Making High Heels

[Nova]

Well, this would be quite a bit more than a modification, but I was wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction. I was searching with Google for quite some time, but came up empty. I'd like to find some info on how to make high heels. I'd need something fairly detailed that goes into materials used, construction, etc. Preferably free information, of course. Oh, and I would be making shoes with 5" heels or higher! Now, I have NO experience at all with this, but I'm a pretty handy guy, so with some trial and error I might do alright. I need some info to get started, whenever I actually DO get started. I thought this sort of thing would be fun to try, so any help is appreciated. 'Jen'

[Shafted]

Try www.marywalesloomis.com

[vector]

You could also try "Mr James shoes". You can find a link on the PGTS website in the shoe sellers section. They have ready made kits (or so their advertisements say). Good luck and be sure to let us know how you make out!

[Dr. Shoe]

Making a shoe from a kit is different than making them from scratch. I spent 3 years at college to gain my degree in footwear design and even then I don't know all there is to know about making shoes, but here goes. First of all, you need to select a last. You could try to make a pair yourself but unless you have an expensive last making machine you will need to go away and become an apprentice lastmaker for 7 years. So you need to buy a pair of lasts, some lastmakers will make them from a plastercast of the shoe you want to copy but you may need to pay development and modelling costs which could be as much as £300. Now you have your lasts so now you need to make your patterns. Starting at the toe of one of the lasts, put strips of masking tape across the last and work back until you start to go up the "cone" (instep) of the last. then you put two strips from one side around the back to the other side, slingback stylee. You then put short strips vertically up the sides of the lastand a last peice up the back like a backstrap. Press the outside of the last against a flat wall and mark the spot where the last contacts the wall. Then very carefully draw a line up the vamp to the top of the cone, THIS HAS TO BE AS ACCURATE AS POSSIBLE. You also draw a centreline up the back as well. Then at the mark on the side place a tape-measure measuring from the sole edge to the center line at rightangles to the line and mark where the measuring tape comes. Whatever the measurement is, calculate 20% and then measure down from the point where the vamp becomes the instep. This is the vamp location point and you need to cut a little window in the masking tape at this point. At the back of the last, measure up 55mm and then 1.5mm up for every full size above size 5UK so a 9 will be 61mm, a 10 62.5 etc. If the shoe is smaller, measure down. Now trim the excess masking tape from the "feather edge" that is to say the sole of the last and then cut down the centre lines and peel the tape off the last in two complete pieces. Work from the front so that the tape doesn't disintegrate because if it does you will need to start again. Next stick the two pieces down on paper ehsuring that the two pieces of "slingback tape" remain undistorted (that's why they're there) and then carefully press the rest of the pattern down. You will find that the cone, and the featheredge will shorten and go wrinkly, you should do it so you have as many tiny wrinkles as possible rather than one crease because it is better to have an even distortion along the length of the trouble rather than a sudden change in direction. Once the tapes are stuck down, you need to cut then out including the little windows on the centrelines which will be slots as you've bisected them. Next get another piece of paper and draw around on of them and then turn the other back to front and match up the slots and draw around them. You will notice that they are different and so now you need to make adjustments. Along the top edge draw a line exactly half way between the two lines and do the same at the back. You also do the same thing under the heel arear but under the vamp area you keep the two lines as they are but cut little slots at intervals along the inner line like a stencil. Next add 20mm along the feather edge as this will be the bit you pull uder the insole to make your shoe, I always taper slightly to the toe to about 15mm. Cut out this construction and this will be a "mean forme". Next get another piece of paper and fold it in half and placing the mean form with the vamp along the fold with the curve slightly above the fold and then draw around the mean form remembering to cut out the little slots but not the bit that curves to the toe. Open this "basic standard" out and you should have a butterfly. Next put the mean forme against it and mark through the little stencil slits on the inside side only and then trim along this line so it's slightly assymetrical. Draw around it and cut out so you have two, one without a fold. Next you're designing the shoe. Get some sellotape and put pieces roughly where you're going to have your seams and then draw your design in felt tip and not forgetting to mark the vamp locating point and the heel fit point and make sure that all the pieces of sellotape link up. Carefully take the tape off and sprinkle with talc and then offer this to the vamp and heel locators. Taking a sharp implement like an awl, mark through all the seams. You will find that the two locators don't match up but as you dot through your seams (starting from the vamp locator), just gradually move the sellotape so that you finish at the heel locator. When you finish, you should have a basic standard with prick marks; join these up so that you now have your seams transferred to the "design standard". Continue the lines through the lasting margin at the bottom and then decide where the stitching is going to be as this indicates which pieces are going to be over which pieces. Pay careful attention so that you don't have too many seams arriving at the same point as this will make an unsightly bulge in the finished shoe and could hurt the foot. A designer will do all sorts to avoid this in a complicated design. Next you take your design standard and place it over yet another piece of paper and prick through the outline of one of your pieces. If it is going under another piece then you will need to add 10 mm to the edge that goes under the other. Any edges that are going to be folded over need a 5mm margin and anything that's going to have a closed seam needs a 2.5mm margin. Pay attention to bits that are going to "spring up" the instep because these you have distorted this measuremnet by as much as 10% in making the design standard so these distortions will need to be corrected. That's the skill part. You should have a number of bits. Remember to cut a little knick or a pinprick where centreline meets centreline. In an overlay bit it will have to be a pinprick where the stitching would come. Repeat with the lining. Now you can cut the leather. Leather has stretch across the skin and tightness along the skin. Footwear is always cut "tight to toe" so that shoes will stretch across but not lengthwise. This means that all your pieces must be cut aligned to this ideal. Do not forget nicks and pinpricks. Next the edges must be skived. This is best done with a machine but you can do it with a skiving knife which is available from any footwear equipment suppliers. You will need to shave off the rough side of the leather on the underlay bits where another piece goes over the top of it. It must taper down to nothing so that it appears to be just one thickness of leather when they're both stitched together. Folded edges are similarly skived and closed seams are just edge champhered so that the fibres don't show through the seam. When you stitch the counter together to the lining, remember to insert the plastic heel cup, this will have been preformed on the last by softening it up by heating and forming on the last. Now you have the upper complete it's time to put the shoe together. Take your insole and tack to the bottom of the last in the cork or rubber bungs provides for this purpose. At this point you would form the heel and the toe on a multi-million pound machine but you can do this by hand later on. Next, you place the upper over the last and secure in position with a tack at the toe and one at the heel and check for fit and positioning. Don't bang the tack all the way in because you will need to pull it out and put it in to get move the upper around to get it right. Put a tack in the back of the heel once you have it right. Next put bronze tacks all around the heel seat area. Now you lift the upper away from the lining and pull the frontmost part of the shoe lining over the last as tight as possible without ripping the leather with a lasting pincer and, holding the leather with your thumb you put a tack in half way at a slight angle as close to the edge as possible to hold it in place. Next you do the same at the waist of the sole and then half way between the toe and the waist then halfway between the tacks already in until you have them all the way round at 2-5 mm intervals. Brush glue around the inside of the leather getting in as close to the tacks as possible. wait for the glue to go tacky and then press the leather down so it sticks. Once it's stuck you pull out the tacks and discard. Cut a piece of thermoflock for the toe puff according to the pattern you made for it and then heat up over the gas stove until it's like bubblegum and place it over the toe of the last over the lining but under the outer (which has been pulled back). Before it hardens bash the edge with a hammer so that it won't show through the outer. You may need to heat it up a few times to get it smooth. Now spread the toebox area with latex glue and press the outer onto it by smoothing it downwards towards the toes with your thumbs. You can now last this just like you did with the lining. When everything is finished and dried you will need to smooth down the insole ready to fit the sole. Sand it down nice and smooth to get rid of all the wrinkles and then use some kind of filler for the middle. A piece of thick card or roofing felt trimmed to shape should do it. For the heel you need to get a piece of leather shaped to fit around the heel but split down as thin as possible (0.5mm?) and then glue both the heel and the back of the leather with neoprene glue (bostik or similar) and allow to dry. Heat it up under a grill for 15 seconds or so and then put around the heel by smoothing it outwards with your thumbs. Rough up the breast of the last and stick to the heel shape pointy bit and then stick the whole lot to the bottom of the shoe by letting the glue dry, applying a second coat and reactivating as before, you can then slip the last. The heel will be attached only to the shoe by the glued sole so you will need to take the shoe to a shoemaker to have him nail the heel to the shoe as he will have a machine to do it with. You could try it with a hammer but this is difficult. A little piece of foam and an insock will complete the job.

