As promised here is part two of the shoe making project! Part one was all about making the pattern and my thoughts on my first foray into leather working. Make sure to read that part of the adventure first!
This second half is where things got really interesting. A fear of cutting into expensive materials is something I struggle with. Silk, wool, and apparently leather fall under this umbrella. However shoes don’t get made simply by staring at the pattern so I had to actually start marking and cutting.
Sole Foundations
I decided to start with the soles of the shoes. My thought was a somewhat familiar shape would be less daunting and an easy entry into working with leather. I was wrong, I was anxious the whole way.
First had to figure how to trace the pattern on to the leather. I had my fabric marking tools and washable markers as well as my awl. I decided to use my tracing wheel to trace around the pattern and left a bit extra for seam allowance. Less than a quarter inch so that I would be able to do the proper stitching, though the top and out through the edge, called edge/flesh stitching I believe. I used an xacto knife and a leather knife that I found in the kit to cut the first sole.
Punching Sole Holes
Next, I got my awl and began punching holes in the proper manner for flesh to edge stitching. I quickly found out that the leather I had for my soles was too thin for this. Either way, it wasn’t working and was ripping though the leather instead of making neat holes as I anticipated. I unfortunately didn’t get pictures of that.
I had to change tactics and instead use the punches I found in my husband’s old leather kit. Instead, I punched straight though the leather (flesh/grain stitching). I used the remnants of an old stair tread as the surface to save the table. I started a the point of the heel and moved my way around. It was at this point when I started having second thoughts about the seam allowance that I had included. The flesh to edge style of stitching would have been fine with this much allowance I think. Unfortunately it’s hard to tell without actually trying it. I opted to trim back the seam allowance to just the other side of the traced line to minimalize the chance of uncomfortable rubbing on my foot and for a tighter fit.
Shoe Uppers
Now I had to start on the really nice leather, the deep teal that would be the uppers of my shoes. I laid out my pattern and traced it onto the leather. One, tape side up and the other tape side down to ensure I had both a left and right upper. I tried my best to match the grain but there were imperfections in the leather. Limited leather meant that I had to put the pattern where it would fit. In addition, I also had to figure out what to use to trace the pattern with. As the leather is darker and pebbled, I knew that using an awl to scribe a line was not going to work; not without marring the leather. Instead I opted for chalk and used a bright pink color. This leather is thinner than the sole leather and so to save time I used my work shears to cut the pieces out quickly
Lining Up Parts of Shoes
Next came the lining up of the sole and upper of the shoes. I had to line them up in order to punch the holes in the heel so that they matched the ones I had already made in the sole. From there, I continued to punch the way around the lower edge of the upper until I reached the other side of the heel. Things lined up very nicely and I didn’t wind up having any odd gaps or overlapping holes. I repeated this process for the other upper, matching it to it’s sole.
Assembling the Shoes
Assembling the shoes was fairly straight forward. I had to sew the uppers to the soles and then figure out how I was going to close them. At this point, however I still had uppers that were flat and I needed to close them up before I attached them to the soles.
Side Seams
At first I wasn’t sure how to close the side seam of the uppers. I wanted a strong but somewhat decorative stitch. In the end I decided to go with a simple running stitch on a smaller piece of leather backing. I wanted the leather backing to hold the two edges together so that I could then zig zag over the edges to keep them laying flat. By adding this extra piece of leather I’m hoping to reinforce the seam and keep it from blowing out and help keep dirt and sand from seeping though the seam. I can’t see the inside of the existing pieces but from seeing other similar exhibits I suspect that there isn’t this extra bit of leather in them.
It’s All About Sole
Sorry, not sorry, I love Billy Joel. That aside, I now had to tackle attaching the soles to the actual shoe upper. It was daunting. What if I had totally messed up and somehow my upper wasn’t going to match with my sole? I would have taken a monumental screw up but I couldn’t negate the possibility, right? Ooph.
Traditionally the stitching for the sole would have been the edge/flesh (suede side of the sole) stitch in the upper left of the diagram. I thought my sole leather was thick enough to handle this but I was wrong. I ended up having to change to the flesh/grain (smooth side of the leather) stitch for a couple of reasons.
