Wonder Woman Duct Tape Boots

My daughter has wanted to dress up as Wonder Woman for Halloween for years. Somehow though, we have never gotten her the costume to do it. She has had Supergirl outfits, every princess dress ever, capes, crowns, and magic wands, but every time we approach October, her focus drifts off of Wonder Woman, and she latches onto another costume. As a result, we've just never made her Amazonian dreams come true.

Until this year.

We nearly got sidetracked this fall too, as it has been the year of the dragon for her. Witches, Red Riding Hood, princess', and butterflies I could do, but constructing a dragon costume on a shoestring budget was not going to happen. Ultimately, we found this great Wonder Woman nightgown to use as the base of her costume, she had a crown already from a cereal box DC promotion earlier this year. All we were missing was the boots.

Do a quick search for red leather knee-high boots in women's size 9. I can wait (just don't lose this page!) My results came back with anywhere from $35 - $100! That kind of goes against the idea of costuming on a budget. So naturally, I turned to Pinterest. What? We might not be as well represented, but dads can use Pinterest too. One post turned up again and again on making duct tape boots, and that served as the foundation for Nat's footwear. However, the tutorial was for Musketeer boots, which had a little different styling than Wonder Woman, so I had to make some adjustments.


At their base, you'll need a pair of shoes, a pair of old tall socks, colored duct tape, and optional card stock to help form the leg/peak on your Wonder Woman boots.



1. Ballet flats are easy to slide on and off, and since no tape actually sticks to the shoes, she can use them on their own without the boots if she wants to go out as Diana Prince once in a while. Not shown here is white tape and the socks. Any socks will do, but try to find a pair that comes at least midway to her knee.

2. I found an old pair of my own socks to donate to the cause, but a pair of new knee-highs will cost you less than two dollars if you don't have a pair to sacrifice. Put on the shoes, and then the socks over them.

3. Start wrapping each foot with red duct tape. I started with a strip over the toes, followed by the heal, (as one would when wrapping a foot with athletic tape) trying to be neat, but know that you can always add another layer to line up your edges if you need.

4. We used some card stock to create the iconic peak at the top of Wonder Woman's boots. Wrap a piece around her calf at the height you want the boots to be to make sure it covers the area you need. Then freehand the shape you want the peak to take and cut it out. Finally, use a piece of tape to attach it to the top of the sock. You can run card stock all the way down to the ankle for added integrity if you wish.

5. Keep methodically wrapping the foot with red tape. If you have a fabric tape measure, you can measure her leg and cut the tape into exact length strips. We simply used the eyeball test. To help keep down the number of visible seams, be sure to make the ends meet in the front, as it will ultimately have a white stripe running right up the front, covering the ends. Don't worry too much about bringing the red over the top of your peak, as it too will have a white stripe along it.

6. Now you will need to cut the boot off so that she can get her foot in and out as needed. The shoe will help it hold it's shape, as will the card stock on top. Carefully cut a straight line either down the side, or as we did, straight down the front where the stripe will be.

6.1. just a few tips. If you want a little more wiggle room to put the boot on again once it is finished, consider wearing jeans while making each boot, and stretching the sock over the top of the pant legs. Also, when deciding where to cut the boot open, consider how you expect to close it up again for each use. A one time use can be done with more duct tape to close it up, and hold it together as she walks, but if you want multiple uses, you may want a more permanent solution. Craft zippers can be picked up at your local big box or craft store, then attached with staples (pointy parts facing out) and duct tape from the underside of the opening. Alternately, you can use an eyelet punch if you have one, or feel like dropping $20 on one. With eyelets, you can then use shoestring to tie the opening up, but that doesn't really fit with the Wonder Woman look.


7. Rip a long piece of white duct tape in half lengthwise for the stripe up the front of each boot, and wrap a full piece over the lip on top, following the contour of the peak to sell that signature look of a classic superheroine boot.

8. We decided after a trial run that the slit cut up the front was not the best way to keep these boots on, so we taped up our original cut and made a new one down the inside of each boot, as you would find in a normal pair. At this point, we also attached red zippers to the opening for the multi-use boots I mentioned above in 6.1. Be sure to cut all the way to the bottom of the boot, as you'll have to stretch the zipper a bit to slide your foot in, which may pop a few staples.

And now we should be done! Time to don the rest of your costume and become a mighty girl!