How to Stretch Shoes That Are Too Small

Leather shoes are long-lasting and classy. But a lesser-known advantage of leather is the fact that it's a very elastic material. Thus, if you have a pair of leather shoes that are just a tiny bit too small for you, there's a quick fix to make them fit.

So without any further ado, let's get started!

Leather shoe stretching spray

Shoe trees (I'll give you a method if you don't have these later in the Instructable)

For those who don't want to read the whole Instructable, and prefer watching a video, I made a quick tutorial on the subject that covers everything you need to know:

To make leather elastic so that it will expand, I used some leather shoe stretching spray. It moistens the leather and makes it softer while making sure the leather still has enough integrity to stay in a good condition.

Water does make leather elastic too, but unlike the dedicated spray, it doesn't make it soft. That means that when you stretch your shoes, the leather may end up looking warped and damaged if stretched too much.

Thus, I suggest you use a special leather spray - use water at your own risk.

To use the spray, apply some of it to the inside of the shoe, in the area that is too tight.

Now that the leather is elastic, we need a way to give it the proper shape we want.

For that, I used these adjustable cedar shoe trees. You can also buy plastic shoe trees for much cheaper, or, if you don't want to buy any additional clutter for this project, you can use your feet. Just put on two pairs of thick socks to make your feet a bit bigger, and to protect your skin from the leather stretching liquid we used earlier. I got some of it on my finger and it felt funny...I strongly advise you not to put your skin in contact with it!

The show trees should be left in the shoes for at least a few hours.

Remove the shoe trees, and you're done! You should now have a pair of shoes that are the right size! :)

Depending on the size of your shoes, you can expect to get around half a size added to your shoes. You can also try to make the process multiple times if the fit isn't right after the first try.

Thank you for reading my Instructable till the end. I hope it was helpful to you. If you have any questions, you can write them down in the comments section :)

Stay crafty and have a nice day!