Chronicling my adventures with non-lasted heels!

[SheltathaLore]

I took a class on non-lasted shoemaking from Jason Hovatter at Laughing Crowe, and it gave me enough basics that I think I'm ready to try making something more challenging!  I'm working on a costume for a convention next spring, and I want to make these shoes (the refs are inconsistent - they're different between the anime and the game, but this is pretty nice, because I can mash them up and pick the design elements that are most feasible or most aesthetically pleasing).

This is what I'm going for:

 

Conveniently, I found some heeled sandals with a wooden base that will save me a lot of trouble with messing around with shanks, so I decided to go with those; it's also pretty simple to paint them (in the following pics they're primed, ready to spray with acrylic).

The way I learned pattern making was to start with a sole pattern and then wrap the foot in several layers duct tape; from there you can draw on style lines and cut it apart to make your pattern.  In this case, it was pretty critical to do the casting while standing on the curved sole so that everything would fit together.

I just traced off the sole, cut it out of cardboard, covered it in duct tape, and stuck it to the sole with double stick tape, and did the casting from there.

 

Next up, pattern drafting and prototyping!  There are a couple open questions that I'll need to figure out:

• How to attach the upper to the sole - it's not like I can really stitch it to the wood, unless I want to drill a whole lot of holes (and detach the heel).  Some combination of glue and nails will probably do the job.  The shoes I've made before have had a heavy horse butt midsole, but I think for this, I'll go with a lighter weight (but still reasonably structural) midsole and try stitching it on the INSIDE of the upper, rather than the outside, and then stick the whole thing down.  Somehow.  The toe is going to be tricky; I might have to put the nails in at a slant with a setting tool or something.  This is why I'm prototyping in some cheap upholstery leather, though!  I welcome suggestions, if anyone has some.
• The boots I made were of much heavier leather.  Even with a lining, I'm wondering if the kidskin I plan to use will be too floppy.  I can always try putting in an interlining of some description, although that might interfere with the squishability (technical term) of the leather when I need to shape it around the toe, and even with an extra layer of applique, I will almost certainly need to stiffen the counter in some manner.  We'll see how it goes.
• Definitely want to wet-form the midsoles to fit the soles; I haven't done that before, but I don't think it'll be too problematic.

Expect updates as I keep experimenting!

 

Incidentally, posting pictures to imgur and then inserting a link and letting the forum load the image is a convenient way to get around the attachment size limits.  Made this post a lot easier to make!

 

Edited November 27, 2017 by SheltathaLore
typo

[Northmount]

5 hours ago, SheltathaLore said:

Incidentally, posting pictures to imgur and then inserting a link and letting the forum load the image is a convenient way to get around the attachment size limits.  Made this post a lot easier to make!

 

And when the image is moved, deleted, or permissions change, then all you have left in the post is the text and a bunch of error messages.  There are quite a number of "broken" photos on this site for these reasons.  I recommend that users resize photos to fit the size constraints of the forum.  800x600 pixel resolution is adequate and allows you to load many photos.  It also helps those that are on limited bandwidth internet connections, out in the fringes, to view the photos without waiting 2 hours!

And yes, we are interested in following your journey.  Thanks for posting.

Tom

[SheltathaLore]

Ah, good point.  I never touch my imgur uploads once they're uploaded, but it could potentially be a problem.  Going through my folders and copying-resizing everything before adding attachments is such a pain, though :-/

 

I'll keep you posted!

[SheltathaLore]

Style lines and stitch marks drawn

Cut up, pattern in progress

Pile O'Things

 

Pattern complete!

 

Next up, wet-forming the midsoles to the shape of the wooden base soles, and sewing together a mockup.

[SheltathaLore]

Soles:

 

(Yeah, putting the stitch markings on that side was real dumb.  Thankfully, I had also marked them on the edge, so it was easy enough to keep track of where they were.)

[SheltathaLore]

Upper assembly (holy crap, it's starting to look like shoes!)

Note: I failed to take pictures of skiving.  But then again, it's skiving.  Probably not very interesting.

 

 

Outer upper assembled - tried a lapped seam, but it's not as tidy-looking as I'd hoped, so I might do a folded seam instead, like I did on the lining.  (Also, yes, my skiving went a little wonky.  But this is the prototype shoe, not the final version, so I don't have to be as perfectionist as usual.)

 

 

Lining stitched, ready to glue down the seam allowances and hammer.

Stitched and flipped, not yet glued.

Stitched around the top and flipped, toe reinforcement glued in (yeah I should have done this before assembling the outer.  Derp.)

Flipped, glued, hammered.  IT'S STARTING TO LOOK LIKE A SHOE OMG.  and I'm pretty pleased with how crisp the folded edges came out at the front - although the corners leave something to be desired.  It's difficult to skive in there; I'd love tips if anyone has one.

Experiments with strap construction methods - front

Experiments with strap construction methods - back

Straps from the actual leather

I'm probably gonna be working on the applique and stitching to the sole on Christmas.  No better way to spend it in my opinion.

 

Edited December 24, 2017 by SheltathaLore

[SheltathaLore]

I'm still pretty astonished that it's coming together.  It was looking awfully tortured and not very shoelike for most of yesterday.

[SheltathaLore]

Clipped on the straps and applique to get a feel for how it's going to look.

Yes, my applique is a mess... I suck at cutting things out by hand.  I might get it laser cut.  Thankfully, this is the prototype, so I'm free to make all the dumb mistakes I want.

 

[SheltathaLore]

Starting to stitch it to the insole! 

OH MY GOD IT'S STARTING TO LOOK LIKE A SHOE

View from the inside

Hammering down the bumps in the stitching

 

 

 

Not bad for the prototype.  (They fit! And they don't hurt at all!! I can't remember the last time I had dress shoes that didn't hurt at all.) Still to be addressed:

• Strap locations; I'm just going to glue them on the prototype to make it easier to test, but I'll stitch them on the final version
• Attaching to the wooden outsole/heel
• Tinker a bit with the seam allowance and stitch placement around the toe
• These came out very soft and a bit wrinkly; I may need to choose a stiffer leather or add some reinforcement/stiffener of some sort.  More closely spaced stitches along the arch might help a bit too - or at least ensure that the wrinkles are distributed more evenly.
• Less messy applique... I'm going to need a lot of practice.

[bikermutt07]

Those are looking great.

In you op you mentioned a conference in the spring. That wouldn't be the National Art Teacher Convention would it?

My wife is an art teacher and we considered going. But other trips are putting that one off.