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.

Making High Heel Boots - Part 2 Test patterns

Now that we've got the lasts done, think about this challenge: you have a three dimensional object with curvy shapes and all, and you're supposed to draw patterns to it. All the more, patterns that can be reused and modified later. How on earth could that be possible? With your everyday masking tape! :D
Here I'll demonstrate how the patterns are born to a shoe.

Let's see how:

First the last is covered with masking tape in an orderly fashion.

Like so.

Next, the excess is cut thorough the edges of the sole.

Like so :)

Then, some necessary markings and a central line to the front and back.

And a cut along the middle lines.

And thus we'll have the inner and the outer sides of the last. Which are then removed separately, like seen in this picture.

They'll be a pair of quirky, mischievous pieces of masking tape after...

...So we'll discipline them flat on a cardboard.

Both of them are drawn on top of each other, to produce a single pattern.

When cutting the copy, some of the areas are halved.

And there it is! If the lasts remain the same, with this pattern one can now draw any kind of design on them.

I have to admit, I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to drawing patterns. So luckily I've a very skilled colleague, a sturdy professional, Mr. Joonas. This base pattern is 99% his handwork. I just basically drew two lines to it.

Seriously, even Joonas was hesitant of the design, so I'll just have to make a test run with it. Then I'll see how different things'll work.

Next up is cutting the pattern pieces and using them to cut the leathers. And skiving and sewing the leathers, so we'll see what's up with the uppers. Cheerio!

Lesteille täytyy seuraavaksi tehdä kaavat. Yllä esitellään kuinka kolmiulotteisesta lestistä kopioidaan muodot kaksi ulotteisiksi, käyttäen maalarinteippiä :) Useiden vaiheiden jälkeen on viimeisinä kahtena kuvana kollegani Hra. Joonaksen mestarillinen kaavoitus. Itseltäni ei tuo kaavoitus oikein vielä näin mallikkaasti suju, joten oli mahtavaa saada rautaisen ammattilaisen apua. Seuraavaksi sitten leikataan kaavapalat sekä niitä hyödyntäen päällisnahat. Näin päästään testailemaan miten kaavat toimivat.

Anyone fancy a good book while waiting?

Hi everyone! I know it's been almost a week since the last post, but I've been waiting for those lasts to arrive and haven't thought of anything useful to post since. But when I see a small but faithful crowd returning everyday to check out if anything new is happening, I really think they deserve a post.

What I wanted to share with you all today, is a fantastic book about the history of the finnish shoe. Well, more like the history of the industrial shoe in Finland, as the tradition of handmade shoes is very belittled in this publication. I don't know what it is that makes us Finns loathe handmade domestic articles, as they're mostly considered just tinkering. It's all wonderful and grand if it's an Parisian shoemaker but if it's domestic... It's just tinkering. This all is of course rough generalization, but it's quite visible in this book and in the exhibition it's based on in Vapriikki, Tampere.
When I met Niina, from Nelliinan Vaatehuone -fashion blog, after visiting the museum and praising the old Finnish shoes she asked me: "well, what has happened with the Finnish shoe? It all looks like they're for grannies now!" A very good question, indeed! And I think this book sheds some light into it. And I think the answer isn't very simple. But one main focus would be the 70's, since when the third world countries started producing cheap basic shoes. For the following decades the finnish shoe industry tried to keep them at bay and produce the same shoes instead of specializing, which would've maybe been the savior of many a fallen company. Some of the companies did specialize, and are nowadays successful, like Sievi, whom produce modern safety/work-boots. There's basically just two companies in Finland that make women's shoes, which is ofcourse the main concern of my blog: Janita and Pertti Palmroth. Both of these companies are to my mind outdated, have ugly designs, ugly heels and their quality just doesn't meet with the price tag. Janita's leather's are better quality, but the shoes are just ugly. Palmroth uses a lot of synthetic leather which is a point I don't understand, also when I was studying a few of their shoes in a store, the quality of work was way below average. Baaad, actually. To my knowledge both of these companies's main markets are in russian export. I know my opinions are quite pointy, but please feel free to correct me :)

Now to the surprise of many, there used to be some extremely stylish, sexy, high quality and fashionable shoes made in Finland back in the day. The book has a nice layout and lots of pictures, which include some old shoe adverts and photos from factories etc.

Let's take a look:

The cover has a great picture of a gorgeus pump from the 1960's, wherein one can see the brilliant craftmanship and the finesse of the design.

On the first pages there's the only mention to actual handmade shoemakers: an old magazine advert by a shoemaker in Tampere.

The chapters are divided to eras, which makes the book easy to comprehend and logical. Qualities that many shoe books are without.

I heard a story about this advert: The traditional shoemakers were publicly hostile towards industrial shoes and claimed openly that because of machines they were of very poor quality. Well Mr. Emil Aaltonen, one of the first gentlemen to start industrial production of shoes responded with this add:
"Insured-boots"
are definitely the most economic to use,
because of the best materials used
and the first class machines
they were made with.

I held my breath when I first saw these. They're an absolute statement of  the high standard of quality. A masterpiece from 1919.

The 1930's doesn't let us down either! Minna Parikka's inspiration is quite visible here.

More of 1930's jewels.

During the WW2, materials were scarce but the Finnish shoe was inventive and even colorful like this example.

Early 1950's pumps. Urvikko -brand.

1960's sleek pump. Groovy baby yeah!

And not all the winter boots were dark brown and black either! Mid 1960's.

The book is a hardcover with 287 pages. Some webstores sell it for about 60€, but you can get it from Vapriikki museum shop for 20€. There's an english print of it too. And the museum is definitely worth the visit!
It's a great book for anyone passionate about shoes, and has a thorough list of Finnish manufacturers at the end with their logos. So they'll come handy if dealing with vintage shoes. I heard a rumor that it's possibly out of print, so get it quick!
ISBN: 9516092764
Buy at CDON.