Make Your Own Clogs – Tips And Inspiration

Make your own clogs at home using recycled wooden soles! A fast and easy way to make beautiful and unique sandals.

I rediscovered clogs recently and wanted to make my own for some time now. I used to wear them a lot when growing up in Germany but had completely forgotten about them until they appeared on my Pinterest feed. Looks like they are having a comeback as all the big designer houses offer them these days.

I started searching for wooden soles but couldn’t find anything, so I opted for used clogs which I found on eBay costing very little. I looked for them over the winter months when few people are buying summer outfits, so had a lot of choices. But even now you can find recyclable clogs. And best of all, many are hardly used, so it’s almost as if you bought new soles.

Making your own clogs is a great way of making sandals quick, there is no sole work to do and no stitching, so you can concentrate on designing beautiful and unique uppers.

How I went about making my own version of summer clogs

I first stripped the clogs of everything they came with, using pliers.

I then sanded the sides of the soles.

The next step was to design the upper and cut all the straps out of veg-tan leather.

I then dyed the leather, fastened a buckle and did the fitting.

The final step was to glue everything in place. As always, my glue of choice was water-based Renia 315. I also used upholstery nails to fasten some appliqué pieces (they cover some of the holes from removing the original straps).

The red clogs are made similarly. Though I didn’t need to sand the soles and kept them without a top sole, so all straps are nailed to the sides with upholstery nails.

This has been such a fun project! Making your own clogs is such an easy way to add variety to your summer footwear options! If you feel inspired to make some, I would love to see your creations!

For more sandal-making projects, check out my sandal-making e-book here. Or for a bit more of a challenge, check out my new e-book on how to make professional-looking shoes and boots at home with just a few tools here.