How to Make Your Own Ribbon Shoe Strings

To make these adorable ribbon shoestrings, you will need:

Some sort of fabric glue

Ribbon with a width of 3/8'' (9mm)
The length of mine were 2'7'' REMEMBER NOT ALL LACES ARE THE SAME LENGTH!  I used my other shoelaces as a guide for how long the I need to cut the ribbon. You can actually buy shoelace material on a spool like mine, or you can use any other ribbon that is about 3/8''


Heat Shrink Tubing
I got 3/16'' tubing with a 2:1 ratio
You could even get the next size smaller if you get thinner ribbon.  I bought 5ft on ebay for about $2.75 that's with shipping! The clear tubing is hard to find in places like Lowes and Radio Shack, so I suggest buying it online.  I found that ebay was the only place I could buy a small amount of the tubing. 

Pliers or something to hold onto the ribbon as you're heating it.  You could use your hands, but it's too hot for me. 

Hair Dryer
I have a helen of troy hair dryer that gets pretty hot.

Scissors

1.  If your shoes already have laces, just cut the ribbon the same length as your original laces.  If not, maybe google lengths of shoelaces.  DO NOT ASSUME YOUR LACES WILL BE THE SAME LENGTH AS MINE. 

2.  Most of the plastic ends of shoelaces are about 1/2''.  So I just cut a 1'' piece of tubing and then cut it in half for one of the laces (in total you will need 2'' of plastic tubing for one pair of shoelaces).  Try to make your cuts as straight as possible. 

3. Fold one end of your lace in half (hot dog style) only 1/2'' down.  Add a dot of glue to the inside to help hold the fold.  Then add an even smaller dot to the outside of the fold so the laces get glued into the tube. 

4.  Insert the ribbon into the 1/2'' tube.  Make the end of the ribbon flush with the end of the tube.  I THINK IT'S BEST TO ADD THE TUBE WHEN THE GLUE IS STILL WET. 

5. Use the pliers to hold onto the inner end of the tube.  Begin to blow dry the outer edge of the tube. Once the outer edge shrinks small enough to hold onto the ribbon, you can adjust your hold, and move the pliers so it's only clamping down onto the ribbon (not the ribbon and the tube).  Then finish blow drying until the tube is shrunken tightly around the ribbon.

6.  When you move onto the other side of the shoelace, make sure you the folds are on the same side of the ribbon.  So if your ribbon is laying flat, you DON'T want the left side folded down and right side folded up.  They BOTH need to be either folded up or down.

7.  Make sure the plastic cooled.  Then you can lace up your shoes. :)