Old Leather – The sole leather that I used was a older and a little dry. When I attempted the edge/flesh stitch, the thread actually ended up pulling though the leather. There was a lot of swearing on my part at this point. There’s a spot on the heel (where I started) where I switched to the flesh/grain stitch and had to move the stich on the sole in more to not have the leather rip.
Too Thin! – The leather I had on hand was too thin. What I had thought would be sufficient thickness was not. The reality was that the sole leather needed to be thicker. That would have presented its own issues but I had to work with what I had.
The Hard Way
I set my self up to sew and quickly realized that trying to punch through two layers of leather with even a sewing needle was HARD. My hand strength was woefully inadequate and after three holes I admitted defeat. I defaulted to use a punch and set up to pre-punch the sole and upper before using a leather sewing awl to stitch both pieces together. Of course, I had to try them on, even if they were inside out.
Inside Out, Boy You Turn Me…
Now came the exciting part. I got to turn them right side out, just like clothes coming out of dryer. It was significantly more difficult though. Finding very little guidance on the topic, I wasn’t sure if I should start heel first or toe first. I forget my logic at the time, but I decided to go heel first. Boy was that a mistake! I had a really hard time turning the toe with the other half of the shoe already twisted. Turning the toe right side out was its own challenge and required the brute force use of the mallet handle and my husband’s muscles.
Now, this sole was thinner than what was recommended or used, so I can only imagine that trying to turn the shoe right side out with a thicker sole would be significantly more difficult. Between my husband and I (and some trial and error) we managed to get the first shoe turned right side out in about 30 minutes. (See image next to SIDE SEAMS)
Tying One On
According to the extant pieces, I wanted to tie my shoes with a toggle closure. I had no beads or horn to use but have seen many instances of leather toggles which is what I hoped to do. How to make them was the puzzle. Thankfully, a simple search turned up a very helpful video by Boots by Bohemond.
These were fairly simple to create and I was able to whip up a couple with only one practice run. I did make the stem a little wider to allow for decorative stitching. Existing pairs of shoes don’t show that these are stitched in place but rather held in by tension alone. I wasn’t sure how that worked and as I was in a time crunch, I opted to stitch the toggles in place.
The hole which the toggle had to pass through I had to experiment with. On a scrap piece of leather I tried a simple slit a shaped, triangle slit, and then what I call the lollipop slit (a slit with a hole punched at one end). The lollipop shape was the winner with a larger hole punch than I had initially anticipated.
Treating and Comfort
My last step was to clean the leather with some saddle soap which I had on hand and condition it with mink oil to help protect and waterproof them. I coated the sole as well as the uppers in mink oil, careful to avoid the stitching as mink oil can eat at the thread. The last piece was to put the inserts that I used to pattern the shoes into them and take them for a spin!
Reflections
This was a vengeance project, no doubt. I was angry at the house brownies that decided to make off with the new pair that I had purchased and worn once. I’ve learned a number of things from this as well.
- Toggles go on the inside of your foot.
This is counter intuitive as every modern shoe that has Velcro or other types of closures on the outside of the foot. These toggles should have been on the inside of the foot as they can be tricky to put though, even after the holes have stretched a bit.
- The heel gusset needs to be bigger.
The small triangle of sole leather that rises into the upper leather on the heel needs to be bigger and for my purposes, needs to extend higher than the insole I place in side. I believe that this will allow for a better fit around the ankle and a more secure, less slouchy look on the heel.
Overall
I love these shoes. Out of all of the period shoes I’ve tried, these are by far my favorite. No laces to come untied, I don’t walk out of them and I don’t end up squishing the heel. The inserts make them super comfy and I can change them as often as I need. I do wear them with pattens to save the sole on rough or rocky terrain and when it’s damp or wet out. These are great for walking but not great for standing still for me.
I will most likely be making a second pair but a boot version with the modifications needed some time soon. I’m thinking that I may try a pair of the Birkenstock inserts to see what the difference is and see if it may improve my ability to stand still in the shoes.