Content

• To step
• Part 1 of 3: Stopping the pointe shoes
• Part 2 of 3: Stopping the entire platform of the spitz
• Part 3 of 3: Maximizing the quality of your stitching
• Tips
• Necessities

Although stopping pointe shoes has become less common over time, stopping your shoes can give you more grip and balance support when dancing. Stopping your pointe shoes can take some time and patience, but this long-standing ballet tradition can significantly extend the life of your shoes.

To step

Part 1 of 3: Stopping the pointe shoes

1. Get your darning materials together. To stop your pointe shoes you will need a few important materials. You need:
   • Pointe shoes
   • A large, thick needle or crooked needle
   • Wool or cotton embroidery floss (about two arm's lengths of thread)
   • Scissors
   • A thimble (optional)
2. Pull a thread through the needle. You will need about two arm lengths or nearly a yard of wire. Thread the darning thread through the eye of the needle. You can use a single thread for a very fine darning, or you can use a double one and tie the two ends together after putting the thread through the needle.
   • You can find darning thread at almost any sewing or craft store.
   • Cut the excess thread from the knot.
3. Make the first darning stitch. Hold the first spitz with the sole facing you and the front away from you. Insert the needle into the back of the spitz platform, near the top of the satin pleats. Pass the needle through the satin and the platform material at an angle that starts down from the outer side of the platform and push it diagonally up to the upper inner edge of the platform.
   • Push the needle all the way through the shoe and pull the thread all the way through until the knot reaches the shoe.
4. Make your first chain stitch. Insert the needle very close to the stitch hole you just made. Pull the needle through the material of the satin and platform again, and start pulling the rest of the thread through. However, do not pull the thread all the way through. The thread is in a loop before you pull it all the way through the shoe. When you see the loop of the thread, pass your needle through the loop and pull the thread tight. This is how you make your first chain stitch.
5. Continue to chain stitch around the platform of the shoe. Continue to stitch around the platform of the shoe, inserting the needle through the satin and platform material and pulling the thread through the stitch loops and continuing the chain stitch. Be careful not to put the stitches out too much on the side of the platform or the darning piece will not provide an effective grip while dancing.
   • The distance between the stitches is not that important, but they should be close together and of relatively equal size.
6. Tie a knot in the darning thread. Once you have stitched all the way around the platform of the spitz and are back where you started darning, cut the excess thread. You can cut close to the last knot, but leave about an inch of thread. You don't have to make a final knot; the darning remains in place because all stitches are knots.
   • Consider securing the last bit of excess wire with a little clear nail polish. This keeps the wire against the shoe instead of hanging it loose.
7. Stop your other spitz. When you're done darning one spitz, repeat the exact same stitching method on your other shoe. You may find stopping your second spitz easier and faster now that you've already done one.

Part 2 of 3: Stopping the entire platform of the spitz

1. Put the thread through the darning needle again. You don't necessarily have to stop the entire platform of the spitz, but some dancers like to have the entire platform of the spitz stopped like this. Put a lot of thread through the darning needle. Consider using a few arm's lengths of wire. You can do it double and tie the two ends together or you can leave it as a single strand.
   • Remember, if you're busy stitching, you'd rather have too much thread than not enough.
2. Make stitches lengthwise across the platform. Start at the top of the platform at one side of the shoe, and stitch parallel, horizontal rows across the front of the platform. Make about five double rows of stitches across the platform. When your stitches at the bottom of the platform get close to the pleated satin, make your last horizontal double stitch.
   • After your last horizontal stitch, make a simple overhand knot as close to the shoe as possible and cut off the excess thread.
3. Connect the horizontal rows. Starting at the top of the horizontal rows, put new thread through your needle and use the same chain stitches to join two rows at a time. Just like you stitched around the platform, the rows will go to the opposite side of the front of the platform.
   • When you get to the end of a horizontal row, continue one row and connect them. Finally, connect all the stitches in the horizontal rows and cover the entire front of the platform with stitching.

Part 3 of 3: Maximizing the quality of your stitching

1. Decide whether to keep or remove the satin from the platform of your shoe. Some dancers take the satin off the platform of the shoe (for an even better grip along with the stitching), but removing or leaving the satin is your personal preference.
   • If you decide to take the satin off the platform of the shoe, use a pair of scissors and insert one of the points in one corner of the platform, around the box.
   • Once you've tucked the tip of the scissors into the narrow space between the sides of the platform and the rest of the shoe, cut away only the satin on the top flat platform of the shoe.
2. Choose sturdy instruments to quit. To darning your pointe shoes, the darning thread should be beige, white or pink and a thicker type of embroidery thread. Thick wool or cotton thread works very well. As a needle you use a thick needle with a large eye. You can also use a special curved darning needle, but it is all based on your own preference.
   • The needle must be thick and sturdy or it will bend and break when you try to put it through the platform of the spitz.
3. Consider alternatives to quitting. Because darning can be very boring, some dancers mimic the stabilizing effects of darning by sewing a crocheted cap onto the platform of their spitz, gluing suede pieces to their spitz platforms, or putting sheets of moleskin on the platform of their spitz.
   • All of these machining methods take less time than stopping, but can give platforms a longer life while still providing the spitz with a grippy surface.

Tips

• Don't make your stitches too far apart or on top of each other.
• If the needle does not yield, that is, it takes a lot of effort to put it through the shoe, take it out and try again. This time, you don't go so deep into the box of the shoe. You want the needle to go through the canvas underneath the satin so that if the satin rips while you dance, the stopped thread doesn't just fall off. A thimble is useful for this.
• Try to tuck an older pair of shoes first. This way you don't waste a whole pair of shoes if you get it wrong.

Necessities

• A few pointe shoes
• A sturdy darning needle
• Cotton or wool darning thread
• Scissors
• A thimble (optional)