Work in Progress Purple Golf Pumps

Thought I was doing a pretty good job at keeping the suede clean some of the paste seeped through. I'll assess when done.

Small progress

The last few weeks I haven't been doing so much in the making stuff department. Half a tshirt sewn and a skirt cut out and the uppers of these purple ballet golf flats. Primarily I've been buying supplies. So much leather = so many possibilities and adjusting to my early morning school schedule. Hopefully I'll get these lasted tonight. I will be trying 3 new things. Silastics/Celastic for the toe puff and counters, premade welting to give it that menswear look and premade nylon heel lifts.

Giveaway week at Kathleens

Ok you may have noticed that my link list only has one website on it. Thats because that's the only one I can recommend that won't fill your head with fluff. Well this week Kathleen at FI is having a mega giveaway. Good books too. So go git it.

http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/day-2-giveaway-surprise-2-for-1-book-deal/comment-page-1/#comment-164060


*other bloggers don't be offended sometimes fluff is a good thing.

Online making shoe classes with Sveta

http://svetakletina.blogspot.co.il/2013/08/shoemaking-online-courses-registration.html

I'm excited about this for 2 reasons. 1) I would like to know that I have the basics perfect and 2) it will give me access to techniques I wouldn't find elsewhere.

And the price is reasonably 30 euros which is about 40 buck a month versus $1500 for a class where you don't even get to make the whole shoe.

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