It may be helpful to sketch out a few ideas. Manifesting your ideas with an illustration can come a long way towards planning out your shoe. If you’re new to shoe making, it’s probably best to stick to something simple. A basic laced shoe goes without some of the finesse of more complicated types, and you can still add plenty of flair to a basic formula.
Basic shoe templates are available on the internet. Do a search and look up some ‘recipes’. If nothing else, it might give you inspiration for your own design. Online art outlets like www. etsy. com may have more elaborate shoe templates for sale. Designing your own is only recommended if you’ve made a shoe before. If that’s what you’re ultimately looking to do, try stitching together something basic with a free template, and put that experience towards making your own the second time around.
If you don’t have a sewing and stitching kit, you’ll need to buy or borrow one to make your shoes. Rubber, leather and fabrics are all good for the chassis of the shoes. While its recommended that shoe soles be taken from old shoes or bought as pre-fabricated supplies, you can make a functional and waterproof sole using a few sheets of cork. Each sheet need not be more than 1/8 inches thick. Remember to get at least twice as much as you think, so you’ll have enough to make a pair!
Make sure to remove your foot slowly; you don’t want to damage anything once it solidifies. It’s highly recommended you do this for both feet at the same time. The idle time is best to get over with early on in the process. One positive thing to mention about this step in the process is that you can ideally reuse these lasts for each subsequent pair of shoes you try to make. Make a point of keeping them somewhere safe, where they don’t run the risk of being broken.
Outline your design on the last itself. Before you get to putting the pieces together, you’ll probably find it helpful to give the last an outline of what you want the shoe to look like around it. While you shouldn’t rely on it for concrete measurements, having an idea of what it will look like in three dimensions will help as you’re figuring out where each stitch should go.
While cutting your pattern, you should leave at least an inch of extra material along the bottom edge of the shoe, as well as a centimetre or so, where the different pieces of the upper join together. This will be your seam allowance.
While fabric won’t be any problem to stitch through, you may have an issue with leather. Leather is notoriously sturdy, and you won’t be able to stitch it fluidly. Rather, it’s recommended you punch holes in it before connecting it to your other pieces.
If you have the fabric stitched together already, you can use that as a point of reference while making your incisions, although you should ultimately rely on the empirical measurements laid out in your template. Your last should come in handy here as well. Cut the sole out of the cork sheet, leaving a little extra space around the last so your foot will ultimately have some breathing room. If you’re wanting some extra cushion and height, you can add a second or even third layer of cork to your sole. Just cut it out in the exact same dimensions, and superglue the layers together. Give the glued cork soles some time to solidify once you’ve finished gluing them. You can make a shoe heel by adding an extra layer to the posterior third of the sole.
Make use of the last inside the shoe as you’re putting it together. It will make a great point of reference and support while you’re getting the tricky stitches done. If you’re a real pro with stitches, don’t be afraid to spice up your stitching style. Stitches themselves can be an interesting aesthetic tool. If you’re feeling more daring than the rest of us, you can experiment with irregular stitching patterns, so long as they’re fundamentally sturdy enough to do their practical job.
If you were frustrated making the first shoe, you should find making the second is a lot more enjoyable.
Taking a leather paint and adding an inventive design to the sides of the shoes is a fun and effective way to add style to your creation. [6] X Research source There are countless ways you can stylize your shoes. Look online for some ideas if you’re in need of inspiration. [7] X Research source
If it’s just the insole that’s uncomfortable, you can buy gel-based insoles (like Dr. Scholl’s) to give your feet some much-welcomed cushion.
