Bubble Wrap Boot Keepers

I have big feet and living in Japan with big feet means I cannot buy shoes (well, I can buy men’s athletic shoes). When I go to America I stock up on as many shoes that I can and I must make sure they last as long as possible.

This winter I noticed that two pairs of my boots wouldn’t zip up anymore and the reason seemed to be that I wasn’t keeping them upright but lazily flopped over.

This is not a good way to keep boots. I may have learned this earlier if I hadn’t been born and raised in South Florida.

I decided that a quick DIY project would be to make a few pairs of boot keepers for my boots. I went on Pinterest to find a couple of tutorials and many called for cotton batting. I don’t know how it is in the States, but cotton batting is expensive in Japan. I looked around for a subsitite and saw that we had a ton of bubble wrap lying aroung the house after the move. This would be the perfect “stuffing” for my boot keepers!

So much bubble wrap. This ball, when laid out could cover half of our living room.

I first used a long sheet of bubble wrap and cut out rectangles that were about 20 inches long and 10 inches wide.  I rolled them up and taped them together.

My tubes of bubble wrap.

Then I measured out fabric to make a sleeve that I could slip the bubble wrap into with extra length at the top to make a ruffle. The fabric was about 25 inches long and 11 inches wide.

I went to my sewing machine and hemmed down the top and bottom edges.

I then folded it in half length-wise and sewed up the seam. I finally sewed the bottom together and Voila! I had my boot keeper. I slid the roll of bubble wrap inside and tied it all up with a bow.

The sleeve with the bubble wrap inside.

All tied up with a bow!

I put them in my boots which now longer fall over to the side anymore.

This entire project- from measuring out the bubble wrap to placing them into my boots took me about an hour. Super fast! The bubble wrap and fabric were also items I just had laying around the house. I bought the ribbon at the Japanese dollar store which means that 3 pairs of boot keepers cost me =$1!