[Dr. Shoe]

Note that you will not be able to buy 5" heels for love or money unless you have permission from one of the manufacturers, similarly lasts. Stock lasts and heels only go up to 4" or at most 4.5". Lasts cost £60 per pair or thereabouts, heels are about 90p each in boxes of 250 (£225 per box per size), Insole boards will cost about £2.50p per pair but you will need to order a minimum of a 1000 pairs or pay for tooling costs. Yes it's great to make your own shoes but expensive unless you intend to make a lot of them. To make one pair of shoes is going to cost you around £2800 assuming that you have a shoemaker's sewing machine as you can't use a normal flatbed.

[Nova]

Well, that was... informative! I almost feel as though you were trying to discourage me from attempting this! I also had no idea there was a degree available for such things, but now that I think about it, it is a very skilled trade, so why shouldn't there be a degree? It seems like a very involved process, and I sort of followed all that. I'd probably get a clearer picture of the process if I were actually trying it while reading these instructions. I really appreciate you taking the time to write all that down! Alas, it will likely be some time before I am able to make an attempt, as I'm sure my parents would be a bit disturbed to see their son making his own high heels! I will definitely save this text for a future date. 'Jen'

[hoverfly]

Ok how much harder or simpler it would be in making wooden clogs? The plastic ones just don't cut it with me and for the price of buying wooden one to fit me I am thinking it would cost the same Vs the coustom ones for my size.

