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 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.

Shape that high heel last, baby! Shape!

After an embarrasingly quiet week for blog posts, it's been a less embarrasing week of actual shoemaking. Niina's second mockup is sent by mail and she's going to try them on and we'll propably take a look at them via a video chat. And if they're a fit, it means a step closer to their completion :)

Meanwhile my main concern has been Ms. Melissa's black knee-high boots, to which I started to shape the lasts. Her concern is a wider-than-usual ball of the foot, and a higher heel hight (9,5cm). Her lasts came ready today, so ladies & gents, let's take a look!
Shape, rattle & roll!

This is the beginning stage. an untouched high heel last.

I just dig that asymmetry! This is a front view and one can see the skill of the guy who originally made these. This asymmetry makes the shoes more elegant and even functional. Qualities that come rare on everyday common shoes. The art of last making is for some reason losing it's glorious heritage, and nowadays it's more common to see ugly and bulky lasts. Even for women.

She wanted a higher heel, so I started to build it to this area.

And here's the finalized shape.

After the heel hight, it's time to make the lasts more fitting to the clients foot. Here's a traditional ink print of the foot with measurements and the ball of the foot marked.

We'll place the last over the print and start to estimate the new required width of the last.

The growth areas are marked and sanded and cork material is added.

And after some time we'll have something like this. The lasts are shortened and the girth of the ball of the foot has already been modeled.

Whaaaat?! :D Yes, I'm serious! You're propably wondering why did I ruin them? Well, they're going to be boots so I thought of extending the shaft for a better fit. But it does look more like a terrifying sculpture than a last.

*Bling!* After a few hours of making friends with Mr. Grinder, Ms. Last became ready to be patternized ;)

Put a sock on it!!! Literally! This is a great way to see how they're really going to look like.

Next up with these boots is making some patterns and a mockup.