How to make your own shoes- Lesson One.

[Dr. Shoe]

For the first lesson I will look at what you need to in the way of tools and special bits and pieces. 1. You need the means to stitch the uppers. A professional would use an industrial "post" sewing machine. It is called a post because it has the bobbin at the top of a post so that you can sew a three dimensional object. 2. You need a last. This is the block of wood or plastic that forms the shape of the shoe. 3. You should use insole board though you could use good quality hardboard. 4. Of course you need leather. 5. You need some plastic material to provide stiffness at the toes and heels. Professionals use thermo-plastic but any plastic that goes soft when heated and reforms hard when it cools. 6. Material for making heels. This could be wood for chunky heels or hard carvable plastic for thinner heels. (Plasic needs reinforcing for strength if made thin). 7. A shank. This is a preformed fluted spring-metal strip. Any engineers among you should be able to make something 8. You will need a pair of lasting pincers. These are special because they have a fulcrum to give leverage to pull the leather taut.

[Firefox]

Great topic. I'm looking forward to seeing how it should be done

[Dr. Shoe]

1. Cut the leather. This is called "clicking" and is done by a "Clicker". In a factory all the clicking was traditionally done by men. All clicking is done with either knives or for bulk runs with "press knives" which resemble cookie cutters. 2. stitch the various pieces together. This is called closing. This was done by closers who were almost invariably women. When making pull-on boots or pumps, the linings would be dropped in as the last closure. With more complicated designs, the various pieces may have the linings closed on before the outers are finished. Zips are normally inserted between outer and lining either at the last closure (normal) or with awkward designs they could be inserted during an earlier closure. The upper will always be completed before the shoe is "Made" 3. Next the shoe is made. In a factory, the toes and heels are molded by machine but in a workshop, the whole thing is done by hand. 4. The insole is prepared. 5. The upper is lasted. 6. Next the sole and the heel is added and the top piece (The metal or rubber heel tip) is stuck on or inserted as applicable. 7. The shoe is polished and finished. Excess lining trimmed and laces installed as applicable.

[Dr. Shoe]

Take a piece of insole board and cut roughly to shape to fit the last. The Stiff part should be under the heel and the flexible part under the forepart (toe area). The "scarf joint" should be just behind the big joint (1-4mm). Next it has to be molded to the sole plate of the last. First soak it in water for an hour or so then tack it to the bottom of the last. Wrap wet string round and around the last (and insole). As the string dries out, it tightens and places pressure on the insole thus molding it to the last. After removing the string, trim excess material off the edge of the last and bevel the edge so that the line of the last continues underneath. Turn the last upside down and cut a groove to accommodate the shank. It should fit so that the shoulders are flush with the insole board and the flute standing proud. Mark where the rivet holes are in the shank. Remove the insole amd punch holes to rivet shank to the insole board. Now the insole should be nice and stiff and the correct shape for the last. Only the forepart should be floppy.

[Dr. Shoe]

In a factory, the toe and heel will be molded by machine but I will assume that the reader hasn't £50,000 to spend on a hobby . 1. Place the upper on the last and peel back the outer leaving the "wrong side" of the lining material as full exposed as possible. 2. Whack a tack in the vamp as centrally as possible. Preferably in a seam so that it won't show. Place a tack at the heel too as high as possible. Leave the heads proud so that they can easily be pulled out. 3. Turn the last upside down. Put the last on a lasting peg, hence the big hole in the top of the comb of the last (the part that would correspond to the ankle). Some shoemakers prefer to put the last between the knees whilst sitting, the traditional way. 4. First stretch the piece of leather that would come under the middle toe over the last with the pincers and whilst holding it with a thumb, drive in a tack at a slight angle about half way into the insole to hold the leather in place. This should be as close to the edge as humanly possible. (Try not to hit your thumb!) 5. Do the same for the center of the heel. 6. Do the same at the waist of the shoe both sides so that you should have four tacks sticking out and the leather nice and taut but not too pretty! 7. You can now start lasting all the way around. As you stretch the leather, you will find that it may wrinkle in another place or starighten another wrinkle out. During the course of lasting, you could take the odd tack out and put it back in in a different place thus making a part of the leather nice and smooth. Don't forget that it is important to put the tack as close to the edge as possible. 8. Glue under the flaps of leather, allow to go tack and press down. One the glue has cured (12 hours if you use bostic) you can remove the tacks. 9. Cut out a piece of plastic enough to cover the toes and wrap around underneath but without to much bulk. This will probably be semicircular or crescent shaped and the size is up to the shoemakers' own judgement. 10. You will need a piece to do the heel too. It should be large enough to grip the heel and retain the shape of the shoe. 11. Melt the pieces of plasticd mold them over the toes and heel so that they are nice and smooth. 12. Paint some liquid latex on leaving about 50mm at the bottom of the shoe dry so that you can last the outer without it sticking. 13. last the outer using the same technique as the lining. note you may have to sand down the bottom of the shoe before lasting the outer.

