Sunday 23 March 2014

Shoes (made by ME)!

Pink shoes! Oh lala, I am a lady...
Can you imagine, I made a pair of shoes!!! They are pink, they are soft, they fit and I love them! I am sure you wonder, how come I made my own shoes? I went to a shoemaking class that I got as a present from Lescha for my birthday in March! I was so surprised and it was the perfect gift!





The class was in Central London at Prescott and Mackay. It was a really exhausting, but amazing, weekend class and the only thing we had to bring was some fabric or leather to make the shoes from. I bought some really soft suede leather from Walter Reginald. They have a massive leather outlet in London and when I went there I was totally overwhelmed. I had no idea what to choose and after asking I was pointed in a general direction and saw this pink suede (I believe it is goat). It was only £8.50 for the whole skin, which I thought was quite cheap for such a soft material.


At the shoemaking class we were only 6 Ladies plus our instructor Caterina Belluardo. Caterina is a footwear designer and an amazing instructor. She was constantly helping and motivating us :) Believe me there were moments when I actually thought, what the hell are you doing here? Are you crazy trying to make shoes? There was a moment that actually reminded me a lot of my first try to set in a sleeve: you had to ease and form the leather around the tip of the shoe.

Even the heels are covered in leather.


So the first day was a lot of cutting and you cut the leather with a scalpel. The scalpel gets blunt very quickly and you have to apply loads of pressure to still be able to cut. Hello, blister. Because that's what I got at the tip of my index finger (after thinking for 2 days my finger tip is numb). But never mind all these blisters, cuts and burns, because at the end I made beautiful shoes!


Shoemaking involves a lot of hammering and nailing, because you have to first nail the leather and lining to the shoe sole before you can can glue everything together! Believe me, I managed to bend loads of nails! But I can report that my hammering and nailing skills improved at the end of day two, yeah.



I am not going to bore you with all the details of 15 hours of shoemaking, hehe. But we were able to choose from 3 designs: flat and round; thistle toe and heel; pointy and heel. Then you could also choose the design of the upper part of the shoe. You can have a look here in the Flickr group of Prescott and Mackays to see what the other participants made :) All shoes turned out amazing. One of the ladies even used a Liberty print!

Here is my soon-to-be shoe on the last (the yellow thing). Can you see all the little nails? We had to pull them all out again!

On day two, the shoes actually started to look like shoes. We did loads more hammering and nailing, more gluing, and then finally came the moment we could glue the sole to the shoe. It was like magic! One moment you had this kind of yeah might be a shoe and then a minute later you had this beautiful shoe! I decided to add straps to my shoe, because usually I can't walk on heels (even tiny ones) if they are not tied to my ankle.


The last thing I have to do - before I can wear these shoes - is to bring them to a cobbler. We only glued the heel on and it would break off when walking. So the cobbler has to nail it on. I am a little worried about it, because I am scarred he will ruin my shoe! And will it still be my shoe?

Here you can see the lining.


I have to admit, I am really hooked now. I would love to make another pair and it is actually not that difficult to get all the supplies you need. But as every hobby, it is expensive! So, at the moment I am just looking into all the possibilities and do a lot of dreaming about my own shoes (imagine to make your own wedding dress and shoes! Not that I need to, I am still waiting for the proposal ;) ).

So, what do you think? Would you like to try something new? Make your own shoes or lingerie (that's next on my list)?

You can see that they are a bit different ;) But I don't mind...
I know you want to see a picture with me wearing the shoes :) But be patient, as soon as it gets a bit warmer you will. I just couldn't convince myself today to go outside in these shoes - it was cold, rainy and my legs are all white :P

20 comments:

  1. Wow Daniela!! I am seriously impressed!
    First, what a cool and thoughtful gift; and second, those shoes are amazing!
    Thanks for all the fun pictures. I hope you get lots of wear out of them.

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    1. Thanks Kristin! I really have to get over my fear to bring them to the cobbler and than I can wear them loads!!

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  2. Beautiful. Perfect colour. What a lovely experience K xXx

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  3. These are AMAZING! Your choice of colour is fabulous and they will look great in the warmer months. I hope they last a long time.

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    1. Thanks Claire. Yeah, I just had fallen in love with this color :) and I really hope the suede does not mark/scratch that easily.

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  4. What an amazing present! And the shoes are fab, really can't wait to see them on!

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    1. Thanks, Sabs! After they are back from the cobbler, I will put them on and make pictures. Promised :)

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  5. These are amazing!! You've made your own PAIR OF SHOES! I would love to do that, too! Are there more making-of pictures? I'm super interested in this, maybe you can tell me a little bit more about it next time? :)

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    1. Thanks Charlie! And no these are the only pics I have, because on day 1 Lescha had my iphone (and I had no camera!) and on day 2 I took a few, but then got so excited that I forgot! But I can tell you how it went anyway!

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  6. Wow! This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a while! They're beautiful! You're so lucky to live in a place where a shoe-making class is available. And lucky that Lescha thought of it as a gift for you - what a guy!

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    1. Thank you Gail! If you should have ever the chance to attend such a class, don't hesitate. It will be amazing! And yes, I was so surprised when Lescha gave me the present. Actually he gave me card with a youtube link. And I had to put the link into my phone to see the advert for the shoemaking class. :)

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  7. Absolutely fantastic shoes!!! What a great gift you got! Isn't it wonderful when you learn something totally new? Great project, Daniela.

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    1. Thanks so much Youanna! It was amazing to learn how to make shoes! And now I want to make them at home as well. We will see :)

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  8. What a great present for you! They look fab - I love the colour! Learning new things is great, isn't it? And I bet not many people can say that they've made their own shoes!

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    1. Hihi, I also don't think may people make their own shoes. :) I might actually were them for my PhD viva, just to give myself a confidence boost! Thank you!!!

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  9. These are AWESOME and even better because you made them. What a fabulous gift and a great take away form a class. I looked into a shoemaking class last summer, but it was a four week intensive course with everyday attendance and that was just not possible. I'm living vicariously through you. Great make!

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    1. Thank you Andrea! Wow, 4 weeks shoe making sounds indeed intense. My fingers were hurting already after 2 days ;)

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  10. Oh my goodness! Your shoes are amazing! The colour, fabric and style are beautiful. I am insanely jealous of you being able to go to this class, because this is something I would love to try. I have stupidly small feet, and would love to be able to make my own shoes because it's so hard to find shoes that fit me. Looking forward to photos of them being worn.

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  11. Daniela! You made shoes?! These are amazing! I love them! What a great idea for a present :)

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