What machine?

[Matt S]

@PeterHarvey Welcome to the forum and the craft. There's nothing quite like having a goal!

There's no lack of surplus industrial machines in the UK that will sew boot uppers available for under a grand. The snag is knowing what you're looking at, fixing it up and how to use it. Off the shelf new, you might just about get a Chinese machine. If you'll accept used machines you can probably get a walking foot flat-bed from a dealer for under a grand. However you may not be able to sew a set of uppers on a single machine, as industrials tend to do one thing well per model. You might do the majority of the seams on a flat-bed, then need to do the heels on a zig-zag, the uppers turned right side out and a few more seams with a post-bed where the flat-bed can no longer reach.

Machine sewing is not an unskilled task, and it takes time and practice to get acceptable results. I always suggest that people new to the craft learn to hand sew first, as it eliminates a big chunk of complicatedness. Everything was hand sewn before 1850 so it's not impossible!

Have you considered how you'll sew the uppers to the welts or insole, and the welts to the outsole? Each of those is a specialist task that either requires hard hand work or a dedicated machine. Your local cobbler may have an insole (Blake) and outsole stitcher and might be willing to do those jobs for you.

Oh and from experience you might want to look elsewhere for the uppers. Veg tan is inherently sensitive to water/moisture. It becomes mouldable when wet and dries hard. I've got a pair of very comfortable jump boots that are basically unusable because they have veg tanned uppers.

Best of luck with your endeavours. This is one of the best places on the interwebs to learn. Please do be aware though that you will be spending far more than £1000 to replicate that pair of boots when you take into account materials and tools and time. A lot of us got into this game thinking "How much for a belt? I could do it for less if I just had a piece of leather and a few tools..."

[PeterHarvey]

@Matt S Fortunately at the moment, time for me is in abundance, especially as now have an office at home so I'm well set to take my time with this. My plan is to sew the uppers and inners to the sole as in attached pic, will definitely be stitching the soles by hand. As I've got so much time to put into this I might buy some scraps and see how I get on stitching the uppers together by hand. I've checked and unfortunately there's no pros near by, closest is in London and with current rules that's a no go. But again, I'm determined to put maximum time into the project, hopefully it'll be fun, a great learning experience and also productive.

Any tips on a better leather to use for uppers? I guess needs to be tough but be able to look slightly worn, aged.

@Aven I can relate to the mouldy floor, we moved 2 years ago and the bathroom floor was cork, the smell was not great so that was one of the first things to go... Best of luck with your new home and hopefully you'll be all set up again in no time.

Ps, I've got a big box of plasters as I'm terrible with a coping knife!!!

[PeterHarvey]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313431976633

There's quite a few machines like these about

[Aven]

Peter, thanks for the well wishes.  All of the rotten subfloor is up.  Tomorrow I'll block out the pipes and put the new subfloor down and then on to the hard bit, deciding on new flooring. 

I hope you check out Jason's video on internal stitch down boots.  I think it will help you with the whole process, minus using a last.  But, it's still chuck full of useful information for a low tech shop.  His classes are setup so that you can make shoes with just hand tools. I have his video and have been to his classes.  The video is worth the money.

S B Foot leather tannery makes leather for Red Wing Boots.  I know it isn't local for you, but you can look around, check out their descriptions and see what you can find that's similar over there.

https://www.oaleathersupply.com/collections/s-b-foot-tanning-co

[PeterHarvey]

@Aven I'll take a look thanks for the link! I watched Jason's video, makes it look so easy... think I've got a lot of work ahead of me. I might even try making a pair hopefully I'll get a similar result. 

Found a great video on YouTube for stitching tips, 

Have ordered some cheap scraps so I'm gonna do a lot of practise and might not need a machine at all. 

Peter

[Rahere]

Given you're not far away, go talk to Batchelors leather on Culford Mews, Balls Pond Road, Dalston, and ask about their customer workshop.

Next up, talk to icanmakeshoes, not least because they deal in retail Texon - suppliers in Northampton are strictly wholesale.

Sveta Letina on Youtube can cover the ground for nowt.

[PeterHarvey]

@Rahere it's hidden gems like that that get missed by Google searches, great find, will have to make a visit when we're allowed to go out again

[Rahere]

They're not interested in search engine optimization, they've all the business they can handle from reputation. While you're in the neighbourhood, search out William Gee on the Kingsland Road for haberdashery/thread, and Dalston Mill Fabrics at the far end of Ridley Road for fabrics. This is why the first edition of the Great British Sewing Bee was on the Balls Pond Road, it's the secret home of Central St Martins practice - and you don't get higher than young Ella, the US VP's stepdaughter, who's in and out of there.

Sveta Kletina, sorry.

And I should mention LeProvo for leather and findings, in Newcastle.

Edited February 26, 2021 by Rahere

[toxo]

On 2/26/2021 at 7:49 AM, PeterHarvey said:

@Rahere it's hidden gems like that that get missed by Google searches, great find, will have to make a visit when we're allowed to go out again

It is indeed a gem. I was there on Thursday.

[PeterHarvey]

@toxo oh wow is at open at the moment? Would be great to be able to look at tools and materials other than on Google