Pink pointy toed loafers

Continuing on my mission to try all the classic designs (this time loafers) I decided to combine two of my wishes . First to make a pink pair of shoes out of the same fabric as my pink tailored jacket and secondly to copy a pair of pointy loafers.

My inspiration was this:

The result was this:

I made mine a little pointier that the original but I like it.

The pattern was fairly straightforward. A variation of the ballet flat. I probably could have just adjusted a prior flat pattern but decided to draw on the last. (This is like draping a block in shoe terms)

I think the sole on on this pair came out great probably the best so far. I used the teardrop heel I had seen in one of Sveta's tutorials

I experimented a little and tried to make counters of texon board. Texon board is a special resin infused cardboard that's used in shoemaking for the insoles. I could have skived the edges a little bit more before molding to thin the edges a little but I am satisfied with the results. Next time I might try leather board.

This was my first time really working with fabric instead of leather and it came out ok. It was the first time I tried using goatskin and that was okay but it was a little thin and wrinkly and the reinforcement I used shredded under the lasting pressure. But this shoe is my best work so far save for the lining finishing

Icecream social mint oxfords

I have been trying to follow Sveta's advice and make one of each of the basic shoe styles at least once so I thought I would take the opportunity to blend classic design with what's on trend right now. I am really loving these soft structured lace ups that look a little bit like the jazz ballet slippers I used to wear in the 90's.

Super soft. No stiffeners or toe puffs. Unfinished raw edges and colorful.

Something like this.

 

 

And I think I came pretty darn close.

A little in progress before I go. I used adhesive fiberglass to reinforce the eyelets, topline tape to prevent stretching and seam reinforcement tape.

Shoemaking Community

Want to learn how to make shoes in a welcoming environment. The head over to the shoemaking and creative page. Now granted we don't teach lessons but we do share information freely and without attitude. Also our host has published many tutorials and videos that I personally have learned from.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/115340750588721295219?cfem=1

Pinchless Pointy Toed Imperfection

Well technically this isn't a pointy pump but instead an almond toe which is more fashionable and slightly easier to last. I tried a few things different this time and a few things went wrong.

The leather is darker on one because its still wet.

New things:

Metal Shank wedged between the texon board and a vegetan shank cover
New last and pattern
First pointed toe lasting
Used a mix of pva and vegetable glue for gluing the upper to the lining after the toe puff had been lasted.
Used a premade stacked heel

What went wrong:

Didn't allow for turn of cloth allowance when placing the topline tape so in places I barely got a mm of turning allowance folded over.
Sewed the upper at night without supplemental lighting and also used my knee lift which I don't normally do the result and awesomely stitched curve in places and disgraceful swoops and corners in others.
Cut the stitching in several places when removing the lining allowance. Mainly due to the uneven top stitching.
Counter and toepuff edges showed through again. *sigh* I can't seem to get this part right. I love the way the thermoplastic stuff gives a nice shape but skiving it before molding it doesn't work and filing after doesn't either. The only thing I can think of is that the leather is still too thin or too soft. A stiffer or thicker leather wouldn't shown through I don't think.
The premade heel wasn't worth it because I had to spend so much time trimming and filing it too fit.
For some reason I thought it a great idea to try the soling method where you stick a big piece of leather on the bottom and trim it to fit. Disaster I sliced the upper to bits in places and it ended up being all sad and lumpy.

The good things:

The pattern fits great. I tried a new method of pattern drafting by making a mean forme then creating the pattern. The fit is really good.
No pinching. Seriously how often does that happen with pointy toes. Like never.
The last is my size. The seller put a whole run of sizes up on ebay. I was only able to grab the 9 since they were like $20 and everyone snapped them all up.
They look pretty sexy on like a pair of manolo boots I had once.
The shank worked out fine as did the glue.

Next time I'll use my usual method of precut and shaping the sole. I'll nix the premade sole and sew my upper before midnight in lots of light.

How to sew faster, better, stronger.

When I first started this blog my concept was that in some way I would try and reduce the amount of time wasting and trauma involved with many home sewers projects. It occurred to me that people who sewed for a hobby were set up to fail simply because they were just following instructions. I have failed at this because I have been lured offtrack by my shoemaking hobby and its likely most posts in the future will be about that but I am going to try as I think of them to posts ideas that will make you more successful in your sewing endeavors.

