This is the second pair of skulls & roses shoes – this time with an organza ribbon for a little bit of variety.
Tag: handmade
Butterfly Brocade Shoes
Sorry about my little disappearance there – I’ve been so busy making things that I haven’t been making time to write about them. Please prepare yourself for a flurry of posts!
These are the sixth pair of prototype shoes, in black chinese brocade with multicoloured butterflies. They look a bit wrinkly because they’re a size bigger than my lasts – I promise they’re not wrinkly in real life. They’re finished off with a delicate organza ribbon because I thought it went well with the butterflies. These are definitely a pair of shoes fit for a faerie, so they’ve gone to a good home.
Purple Batik Shoes
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.
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…)
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!
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…
Fairysteps Mustardseed Boots
Image © Fairysteps
These little beauties are a pair of custom made Mustardseed boots, handmade by Fairysteps.
I’ve been reading the Fairysteps blog for quite a while now, and every time Ren posts a new pair of shoes I have to keep my fingers crossed that they’re not in my size in order to prevent my bank manager from crying.
To see these boots in all sort of different colourways, you could look at Fairysteps on Flickr… or you could go and visit the Fairysteps Etsy store, and find out what’s in stock in your size!
For those who prefer not to wear leather, there’s a range of vegan shoes in four colours of Lorica suable material.
If the pointy toes aren’t your style (and whyever not?), there are also a gorgeous range of round-toed pumps with bows or ankle straps or flowers or buttons. And if that’s not enough, there are matching bags and little purses in every colour.
Do you think it would be excessive to have one of each?
Conker Shoes
While we were in Totnes, I went to do a little window-shopping. For handmade shoes.
We didn’t find Green Shoes (because it turns out that their workshop’s not actually in Totnes but just outside), but we did find Conker. I tried on a couple of different styles to find out what size I need in Conker shoes (6E), but I couldn’t afford to buy anything. But now I know what size I need I can safely order shoes from the internet, the next time I have enough money in my Shoe Fund.
I also learned that 6E and 6F are the same width but the F has more instep space, which is a very useful thing to know when you have a high instep and wear orthotics.
The round toes and the crepe soles made these little boots (I tried on a lovely nut-brown pair) incredibly light and comfortable. I’ve been coveting these shoes via the internet for years, but now I’ve actually had them on my feet I want a pair (okay, several pairs) more than ever!