Shoemaking! [first ever shoe I made]

[AdamGadut]

This took me several months to get started with so many many delays and a multitude of reasons. I Seriously wanted to learn how to make shoes. The very sad truth is that, there's no school around my region that teaches this, and the only two craftsman i know who makes shoes well, one of them closed his shop and is gone, the other man is about to close his shop and is not willing to teach. So i had to learn everything that is reachable from the web. 

The problem with this is that, not everyone tells you what you need to know, and me being so ardent jumped straight into buying the only shoe last i could find. the seller had no idea about the lasts and she thought the last was ok for me. What she didn't know is that the last is for a female shoe. But then i happened to have a girlfriend and i was needing to give her a gift. I then thought of making her shoes. This is my output. 

the entire shoe is handmade - handstitched and without anyone to teach me, i steered a little bit away from the orthodox methods.

I dont know if its typical for womens shoes to use the goodyear welt, and since i wanted it made in a way that it wouldn't make her foot look wide. So i did the stitching like that of the Blake welt - done my hand. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

there's a lot to be desired on this first build. some uneven parts on the shoe and some parts which could have been done better. 

these will have its own laces when she starts wearing these. She selected the design from the internet and we changed it a bit with the choice of leather. Sadly I couldn't put any more linings on it since the suede is thick. and i had to put a toe stiffener on.

If anyone wants to see how i got to this point, please do say so. i have some more pictures

Edited September 15, 2017 by AdamGadut
added a few points

[plinkercases]

Wow good for you. I am not a cobbler so no comment on the craft but I like the product and that you had the stones do try it!

[AdamGadut]

3 minutes ago, plinkercases said:

Wow good for you. I am not a cobbler so no comment on the craft but I like the product and that you had the stones do try it!

thanks man  ... i believe i've read somewhere cobblers only fix shoes, cordwainer are the ones who makes shoes.

[Fire88]

Look nice to me and tip of the hat for for teaching yourself

[kiwican]

Well done!  I'm building the courage to make a pair of boots for winter!

[AdamGadut]

10 minutes ago, kiwican said:

Well done!  I'm building the courage to make a pair of boots for winter!

thanks

i must state, since i am very used to stitching using pricking irons, and not so much with an Awl, there's definitely a different kind of difficulty added.

[plinkercases]

Well I am definitely not a cordwainer!!! and 2x on the difference of the awl over the pricking irons. I started with awl and keep coming back to using it from the most part.

Edited September 15, 2017 by plinkercases

[MichaelT]

WOW! I really like those. The contrast of the colors and textures really make them pop. I can't imagine all the complexities of making shoes and how hard it  would be even if you had a mentor. My hat is of to you for jumping in and doing it. Don't be too hard on yourself about what went wrong and what might be better. 

Shoes are one of the projects that rides around in the back of my brain and  occasionally bounces to the front and says "wouldn't it be really cool if you could pull this off?" Someday maybe I'll try it and you really inspired me to go tackle one of the many challenges that lurk within my mind.

[WoodysWorkshop]

They look fantastic!

I'm guessing the hardest part was getting both the same size?

I have a desire to make shoes, but not going to tackle it.

Best I might do is an Outback Hat, since Walk-A-Bout hats seams to have disappeared.

[ryankim3612]

GREAT JOB! I bought some videos on making shoes, but I'm still too chicken!!  hahaah