gothycdesigns

Sorry, I guessed I missed the part that they were going to be spats. He mentioned shoes and thus I responded. I'll admit I don't know anything of past historical footwear, but no need to get high and mighty on it. I'll look into the book you suggested. I'm always willing to learn new material.

I work for a Shoe manufacturing company. Eventhough you would be making these yourselves, I would still recommend getting "Lasts". Lasts are basically plastic resin feet that ALL footwear manufacturers use to construct our footwear. Its what allows the leathers when Lasted correctly to form to the shape of the foot, including the size and width. So eventhough you are wanting to keep costs down. Lasts are not cheap either. You may get lucky and find some wooden Lasts, but mainly todays footwear use the plastic resin Last. Another thing to consider is the arch support. You're still gonna have to do something there such as a steel shank. You can also use heavy leather, dried and shaped, but even those will break down. Steel is the best choice. Where I work, www.wescoboots.com, our boots take 155 plus steps for completion and only 33 employee in the factory. Sorry, lol, I see posts about footwear an dI have to chime in. Good Luck !! Post pics when you get sone.

Ok, that makes more sense now. The leather I get from work is on average 7oz. and goes down to 3.5-5.25 sometimes for the gusset material on the boots. The lacing I see on the edges of the wallet, is that a vinyl or plastic lace/cord?

Very nice work. When making a wallet such as this. What thickness oz. are you getting it thinned too? How do you thin it? I work for a Shoe manufacturer called West Coast Shoe Co. www.wescoboots.com and of course we have the equipment to make leather thin. But me starting out work on my own leather projects, how do you thin it? Soak in water and shave it down? Sorry for the noob ?'S, but thank in advance.