stockyardjohnnyred Report post Posted August 24, 2009 Ok people I have been sewing by hand for quite some time, building holsters and belts, and being a bit older guy having a mid life crisis I decided to throw my hand in on trying to make a gun leather business work for me. My leather source is tandy and they have been pretty helpful, I just bought a sewing machine not from tandy as I wanted a machine that works all the time so I bought a Artisan Toro 3000. I haven't gotten the machine yet and kinda putting the cart before the horse, but looking ahead and cleaning my closet I found a couple pairs of shoes that I had put off taking to the shoe repair place in town. I did go to the shop in town and they wanted $65.00 to resole a pair of $35.00 shoes. So now I am thinking I have this machine on order that is supposed to sew holsters and belts, and got to tell you looking forward to that, I was thinking to give a shot at repairing the soles of the shoes on my own.....I found sole leather at tandy, I have the machine, now how do I do it. I see the stich line on the top of the shoe and on one pair it looks like the stich comes from the bottom of the sole through the side with a hidden stich. Ok what do I do? is there a thing I could look at on how to do this? HELP Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rickybobby Report post Posted August 24, 2009 Ok people I have been sewing by hand for quite some time, building holsters and belts, and being a bit older guy having a mid life crisis I decided to throw my hand in on trying to make a gun leather business work for me. My leather source is tandy and they have been pretty helpful, I just bought a sewing machine not from tandy as I wanted a machine that works all the time so I bought a Artisan Toro 3000. I haven't gotten the machine yet and kinda putting the cart before the horse, but looking ahead and cleaning my closet I found a couple pairs of shoes that I had put off taking to the shoe repair place in town. I did go to the shop in town and they wanted $65.00 to resole a pair of $35.00 shoes. So now I am thinking I have this machine on order that is supposed to sew holsters and belts, and got to tell you looking forward to that, I was thinking to give a shot at repairing the soles of the shoes on my own.....I found sole leather at tandy, I have the machine, now how do I do it. I see the stich line on the top of the shoe and on one pair it looks like the stich comes from the bottom of the sole through the side with a hidden stich. Ok what do I do? is there a thing I could look at on how to do this? HELP Hi, The machine you bought will not sew your shoe soles. It takes a "sole stitcher" machine to do it correctly. You can Hand Sew them but you said you wanted to get away from that. If you decide to do this yourself after getting all the supplies cut your pattern for your sole, skive the backside transition to match the skive and transition you make on the shoe/boot. Apply glue to both and let tack up. Lay soles on and hammer them to be sure they are stuck on. Pinch the welts/soles areas to be sure the welt is glued solid. On the underside of the sole groove out a stitch groove so your threads will be under the surface of the sole (so you don't wear the stitches out) use a dremmel and small bit and drill stitching holes. You can "hook and loop" stitch or double needle your holes to sew them up. Sand the sides smooth, finish with edge polish, sand your tranistion skive area near the heel smooth and sink a couple shoe brass tacks to help hold the skived area. I seal the new sole with some polish, only to make it look more finished for the customer, it comes off when they walk on it but looks good when they pick them up! There are some uTube vid.s on this subject. We sell a Cowboy Boot Resole Kit on our Ebay store and have sold a few, some old shoe repair guys and some cowboys out in the sticks with a lot of time on their hands I guess. We are in the process of a uTube vid. to go with our kit but have not finished it yet. This process is doable with out special machinery but you need some direction and simple hand tools and that is what we are trying to put out there on our uTube vid. I wish it was done, it could make some procedures clearer. Hope this helps, Rick J. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jcivitello Report post Posted August 24, 2009 Ok people I have been sewing by hand for quite some time, building holsters and belts, and being a bit older guy having a mid life crisis I decided to throw my hand in on trying to make a gun leather business work for me. My leather source is tandy and they have been pretty helpful, I just bought a sewing machine not from tandy as I wanted a machine that works all the time so I bought a Artisan Toro 3000. I haven't gotten the machine yet and kinda putting the cart before the horse, but looking ahead and cleaning my closet I found a couple pairs of shoes that I had put off taking to the shoe repair place in town. I did go to the shop in town and they wanted $65.00 to resole a pair of $35.00 shoes. So now I am thinking I have this machine on order that is supposed to sew holsters and belts, and got to tell you looking forward to that, I was thinking to give a shot at repairing the soles of the shoes on my own.....I found sole leather at tandy, I have the machine, now how do I do it. I see the stich line on the top of the shoe and on one pair it looks like the stich comes from the bottom of the sole through the side with a hidden stich. Ok what do I do? is there a thing I could look at on how to do this? HELP Most shoes and boots of quality that have a stitched on sole use whats called a leather welt, the welt is a small piece of leather that is stitched onto the upper part of the boot durring construction, then when you marry the upper to the sole you stitch the sole to the welt and thats the stitch line you are seeing around the outside edge of the sole. Here is a youtube video on the construction of a cowby boot from Boulet Boots (which is the #2 boot maker) and maybe this might help you by seeing how they are made new. Let me know if this helps any. Hope that helps Jim Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stockyardjohnnyred Report post Posted August 27, 2009 Most shoes and boots of quality that have a stitched on sole use whats called a leather welt, the welt is a small piece of leather that is stitched onto the upper part of the boot durring construction, then when you marry the upper to the sole you stitch the sole to the welt and thats the stitch line you are seeing around the outside edge of the sole. Here is a youtube video on the construction of a cowby boot from Boulet Boots (which is the #2 boot maker) and maybe this might help you by seeing how they are made new. Let me know if this helps any. Hope that helps Jim Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