Hint #1: Learn all that is learnable.

Sewing and pattern making is a skill. It can be learned but you need to practice. Create a notebook and start picking techniques out of your favorite sewing books and sewing little samples. Try different variations on the same skill until you find one you like or start internalizing the skill. This will save you time because you will make less mistakes, you'll pick the right method the first time and you won't spend time looking things up because you'll already know what to do. This is what they have you do when you study fashion/apparel production.

Don't limit it to a sewing notebook though. This concept can be applied to pattern adjustments or pattern making. Print yourself a set of 1/4 blocks and work your way through your fitting and alterations reference or through a pattern making text. Really get those pattern manipulations into your fingers so when its time to work on something you can be confident and spend less time.

A good portion of sewing well is knowing how to choose the right fabric for the job and how to handle it. What am I going to suggest? Yes make a notebook. In design school you have to buy this very expensive notebook with 2-300 swatches in them and then study them all. I'm not suggesting that level of dedication but it certainly would behoove you to keep as many swatches in a little notebook for future reference.

Professional results often mean thinking like a professional. I know these don't really seem like they make things faster and if you thinking of time saving hints for a specific thing they are not. What they do is help you develop your own bank of shortcuts.

If you think sewing is fun it'll be even more fun after. The better you are the more enjoyable it is. Knowledge is freedom.

Sewing for men : The peacoat edition

Over the course of my 13+ years of marriage I've sewn only a handful of things for my husband. Some he wears some he doesn't which is why I stopped. The last thing I made for him was a technically perfect woven shirt. Except the buttons went on the girl way which was not acceptable to him so he never wore it.

There's very little wiggle room in menswear. The range of acceptable fit, fabrication and finishes is very small, minute even. So one little thing off and its game over. With sewing for women you can get away with creative fudges and flubs and overall the quality of RTW for women has gotten so poor you could hand sew a rag together and people would think you bought it at Forever 21. But menswear has remained pretty consistent in the styling and quality that its harder to successfully emulate.

So I haven't sewn anything for him in about 10 years I was waiting for him to ask and with my latest spree of tailored jackets he decided he would like one too. This I feel good about. One because I feel jackets are my speciality and two its more likely to get worn. Why? Because he doesn't have any alternatives. You see we live in L.A. and it seldoms gets cold so we don't really own coats but on the rare day that we wake up and its OMG 60 degrees out there we rummage though our closet and wear what we can find. So there is a good chance between a cold snap and a trip to Vegas (where I was cosy in my Anise) that this WILL get worn.

For the pattern I am using a japanese pattern book called "Men's Coat Making" (I think its in Japanese so who knows?) which I picked up in Little Tokyo but you can grab a copy here. It was about $35 and has 13 patterns to trace off but they all variations of 4 basic styles. Trenchcoat, Peacoat, Duffle coat and a classic Overcoat. I'm making a variation between styles 6 and 7 which is a peacoat.

The fabric I purchased from Mood online which was a much better experience than in store though they are slow to ship I feel but since I sat on the fabric for 4 months I don't think it matters though in theory if it had arrived earlier I would have started straight away.

I had done the test fit about 3 months ago but I just cut the front and backs out and started sewing. I interfaced the whole front and half of the back using some interfacing I got from Michael Levines which is a lightweight non-woven fusible in black but it also has lines of white chain stitching running parallel to the grain approx. 3/32" apart. I cut it so the lines of reinforcement ran horizontally. I also reinforced the lapel area with the lines being parallel to the roll line. I will do something similar when I cut the collar. I might also cut a shoulder shield on the bias. This is a really nice interfacing it's perfect for doing a fusible style of tailoring since it mimics the qualities of the hair canvas but its only $1.50 for 60" wide.

So far I have only cut out the fronts and back and sewn the shoulders and side seams. The thread I got is not a close enough match for doing the top stitching on the front pockets so the project is already on hiatus but thats ok because it's the first day of summe and its 80 degrees outside.

Portfolio completed what to do next?

OK  I have my final class for my portfolio class tonight and have completed my project ahead of time. Now I have been working harder on this than I probably should have for a one unit class and now it's finished I'm unsure what my next project should be

Suggestions? Pointy toed flats? Low heeled pumps. A Sorbetto (graded up with a FBA)? Finally make that coat for my husband? Something NEW?