Making Bespoke High heels - Part 9 Everything else

The boots are ready :) But there's a lot of phases to be shown, so I decided to make an mega post, showing some of the phases. This is because I already would want to show you all the boots, but I also want to show the whole process. So here's the 32 images. Don't watch this on your phone ;)

First, the moistened uppers are lasted. This is a picture of the first pull to the front.

The bottom view after some  systematic pulling.

After they're dried completely, I marked the line where I wanted the  patent trim to come to.

I then marked the 10mm allowance line.

Now that the uppers were dried, they assumed the shape of the last. Here they are without the lasts, and next came a phase which was logical but seemed totally nuts at the time: cutting the excess leather from the uppers with scissors. Nuts.

But it all made more sense when I glued the patent trim on it and started stitching.

I wanted to show this picture because it shows the "ugly" side of the uppers. The space between the upper and the lining is something no one usually sees. In this image, I'm tying a knot so that the stitching will look  better outwards. Without double stitches, which are the most common way to lock stitch.

Ta-daa!

Before lasting, The wet heel counter goes between the upper and the lining. Glued of course.

And after some sweating, we've reached this far.

The toe cap made from leather is glued on the tip, rasped to the desired shape and compressed with a hammer for minimal thickness.

And everything is wrapped together with adhesive.

After they have dried for another day,  the staples are removed and all that empty space is filled with a cork material.

Here you see the filling after it's been grinded straight. I'm using a traditional heel iron, which has been heated to help me shape that seat for the heel.

The heel quarter is nailed. This will prevent those uppers from  moving in case the glue fails, and helps to keep it together if the heel needs to be replaced.

The heel is covered with 0,5mm thick patent leather. It could've been even thinner, actually.

With the heel put to place with hot glue and the area where the outer sole leather is grinded, the shoes are just waiting for those soles.

I used a pattern to cut the outer sole leather from a 3.0 to 3.5mm thick vegetable tanned sole leather.

The logo is stamped to the damped leather and the surface is shaved with a piece of broken glass.

I pre-shaped the outer soles before applying adhesive.

Adhesive applying.

The leather is carefully placed on the  bottom. Force is used with a hammer and a bone to compress the sole neatly on.

I cut the excess using a special knife.

The rest of the surface is shaved.

The edge is damped with water and prepared with soap for the next phase.

Using a hot iron to make a neat edge.

After a red dye, I painted the edges with black.

Niina wanted some decent cushioning under her ball of the foot. I first thought that this could've been a bit over exaggerating with it... but I was wrong.

Next up was the decorative bow ties. For them I made two small holes for some waxed threads to be used for the fixing of the bows.

The bow ring is made from patent leather and fastened to the shoe with a knot.

Two flat tubes from black alcantara are stuck to the rings... and voilá! Bow ties :D

 Next up, it's the reveal.

The Paubellarinas

Inspiration can happen anytime. Whether sitting in a bus, doing work or watching opera, anywhere. This time my inspiration was a blog, maybe the first fashion blog I've ever gone to: Paubellas. I wanted to dedicate these shoes for her and her blog with their name: The Paubellarinas. My first comment in history was about some ballerinas she wore, and I started to ramble about how I couldn't understand them for the sheer reason on non-aesthetics that I thought flat shoes in general possess. Well, I got her sympathy for not understanding women in this issue, but a moment later some designs for ballerinas started whirling in my mind. So I drew them down, and decided to start a project in making a pair. And here they are ready. Such is inspiration.

These were done bespoke for my wife, who also keeps a lovely and successful children's clothing blog called Unikuun terapiahuone, with lots of elaborate applications and tailoring, check it out! She was very pleased, which was a relief since I didn't let her affect the design. Except in one thing, as you'll see in a moment:

The main ingredients: Calf leather and alcantara (synthetic) uppers. Full Goat leather lining. Colored red leather sole with rubber inserts.

And there's the wish my client had: to have a heart shaped something in the soles.

The signatured red soles. I know it's a rip-off from Christian Louboutin, but they just look sooo good :D

Thank you all so much for following this project! What should I do next? High heels? What would YOU like to see made?

Making Ballerinas - Part 8 Lasting

Lasting is the actualization of the shoe: the lasts and the insole merge with the uppers to create a three dimensional object: the shoe. It's done by placing the uppers on the last and pulling them tightly under the insole where they are attached to with contact glue. There's something magical and rewarding when you've lasted a pair of beautiful shoes. The previous phases of taking measures, designing, shaping the lasts, making the patterns, fixing the last and the patterns, cutting the leathers, sewing the uppers and making the insole come into completion in this phase. The shoe comes alive! Let's see how:

The uppers are placed on the last.

The side stiffeners receive some carpenters glue.

The first pull after checking that the back strap is at the correct height and the uppers are straight.

The uppers are attached to the insole from three key points, this is called the front pull.

At this point it's good to check out the upper side. If the uppers are straight then we can proceed. With this kind of design I thought it would be easier to nail the excess lining to the last so that they won't drop too low when pulling them.

Then the back part of the uppers and lining are glued and nailed. The front is left open so we can glue only the lining to the insole.

The uppers are lifted so that a toe stiffener made of leather can  be glued on the toe part.

After attaching and some grinding the toe stiffener is covered with carpenters glue.

And the upper is again turned on everything and some contact glue is applied. After this the uppers are attached and nailed to the insole systemically.

And voilá! It's a pair of shoes!

A side view.

And the ever lovely toe part with the bow.

Next up: building the outer sole! Almost finished!