Hello Goodbye (Hello again!)

More skull slippers...

Hello Internet Lovelies, you might have noticed that I disappeared for a little while there, without so much as a warning. At the end of March my contract at work came to an end, so everything was pretty hectic as you can probably imagine. And then at the beginning of April I went off to That London for a week, to learn how to make fancy bras. Very exciting, but also very tiring. And next week I’m disappearing again, when I go into hospital for a little operation. (Hence the slippers, above.) Nothing very exciting, don’t worry, but it’ll take me a while to wake up from the anaesthetic and start sewing again.

Before I go, I plan to write a whole bunch of posts that will magically appear over the next couple of weeks. There’s so much I haven’t told you about, so I’d better get blogging!

Handmade Fabric Shoes

Flowery Shoes

Today I have been mostly making my own shoes. They’re not quite finished yet – they’re waiting for the welts to be trimmed (I need good light and a sharp knife) and a rubber layer to be glued onto the cork soles. But as soon as that’s done, I’ll have a pair of wearable outdoor shoes!

What I need to do now is make shoes for a small number of people who’d be willing to test them out for me – to wear them over the summer, and let me know how they fare. I’d have to charge towards the cost of the materials, which would be £20 per pair. (Shoe soling is expensive.) I’d want about five or six people, ideally.

The prototype shoes would be in the same style as the ones in the photo. They have eyelets going around the back of the shoe for the ribbons (this means that the ribbons are interchangeable), and a removable insole which is lightly padded. I can make them in any size.

In the meantime I’ll be making soft-soled versions for indoor wear, until I get your feedback on the outdoor-soled prototypes.

Is anybody willing to help me test out these experimental shoes for £20 a pair?
If so, leave me a comment or send me an email and I’ll be in touch!

UPDATE: I now have all the shoe testers I need, thank you very much!