Handmade by Carolyn

Magdalena Dusk; an Alabama Chanin project

09/04/2016 9:22 pm \ 77 Comments \ Carolyn

Finally! my Alabama Chanin outfit! It’s finished, and now done and dusted! Yay! I may look all cool, calm and collected on the outside here but on the inside I’m cheering like a madman.

Phew. This project has been quite an undertaking… quite an undertaking, to say the least. I had received a length of beautiful Alabama Chanin cotton jersey in colour Dusk from the lovely Lisa, of Lisa’s Carolina, and I really wanted to do the fabric justice, to honour its Alabama origins and make something worthy and not to do things by halves. I decided I just had to go the whole nine yards and make another full-on ensemble. The Full Monty Alabama Chanin. Obviously!

There was enough of the blue to make one skirt and a few bindings, so I needed to make some more colours…. I bought some plain white cotton jersey from Spotlight, cut some scraps and played about with dyeing; experimenting with greys, greens, greeny-blues, blue-y greens, blue-y greys and greeny-greys, plus I’d also had some pink cotton that I dyed blue, to get some purple-y blue into the mix too.

candidates!

Ultimately I rejected my purple- and grey-toned experiments and settled upon greens; shades of teal and sea green, which I thought subtly highlighted and championed the dusky blue the absolute best, toning it without drowning it amongst other shades of blue. I think; if you’re trying to showcase a colour in an ensemble/design, then it’s best for that colour to be the only one of its shade, and for the contrasting colours to be all a different shade and variations of each other, not of the showcase colour. As clear as mud? Yep, I thought so! Sorry, maybe that’s not making much sense, but at least I know what I’m talking about.

Pattern; all patterns are from the book Alabama Studio Sewing + Design, by Natalie Chanin. I made a full-length skirt, a fully-embroidered mid-length skirt and a fitted tank. Every single component is sewn by hand, in the Alabama Chanin way 🙂

So: the mid-length skirt! Which is the biggie in my ensemble, taking a few months to embroider the pieces! The skirt itself is my precious Dusk Alabama Chanin cotton jersey, and the motifs I’d dyed some white cotton jersey from Spotlight to be a teal/sea-green and to purposely be a little variegated with strong tones paling to lighter tones appearing shaded in an ombre kind of a way across the piece. All the details of the stencilling and early preparations pre-embroidery, are fully described in this post here. This part actually took aaaaages, or it felt like it at the time. Obviously, once I got embroidering then that was the bit that REALLY took ages! I had decided upon blanket stitch embroidery to attach the motifs, using light tan Gutermann’s upholstery thread. I liked the colour and the look of the embroidery, but this particular stitch was probably not the ideal choice. It is an enormously time-consuming stitch and I found myself questioning my own sanity/stupidity in choosing it, many a time. I’m glad I did persevere now though, since I really do love how it looks. Although it did take a lot of time, it wasn’t too bad, since our trip to Japan involved several plane, train and bus rides with hours and hours and hours of enforced sitting, so I got plenty of embroidery done during those times… I had completed two whole skirt panels by the time we got home! YAY! I then would have finished pretty quickly if I had then not dropped the ball for the next few weeks… oops. But once I put my mind to it and got going again I finished the embroidery pretty soon; and with the embroidery done the whole ensemble felt practically home and hosed!

I joined the pieces, hand-felling the seams using the same light tan upholstery thread as the embroidery;and I found a light yellow/beige fold-over elastic at Spotlight that looked quite nice for the waistband binding.. not that you’re ever likely to see that bit! It’s actually button elastic, for waistbands, and has buttonholes in it along the fold, but that’s ok. The colour is great, and since fold over elastic is a rare beast in Perth, in any colour, I counted myself pretty lucky to have found it!

The full length underskirt: originally white cotton jersey from Spotlight, and I dyed it to be just slightly variegated, strong teal-y/sea-green. I wanted it to be a little bit uneven in its shade, so as to fit in with the whole handmade, rustic aesthetic of Alabama Chanin. The underskirt is entirely handsewn with emerald green upholstery thread, with felled seams, and a single strip of randomly hand-ruched/ruffled cotton jersey around the lower edge. I’d originally stitched on three evenly spaced strips of ruffled cotton, but removed the upper two, because three rows didn’t look as nice as I’d hoped. The upper edge of the petticoat is finished with teal elastic, handstitched on with herringbone embroidery stitch. This was the first piece to be finished in this ensemble, believe it or not!

btw, I’ve had some feedback already that some think the underskirt is too long… opinions?

Tank top; white cotton jersey from Spotlight, dyed in the lightest shade of eau-de-nil green, and with armhole and neckline binding in the Dusk blue Alabama Chanin cotton jersey. The tank top is handsewn with light tan upholstery cotton, the same as the skirt embroidery, with felled seams and herringbone embroidery to attach the neckline and armhole binding.

All the details, summed up succinctly in just one pic:

So that’s it re the outfit…

And now for a little story about that weird and bizarre, modern-day phenomenon, the blog photo shoot…

I’d delayed posting this because I wanted to take some really nice pictures with a pretty background, something better than just these ones taken in our boring old garage… so I pick an absolutely beautiful location at my parents’ house … and a hopefully beautiful time of day … dusk would be an appropriately poetic time of day, yes? because the colour of my Alabama Chanin fabric is named “dusk” Ok, perfect! However turns out dusk is actually a terrible time to take pictures, … all my first batch of pictures were a giant fail… everything very dark and you can hardly see a thing, ha! So I disconsolately packed up to go back to the house; to try again the next day.

