These lovely purple batik shoes were made in response to a request for “something sober enough that I can wear to work”. Hopefully they’re dark enough to be sensible, but pretty enough to be interesting.
Month: June 2011
Black Rose Shoes
Lucy requested a pair of shoes in the same black rose fabric as my original test pair. I was happy to oblige!
Colourful Flowery Shoes
Ooh, look, more shoes!
Serena sent me this fabric from her stash. Aren’t the bright colours fabulous?
This pair were slightly too small to fit onto my lasts, which means that you can see a bit more of the construction. All of the shoes so far have eight eyelets around the back of the heel. These have a ribbon threaded through, to fasten the shoes and adjust the fit.
The shoes do stay put without the ribbons, but I just prefer them this way.
Skulls & Roses Shoes
This is the next pair of shoes – a pretty gothy pair with skulls and roses. I’ve actually made two pairs of these, and I’m extraordinarily tempted to make a third pair for myself
I don’t want to make eleven identical posts about the prototype shoes, so I’m hoping that the fabulous variety of fabrics will speak for themselves.
(Unless I keep making them in the same fabrics, of course…)
Beth and Katy
Hopefully this parcel has arrived at its destination by now – I don’t want to spoil a surprise!
These little dolls are for Paul’s cousin and her husband, who are now the proud parents of identical twin girls. Catherine and Elizabeth are thankfully known as Katy and Beth for short – otherwise I’d have had a lot more embroidery to do!
Spiderweb shoes
These are the first pair of shoes to emerge from my Shed – and aren’t they pretty?
My friend Chris (who teaches quilting and makes quilts to commission) provided the fabric, which is covered with sparkly copper spiderwebs on a purple and green background. The shoes are lined with purple organic cotton, and I thought the green organza ribbons made the perfect finishing touch.
They’ve been declared “lovely and comfy” which is a good start – I look forward to hearing how Chris gets on with them – if it ever stops raining long enough for her to wear them!
Shoemaker
This is what a shoemaker looks like. Well-ventilated, but slightly fuzzy around the edges.
The glue I’m using to stick the soles onto my prototype shoes is absolutely revolting. It’s a very strong solvent-based glue, and the warnings that come with it are a bit frightening. There’s no denying that it’s good at its job, but I’d quite like to find an alternative that doesn’t smell so bad!
(I’ve been asked to send in a photo of myself to accompany some interview questions for a magazine… I don’t think I’ll be sending them this one!)
Regency dresses or summer tunics?
This is Vogue 8434, a pattern I added to my stash recently – partly because I was thinking about shirts for the summer, and partly because Vogue were having a sale.
In my giant fabric mountain I have nine metres of linen – three metres each of black, white and purple. I also have three metres each of matching cotton lawn. This was originally earmarked for making three lined Regency-ish dresses to wear on a three-day trip to London next month.
I’d been wondering what to wear underneath the Regency dresses (more bloomers? Long, loose trousers?) and then I remembered that I have these Gossypium yoga trousers in black, white and purple. The purple ones used to be pale pink, but I dyed them in the same wash as the purple cotton lawn, so now they’re a perfect match! I could make three of these tunics in linen… or in lawn… or in linen with floaty lawn sleeves…
Question is, which am I going to get more wear out of – three Regency-ish dresses, or three long linen tunics…?
(And more to the point, what shoes am I going to wear?!)
Cork Midsoles
These are some of the cork midsoles for the prototype shoes – and those are the three pairs of scissors that have hurt my wrist, hurt my thumb and given me a blister while I’ve been cutting them out. Ouch!
I’ve discovered that scissors are easier (for me) than a knife, for making a nice clean cut and leaving my fingertips intact.
The cork itself is in the form of floor tiles. They’re 4mm thick, nice and dense, and will eventually mould a little to the shape of your feet as you wear the shoes. They’re also much easier to store than enormous great sheets of shoemaking cork, and I can take advantage of discount days at local DIY stores.
Speaking of which… I’m off to Wickes, to give my poor old hands a break from cutting, and to buy myself a stronger pair of scissors!
Spotted Lace Shoes
I realise that you can’t see the spotted lace in this picture – you’ll just have to trust me that it’s there! (It’s the same as the lace on the Regency-ish dress.)
This is my very first pair of completely handmade shoes that are suitable for wearing outside. They have 4mm thick ridged rubber soles, held on with the most revoltingly stinky glue I’ve ever used. And that’s saying something, having used Cow Gum for years when I was a design student.
I’ve been slowly cutting out lots and lots of layers to make the prototype shoes for my patient testers, but I wasn’t entirely happy with the pair I made back in April. It turned out to be really difficult to trim off the welt without leaving an untidy mess, showing all the construction layers. I wanted to make a test pair with the welts turned inwards, to satisfy myself that it could be done neatly enough, and that the shoes would still be strong enough around the edges.
I’ll be wearing this pair to go dancing in this evening, so I’ll be able to report back very soon on how well they hold up!
When I agreed to make eleven pairs of prototype shoes I hadn’t really thought through how long it would take to cut out all the bits. Each shoe has four layers for the upper, three layers for the midsole, and then the outer sole. That’s eight pieces per shoe, sixteen per pair, which means I need to cut out A HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SIX pieces of fabric, cork and rubber.
I’ve made a start, but I have a feeling that this may take some time…