[Robert]

Ok how much harder or simpler it would be in making wooden clogs? The plastic ones just don't cut it with me and for the price of buying wooden one to fit me I am thinking it would cost the same Vs the coustom ones for my size.

Sometime ago I found a link to a German site on how to make wooden clogs.

Unfortunately it is in German, but you can translate it in English with Altavista Babelfish.

http://mitglied.lycos.de/stoeckel_freundin/ralph/index.html

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

Good luck!

Robert

[Dr. Shoe]

Ok how much harder or simpler it would be in making wooden clogs? The plastic ones just don't cut it with me and for the price of buying wooden one to fit me I am thinking it would cost the same Vs the coustom ones for my size.

If you're an expert wood carver and you remember that the grain in the heel has to go vertically and the sole horizontally...

[Ferrarimodels]

wow..yea very helpful. Ive thought about making high heels too. Especially back in the late 90s when stiletto pumps were totally out of fashion

[DandyDude]

Sometime ago I found a link to a German site on how to make wooden clogs.

Unfortunately it is in German, but you can translate it in English with Altavista Babelfish.

http://mitglied.lycos.de/stoeckel_freundin/ralph/index.html

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

Good luck!

Robert

I recall a link on clog-making years ago and it was in German, but I don't think that is it. There is a thread on it from several years ago, perhaps it could be found and brought up.

[euchrid]

Making a shoe from a kit is different than making them from scratch.......

That's very informative Mr Cholmondley-Warner. And possibly the longest post ever posted on this forum, racking up a score of 1993 words (not including your follow-up).

If awards are given for such things, I heartily implore the forum moderators to give you one!

[Firefox]

I've tried making shoes in a variety of ways and the only real wearable success I have had is making wedge heels from cutting out stacks of hardboard to shape, fixing them together and filing to shape. The uppers on a wedge are fairly simple to make compared to courts or boots.

[HeelMeNow]

First post and I'm glad to be here. On the topic of making shoes, I have done these tasks with decent success: Took wood slides and removed upper. Then I replaced with electrical wire insulation (single lead household stuff 14 GA with strands pulled out --- provides PVC'ish tubing) attached to ring terminals then nailed into wood. Looks cool, gives rainbow effect if desired. Also used pour-foam once to make ~ 3" wedges. Trimmed stuff with coping saw and utility knife. Results were OK and "springy". Pour-foam got cotton rope for upper and ankle-ties. Hope this helps. Glad to pass on some tidbits.

[agatka]

http://www.leicestercollege.ac.uk/courses/courses_full.new.asp?id=A4980&year=2007/08&type=ft

£310 for the year tuition 16 hour per week part time sept-june

or the creme de la creme of shoe design courses.....

http://www.fashion.arts.ac.uk/courses/footwear/ba_cordwainers_footwear.htm

£3200 course fee for the year

[Guy N. Heels]

Note that you will not be able to buy 5" heels for love or money unless you have permission from one of the manufacturers, similarly lasts. Stock lasts and heels only go up to 4" or at most 4.5".

Lasts cost £60 per pair or thereabouts, heels are about 90p each in boxes of 250 (£225 per box per size), Insole boards will cost about £2.50p per pair but you will need to order a minimum of a 1000 pairs or pay for tooling costs.

Yes it's great to make your own shoes but expensive unless you intend to make a lot of them. To make one pair of shoes is going to cost you around £2800 assuming that you have a shoemaker's sewing machine as you can't use a normal flatbed.

Wasn't it Shakespear who wrote, "...conscience (and pocket books, too) doth make cowards of us all..."? Given all the effort and outlay required to make a pair of heels, a trip to high street to buy a pair of fashionable heels seems cheap!

[Dr. Shoe]

http://www.leicestercollege.ac.uk/courses/courses_full.new.asp?id=A4980&year=2007/08&type=ft

£310 for the year tuition 16 hour per week part time sept-june

or the creme de la creme of shoe design courses.....

http://www.fashion.arts.ac.uk/courses/footwear/ba_cordwainers_footwear.htm

£3200 course fee for the year

Yes, I studied at Cordwainers, though the course didn't cost me anything like that on the grounds that I went through before the tuition fees were introduced. I think you'll find that the actual tuition fees on the Cordwainers course will be the same as anywhere else and the price quoted includes the bit that your LEA will pay as a grant.

[Guy N. Heels]

That's very informative Mr Cholmondley-Warner. And possibly the longest post ever posted on this forum, racking up a score of 1993 words (not including your follow-up).

If awards are given for such things, I heartily implore the forum moderators to give you one!

Yep! It's a whopper, alright. I thought I had taken the prize with a post in the Is this true? thread. But a quick word count shows that mine was a paltry 1500 words or thereabouts. So all hail to Dr. Shoe, the Kolossass of the keyboard!