Nina's

Ladies & Gents! After several months of waiting and about 90 pure handmade working hours; I'm proud to present the newest creation by yours truly! A project for the amazingly beautiful Niina, from the fashion blog Nelliinan vaatehuone.

*Drum roll...*

Nina's

I think I was quite obedient to the original drawing, though some changes did occur. Naturally :)

Taken from her blog (28.2.2012): here.

Taken from her blog (26.10.2012): here.

Materials:

• Collar: Black suede with a black sheep nappa lining
• Bow: Black patent leather ring with black alcantara bows.
• Uppers: Cream white nubuck, Black patent leather.
• Heel: Black patent leather covered plastic heel.
• Sole: Vegetable tanned leather with an black 4mm rubber half sole.

What can I say? Well, I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome, being my first bespoke high heels... I'd say I'm REALLY pleased. There's a million little things that could've gone better, but then again a million little things that I learned. So that's a alot! 

I'll update images of Niina wearing them from her posts later on.
One can only say: Tally hooooo!

Making High Heel Boots - Part 6 Cutting the leather uppers

Well, after almost three months of wait we're back to business with Niina's high heels! Groovy!
I've made progress during this time, but waited to get things decent for a logic continuum.

Without further due: Last time I made little changes to the lasts and sent a shoe for Niina to be tried, and she gave the ok. So now, all I had to do was to draw the patterns for the third time :) Well, it's the charm 'innit?
After the base-pattern, I cut all the pieces out and used them to cut the leathers for the uppers.
So they're all leather. Inside and outside. Just the way I like it.

A little peek, ladies & gents?

All the pieces. The base-pattern is in the middle.

The base is used to "cut out" all the necessary individual pieces.

My choice of materials:
(From the left) Black Patent leather, Cream Nubuck, Black Suede, Black nappa leather (thin, for lining),  White  supporting cloth.

My choice of tools:
(From the left) Punching awl, silver grease pen (for erasable markings),  clicker's knife (clicker=leather cutter person), two sharpening sticks with grit 600 and 1200 glued to them. Used to sharpen the knife.

The blade has to be like a razor. Period.

And after a few hours, here's all the pieces ready for sewing.

In a shoe factory, the clicker is an actual separate profession. After years of cutting leather, one learns to be fast, has a precise cut, learns to avoid faults in the leather and above all is economic. These are qualities that I'm not too strong in. Yet. Hence the long consumption of time. A pro would've done this in about 15 minutes

Next up sewing.   

Making High Heel Boots - Part 4 The Fitting

With great uncertainty I sat in a tram, on my way to downtown. It was time to meet Niina and Saku for a fitting somewhere in Forum. The reasons for my uncertainty were clear: these were my first bespoke high heels, ever. I've taken a step into the unknown. An area where many shoemakers dare not step: fine ladies bespoke high heels. But my passion to take that step and defy my masters warnings was too great...
So there I was, sitting next to Niina, who keeps an amazing and popular fashion blog here in Finland, called Nelliinan vaatehuone. Our sushi's were eaten so it was time to learn the horrible truth: do they fit, or won't they?

Let's take a look:

I didn't go through this phase in my blog. I just mentioned about it on facebook: I actually made another version for the left foot. That means I drew the patterns again differently and added rubberband section to the mouth. I also cut new leathers, sew them, lasted, fixed the heel on and made a mockup outer sole. Lot's of work, but it was worth it.

While being quite unnecessary, I wanted to put a decent rubber on both of them. We had small surplus pieces, so they were perfect for this.

And this time I made a more astonishing looking bow :) You can see the rubberband insert underneath it.

And as a big relief, the boots were quite a perfect fit! I will have to do some changes to both the patterns and the lasts, but we're all set to start making the actual shoes. Maybe she'll get them before christmas ;)

Suurensuurella jännityksellä varattuna sovitin lauantaina Niinan saappaita. Kaikesta huolimatta istuvuus oli loistava, muutamaa tarpeellista pientä muutosta lukuunottamatta. Eli pian päästään tekemään lopulliset kengät valmiiksi! Cheerio :D