I’ve got feet that just don’t fit most shoes. I’ve decided to try to learn to make shoes myself. I’ve made several attempts but nothing really good yet. I’m hoping to get there soon. Even though my shoes are kind of ugly, they are functional. I’ve used flip-flops for soles (cut off the straps), used fabric (swim trunks, skirts) and other similar things.
This is my first pair of shoes. These actually turned out a lot better than they look in the picture. I found a web site with small pictures of patterns from shoes they’ve found in archaeological sites from the middle ages and made them by trying to copy the shape of one of the patterns.
My second pair of shoes. These are my best ones so far. They’re very comfortable. I actually hiked for 8 miles in them in the mountains and they felt good.
My third pair of shoes. They’re made from a leather skirt. They came out more like slippers. They are the first I’ve made with a stitched on sole (the others I glued) but the stitching came out so bad I hid it with some red trim.
I’ve also tried sandals but have not done as well (which means they’re ugly, didn’t work or fell apart.)
I hope one day to actually make decent shoes. If you are a shoemaker, I’d love some helpful hints. I’m not really aiming for making mens dress shoes or ladies high-heeled shoes or cowboy boots or anything really complicated like that. Just simple shoes. If you have any tips for me (aside from don’t quit my day job), I’d be happy to hear them.
Those look pretty good to me. The only shoes I have made are moccasins, both from tanned leathers and from kits. That was some time ago, but my double-sole chukka style ones were especially nice. I could put many miles on them and then just resole the bottoms when they began to wear through. They could be very slippery on certain terrain, however, when the bottoms became polished smooth from pavement and sidewalks. I understand some people have problems with soft footwear at first since their feet are not used to so much flexing.
I still wear moccasins but I have moved to a dense synthetic sole since these make more sense in my current occupation.
There is a long history of making very practical sandals from old tires. I have seen some very good looking examples, but I have never gotten around to trying it myself. I just did a quick google search and found this site: http://www.hollowtop.com/sandals.htm.
A note, I believe that the traditional way of making these and geta was to make them symmetrical so that they could be worn on either foot and therefore wear down more evenly.
How about some Caligae? Just like Roman Soldiers used to wear.
After some over-enthusiastic wearing of rubber-soled sandals, my feet developed a nasty kind of eczema. In short, my feet are sensitized to rubber. No rubber insoles, easy on the rubber-based glue, or my feet feet like they are on fire.
This means that I am wearing wooden-soled sandals, mostly. The shoes I do wear all have leather insoles. (Even the Minnetonka moccasins I got had rubber insoles! Which had to be replaced.)
When I was at University I wore clogs. Lancashire clogs. Some subcategories of Morris-Dancers wear them. They are perfectly comfortable (assuming you can get the right size). Clogs like these. The reason we wore clogs was that the friend of one of the more senior students made them, and we were given the hard sell as soon as we stepped over the threshold.
Very nice. As a podiatrist, I like the fact that these shoes are basically shaped like feet. Sounds ridiculously simple, but many (most?) makers forget this little detail. Keep at it.
We use to wear kaibab moccasins when we lived in the southwest, they look good with jeans. Crazy Crow Trading Post has several books on native American foot wear patterns which can be modified for a variety of materials. I use to use Goop glue to create some friction strips on the bottom of moccasins as they use to get out from under me at the most importune moments, the bank was a good example one day.
That’s the other reason I’m trying to make them. On shoemaking sites it seems the shoemakers all oooh and ahhh over their beautiful lasts. I’ve looked at the pictures of these lasts and they bear no resemblence at all to feet. That explains EVERYTHING to me, all the decades of pain and blisters and neuromas and deformed toenails and me considering asking a doctor to cut off my little toes. NO MORE!
I’ve been wearing simple, flat shoes, some without arch support, all with low or no heel, and with little to no cushioning for over a year now and it actually feels wierd now to wear standard shoes or athletic footwear. I even went backpacking this summer – totalling over 140 miles – wearing sandals. Feet really aren’t that complicated. Give them room and adequate protection from sharp things and they work pretty well all by themselves.
The biggest problem, aside from making nice-looking shoes, is what to make the soles out of. Steel-belted tires are ubiquitous and too difficult to work with. Also very heavy and thick. I might buy some soling material but I am unfamiliar with the terminology on the web for the materials so I am uncertain which materials to choose. I don’t want leather soles because then your feet get wet on rainy days.
I’m obsessed with this. It’s actually quite a thrill to make a 3-dimensional, functional object like this.
This is an interesting topic. Although I think I will manage without making shoes, I also have ridiculous to fit feet. Narrow heal, bony/no padding whatsoever, and very long toes that splay out, duck style. (sans webbing. ) I look at typical pointy toed women’s shoe lasts and wonder if shoe designers are crazy. In fact, most fashionable footwear bewilders me by its complete inappropriateness to the task of walking.
I have a couple pairs of shoes that were custom made by a New Hampshire guy called “The Cordwainer Shop.”
Often I can fit Clarks, provided they hang on at a sufficient number of points, and have a square toe box and some flexibility.
But the idea of making something so practical oneself has appeal, I’ll admit.
Yes, that. But what goes in the middle? There has to be something to stitch it to.
So far I’ve used fabric (that nice hawaiian print in the picture) plus yoga mat but fabric frays and you have to do something to get it nice and around the edge. Yoga mat is heavy and really squishy. I think I should buy something from the shoemaker supply site but I’m a bit confused by the products available. Something not too cushy, not too hard, can stich through it and it will hold the stitches.
Yeah, Clarks are pretty good. I had some really nice ones with a gum sole, but the gum sole got really gross after a while. An attempt to resole them ruined them.
I recently bought a pair of custom-made shoes. Custom made doesn’t mean what I thought it meant. They didn’t make it to my foot, they simply made it when I ordered it with the options I requested. Told my my foot tracing would fit their last (ha! not quite true!) Hence my quest to do it myself.
Outersole glued to the mid-soles which go in the middle and are stitched to the upper. Check out some cobblers supply shops or shoe repair supplies. Most have the same stuff but will differ with the outersole labels they carry and heels and what not. My sisters use to sell shoes they made and painted. Mostly cotton duck uppers, a good canvas for paints.
I think the shoes look great and can totally understand where you’re coming from. Not to distract you from this endeavor because I hope you take it for all it’s worth but…have you considered men’s shoes? Men’s shoes are built for comfort and built to last and we don’t take no nonsense with no pinching toes and high heels and @#$%. There are plenty of men’s shoes that could “pass”. There are also shoe/leather dyes and shoes accessories to glam up a shoe to make it pass even more. You’d already have those skills.
It’s a man’s world. (I remember the first time my wife put on one of my hand me down shirts. She was like, "This is a shirt you’re done with? This is better constructed than any women’s shirt I’ve ever owned.) We don’t share shoes. i wear a 13 or 14, she wears a 5. She can stick her shoes inside my shoes and wear both at the same time.
) I look at typical pointy toed women’s shoe lasts and wonder if shoe designers are crazy. In fact, most fashionable footwear bewilders me by its complete inappropriateness to the task of walking.
Check out some cobblers supply shops or shoe repair supplies. Most have the same stuff but will differ with the outersole labels they carry and heels and what not. My sisters use to sell shoes they made and painted. Mostly cotton duck uppers, a good canvas for paints.