A way to increase the size of leather shoes

Recently, such a nuisance happened - I bought my daughter leather demi-season boots. And I wanted to take on growth, that is, a size larger. They measured them for a long time, picked them up, and as a result they left in boots of the wrong size. When I got home, I found that the boots weren’t quite outgrowth, but they were already almost small - the big toe rested on the nose of the boot. It's a shame, annoying, and okay. For a long time I did not grieve and found such a way out. I took ordinary pliers, wrapped an ordinary rag soaked in water on the clamping part, and inserted it into my boot. It is necessary to insert so that the skin of the boot is stretched, that is, with effort. Instead of pliers, you can take a suitable solid object that will be suitable for stretching shoes to the required size. Now we take an ordinary iron with a steamer, heat it. On the fore part of the boots we put a double-folded cotton cloth and begin to steam, but only carefully and without fanaticism.
Then we leave the boots for a day. I can say that after all the manipulations I have done, the boots are stretched. Now the big toe of my daughter does not rest, but fits comfortably and freely in shoes. I hope you find my experience useful!