Step 8

Prepare your needle and thread. Now if you have never sewed before, we recommend taking a look at this easy tutorial. If you still don’t feel comfortable in your ability to sew, we recommend asking for help from someone who can.

Step 9 (Optional)

In order to sew properly, you’d ideally want your fabric cutout to perfectly line up with your tongue. One easy way of doing it is to just glue the fabric to the tongue using fabric glue.

Do this very carefully as you may spill glue on to other parts of the shoe and stain the shoe itself.

Step 10

After making sure the cutout is perfectly in line with the tongue, carefully start sowing the outer edge of the cutout on the tongue. READ CAREFULLY ,You want to start sewing from the bottom of the tongue. If you do this, the area from where you start sewing will not be visible once you were the shoe.

Step 11

Slowly and carefully sew the cutout around the tongue. Take as much time as you need.

Step 12

Once you get around to the bottom of the tongue, complete the stitches by tying the thread and cutting it off.

FAQ

What Is the Tongue of the Shoe Made of?

Well, it depends on the kind of shoe really. Conventional fabric sneakers like converse or vans just have a fabric tongue. Dress shoe tongues are made out of leather or similar materials; however, they also have a cardboard inside to add rigidity to the tongue. Athletic shoes such as Basketball shoes may have tongues made out of breathable mesh to assure maximum comfort.

The top of the foot is cushioned by the shoe tongue. At the base of the eye stay, the shoe tongue is attached to the top of the vamp. Elastic centering straps or a tab that may be held by the laces may be affixed to the tongue’s edge. The tongue may be a single layer of leather or an inch of PU foam, depending on the shoe design.

How Do You Cut the Tongue of Your Shoe?

Well ideally you want your shoe tongue to stay attached, however if you’re talking about cutting some of the stitches off the tongue in order to loosen your fit, you first have to loosen it. Use a cloth to massage coconut oil, mink oil, or saddle soap into leather shoes to soften them. Allow the oil to sink into your shoes, and reapply as needed.

You may also use rubbing alcohol and Vaseline to soften your leather shoes. After that, using a sharp knife should do the trick. Make sure to glue the loose thread ends so that the stitches don’t come off even more.

What is a Gusset Tongue?

Whereas traditional tongues are sewn only from the bottom, gusset tongues are a special kind of tongue that are also sewn from the sides. This is done in order to prevent dust and other kind of unwanted particles from getting inside the shoe.

Conclusion

There you have it! By following our step by step guide on how to sew your shoe tongue, you can now add that little bit of extra flare to your sneakers. Although the process is quite straightforward, you need to be careful during some of the steps.

 Be careful while using the scissors and the glue. Additionally, choose a fabric color that goes well with the color of the shoe. You can mix it up even further by using different colored and designed fabrics on your left and right shoes.

So you can easily add more to the customization by adding designs on the tongues using stitches or paint, or even add different colored shoelaces.

You may read also – How to Make Shoe Lifts At Home