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Shoe Construction Project
The me from the beginning would be proud of where I’ve come. From the imagination to the sketches, to finally, a real object. However, it doesn’t end here, as there is more to learn and better things to come...
This project was the continuation of the Footwear Collection Project. I picked out my favorite shoe from the collection I made, and would physically create that shoe. This was an amazing experience for me as I’ve always wanted to create my own shoe, so being able to learn how to, and seeing the final product was a dream come true.
Process
Creating this shoe was mainly a big learning experience, as most of the process consisted of learning how to do each thing, however, I loved each step of the process. The first step was the pattern-making process. I had prior knowledge of pattern making, however, pattern making for shoes was completely different from pattern making for clothes. So to start, I had to tape the shoe last and draw out my design on it. From there, I took that taped design and cut out each specific piece. I went through a couple of rounds of rendering each specific piece so it would account for sewing allowance, lasting allowance, and just overall fit.
Once I had the pattern pieces cut out, I went through a muslin test, to see if the pieces would fit the way that I wanted them to. All the pieces fit exactly how I wanted them to, apart from the tongue, as I felt that it was too narrow, which meant that I went back to the tongue pattern piece and widened it to my liking.
Now that I made sure that all the pieces were good to go, I went and bought the necessary leather to make the shoes. For this shoe, I used four different types of material. Two pieces of cowhide leather (one dark gray, and the other brown), patent leather (pink), lambskin leather (black for the lining), and pink lace fabric. I cut out each piece to its according material, and once that was done I began to prepare to build the upper.
Building the upper consisted of both gluing and sewing. The gluing was simple enough, and it was mainly to make sure that the pieces were stuck together once it came to sewing. The sewing was trickier, however, as this was the first time that I had sewn using a sewing machine. I went through a couple of bumps along the way, such as learning how to use the machine, how to not jam the machine, and getting a straight sewing line. For that reason, the first shoe did not come out as well, but once I got the hang of it, the second shoe was a much better improvement.
Lastly came lasting the shoe, which was not too complicated, however, it required much more time than I had allotted. One of the main reasons that lasting required a lot of time was to prevent as many creases as possible. Leather is a “living” material, meaning that it can adapt and mold into the shapes we want, however, it needs time to do that. It wasn’t as apparent with the brown leather, but it became noticeable with the patent leather. Patent leather out of all the leathers needs an even longer time to last to prevent creases as it consists of a plastic layer. Ways to fix all those bumps and creases would be to slowly last the patent leather over the curves and flatten out each time for a couple of days. Heat and water could also be applied to speed up the process.
Although not perfect, creating this shoe was a dream come true, and I couldn’t be happier with the result. There is still a lot for me to learn and to improve on, but this was the starting point for that journey. I’m especially proud because looking back at where I started to where I’ve gotten, it has been a long journey, and one that can only keep on getting better.