Shoemergency. Solved.

Small things can have such big impacts. 
A fly in the ointment, a paper cut, a broken zipper.....
Sigh.
A friend arrived at an appointment only to find that her shoe's zipper pull had disappeared along the way.  She had to pry her boot off in a bit of a hurry, less than ideal.
This is the normal shoe.

Now imagine this shoe without the zipper pull, hard-to-impossible to grab the zipper piece with your bare fingers.
When she brought the shoe back I used a jump ring from this key chain (imagine a jump ring hanging off the end of the chain links).....

...and a part of an earring that I had found on the street....
(don't ask why I picked it up off the street, I don't even have an answer)

And thus we have a temporarily repaired shoe, with a little bit of bling.

Happy freestyling, and random shoe repair with jewelry bits and tiny tools.

If the shoerack fits...

Found: Over-the-door shoe rack
Location: Near Broadway St
Time: Early in the month of May, at night

I scouted a trash pile near Broadway street while out walking one spring evening, and upon my return to the apartment I gathered up Creative Roommate, and Girlfriend-of-Technologist-Roommate (aka Lady K) who happened to be over, for some rooting around at night.  We found a few things, one of which had some of the most desirable qualities in a freestyle item: lightweight, metal, and all parts intact and present.
Behold the humble shoe rack.
It asks for nothing, does its job day in and day out, displays your shoes whether stinky or chic, and helps you feel like your life has the semblance of organization. Shoe racks are a good thing.

I understand why someone might not want or need this anymore, but really, the discarder couldn't walk it down to the Goodwill? Or even bring it to the scrap metal bin at the DPW? This was going to the landfill people, so I'm claiming a tiny moral victory at the salvage of this organizational item.

Since the cross-pieces of the shoe rack come apart from the vertical support tubes we were lucky to find them all intact and not bent out of shape.  An additional bonus was that the white rubber door-bumper end caps were still on, no dents in the door!  The shoe rack spent a little time in our living room until we delivered it over to Lady K's house in another part of town, thanks to boyfriend for his help with that, go Team Freestyle!  Here is the picture she sent me of the shoe rack being put to good use.

It's the simple things really.  Great friends, organized stuff, and freestyle.

Freestyle Shoebag from Canvas Shelving

A long time ago, in a land far away, I found some hanging canvas shelves on the sidewalk (and then promptly washed them once they got home). We're talking years ago here. I've used bits and pieces for other projects, but lately I've gotten tired of looking at the old plastic bag I store these remnants in.  So I asked my roommates, what would be useful to you that I could make out of canvas that is already in these odd sack-like shapes?

Answer: A bag for shoes! Something to throw in a backpack, sturdier than a plastic bag, and washable, but not important enough that it matters if it gets dirty/lost/ripped.

Shoelaces from shoes on their way to the donation center. 
To be repurposed!

I decided on a drawstring top bag. There are openings for strings at opposite ends. Since the recipient usually travels via bicycle I made the shoelaces/drawstrings long enough that they could be used to tie this simple freestyle canvas bag to the outside of a backpack if need be. 

Large enough to hold a pair of men's sport shoes.

Partially closed bag.

 

There were some random seams required because of the deconstruction-reconstruction process, I used a contrasting color thread just for kicks.  Any other suggestions for how to freestyle these fabric remnants?  An apartment only needs so many shoe bags.