[Dr. Shoe]

You will note that the double thickness of leather (lining & outer) forms a rim or a lip around the edge of the insole. The cavity needs to be filled. It will never show so you can use anything that's firm. Some posh shoe makers even use substances like roofing felt (acts as a vapour barrier) or you could use some sort of compound that can be spread but sets hard but flexible. We used to use cork granules mixed with bostik. Next the sole needs to go on. If you are putting on a louis heel, there are 2 ways to do it. (see below). If you are putting on a "knock-on" heel, just simply put the sole on- once it's been prepared. You should have a pattern for the sole. We normally draw around the insole with a 1-2mm margin. With expensive shoes you will shave down the edge to make it thinner and more elegant but normally we don't bother. The edge of the sole is smoothed down and polished and in some cases coloured with a permanent marker to match the upper or as black. This finishing is always done off the shoe because it is difficult to do without damaging or marking the shoe. In the case of louis heels, you can either fit the sole leaving a flap in which to fit the heel or (more properly) you fit the heel before soling. To do this, don't forget to thin down the louis flap otherwise it will make the heel look thick and bulky and will be difficult to work with. The heels are always nailed through from the seat of the shoe. NEVER try to fix with a couple of screws especially if you have made a heel from wood because the forces you put on the heel will make it kick under or kick out and lever it off. Fit the top piece and then polish the shoes to finish off. Scuffs can be touched up with marker pen and wrinkles can be taken out using a wallpaper steamer.

[Dr. Shoe]

Thoughts on heels. These can be made from wood, plastic, metal or molded from GRP, car body resin. You can melt scrap pieces of plastic in Tuolene (?) and pour into a mold with a core reinforced with a hollow brass or steel tube, you can then afterwards insert a shorter rod to leave space at the tip for the top piece shaft. DO NOT try to build up a stack leather heel from pieces of leather. The effect is acheived but gluing thin strips of leather around a solid heel.

[Firefox]

Excellent essay Dr Shoe. I am revamping the main site at this very moment. I wonder if it would be possible to use your text with acknowledgement to yourself if you'd like it?

[Dr. Shoe]

Sure, why not?

[Mike Hinch]

As at the moment I have three pairs in the works I figured it should not hurt to review all of this process only somehow it does not look like most of this would work for my project. Rather than to have a shank like that and nail the heel on from the inside my design looks like the heel, shank and platform will be one piece. Maybe I might make a dummy and destroy it to see how strong it will be. When I made aircraft parts some were cut from a fabricated panel twice the size needed and the drop was sent to destructive test. Now as mentioned earlier I am loosing my hangout and do not know if I will be able to continue these projects. At the very worst they will just go into a box for a few years. Probably my heel will be hollow fiberglass and grind to the desired finish shape unless I can mold it sufficiently close to the finished shape. My liner for the open toe boots are all sewn together and they do not fit the clay last in the shape of my foot and leg. Such a surprise. So am considering heating and soaking and hoping to avoid more cutting and sewing. This really does not bother me that this first part has gone so wrong as all is still quite correctable at this point. As for the glue I have always had good results with Weldwood Contact Cement. When it gets thick I thin it with Methylethylkeytone and methylenechloride. Another thing is this time I am saving some pictures of the stages of progress.