And did I mention my chosen photo shoot location is a paddock quite a long walk from the house? Honestly, the things we do… I walked down in jeans, disrobed, re-robed, in the paddock, as you do…. TWICE, on two consecutive days… all under the bemused and intensely interested gaze of a mob of kangaroos. Well obviously, they must have been admiring my Alabama Chanin finery? hmmm?

hey guys!

The second day I timed my arrival to be just before sunset, with that lovely pre-dusk golden glow … and wasn’t til I’d got all set up and going with my pictures I realised I’d left my sunnies back at the house and so I’m squinting in Every Single Picture… (groan)

And in the end I felt like the “boring” garage photos weren’t really all that bad and actually the details show up pretty well against that quiet blank background, so I’m posting a few of those too. Sorry for the picture overload.

Moral of the story; blog photo shoots can verge on the ludicrous

Anyway!! it’s done… Thank you so much to my friend Lisa, of Lisa’s Carolina, for the gift of the Alabama Chanin cotton. It’s such a gorgeous colour and I hope I managed to make something that is worthy of the fabric 🙂

Details:

Tank top, skirt, underskirt; all patterns from the Alabama Studio Sewing + Design by Natalie Chanin. Blue cotton jersey is from Alabama Chanin, other fabrics from hand-dyed by me. Embroidery design, half of the Magdalena design by Alabama Chain, embroidered in blanket stitch.

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: alabama chanin, alabama studio sewing + design, dyeing, embroidery, handicrafts, skirt, top

don’t let the grass grow under your feet

03/04/2016 3:04 pm \ 34 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made some rather funny sandals. Grassy, you know. What, isn’t that normal? Well, you know, you see some materials, you get an idea and you’ve just got to run with it. 🙂

Cassie brought some small pieces of fake grass home; samples from her work that were getting thrown out, and I was instantly like, o yeah, summer-y sandals! I was allowed to have one piece and she plans to make some thongs for herself from the other one.

Design; my own.

Materials; fake grass, free sample; white vinyl from Clark Rubber, contact adhesive and black rubber for the soles from Bunnings.

The grass is sewn into a really stiff thick plastic backing that was pretty difficult to cut neatly, or at all actually. I used a stanley knife for that bit, and for cutting slits along the edges for the upper tabs to go through, and sanded off the sharp bits with the heaviest duty sandpaper I could find. I played with pieces of cotton on my foot to get the pattern pieces how I wanted, and then cut them from white vinyl with 3-4 tabs along each long side, to insert through the grass to fold down underneath. The vinyl is fabric-backed already, but I glued on some thick white cotton as well, for some extra strength and resistance to stretching. Hopefully, anyway! I also topstitched all around the edges of the vinyl, which I think looks nice and neat.

The vinyl tabs underneath and the black rubber soles are glued underneath to the grass backing with contact adhesive, so it’s all held together firm and strong.

cat contemplates shoes…

Are they going to get worn very frequently? Hmm, time will tell! They are kinda weird but I reckon fun and funky, and the fake grass means they’re very soft and comfortable to wear. Like slipping on a pair of soft comfy slippers! And I like that they’re o so summery. You know, green green grass, plus clean, crisp bright bright white. *blissful sigh* I love summer. It’s great since today the weather has forgotten it’s autumn and has turned up the heat with a cloudless blue sky. Picnic weather. Actually, they do feel just right for a picnic. Also, looking at the bright green plastic-ness reminds me of Christmas trees. Yes! The perfect sandal for Christmas do’s!

Posted in: shoes \ Tagged: own design, shoes

Lucy Heartfilia

02/04/2016 4:21 pm \ 20 Comments \ Carolyn

Who is this?? I barely recognise my daughter in her fabulous cosplay outfit! For ComicCon this year, Cassie decided she wanted to go as Lucy Heartfilia, from Fairy Tail; the anime/manga conceived by Hiro Mashima. And she has been busy busy busy, working solidly on her costume… isn’t it gorgeous?!! I think she looks absolutely amazing!

Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail; artwork and character by Hiro Mashima

And yes, Cassie’s costume is all made by herself, with just a few pattern adjustment and sewing suggestions by me.

Patterns; adapted Burda 8175 for the skirt, and adapted Burda 8548 for the vest. The corset top and the sleeves are self-drafted. Actually, the “corset” top is more like an abbreviated bodice than a corset; with princess seams and unseen skinny gold shoulder straps, that are hidden underneath her vest, and closure is at the centre back by white hook and eye tape. The sleeves are two pieced and double layered, with the white layer longer so it comes out at the bottom, and with elastic in a channel at the top so they stay up on her arms. The long gold straps on the sleeves are purely decorative. You want to see what the pattern piece for the sleeves looks like? No? well I shall show you anyway 😉

You cut two of each per sleeve, so the bottom flared bit of the sleeve is almost a full circle. A circle skirt for your arms! haha And yes, she hemmed the lot too, I think she stayed up until the wee small hours doing that job! The white and blue layers are joined together at the top with a casing for elastic, so they stay up on her arms. The gold straps were sewn on afterwards, they’re pretty much decorative. But don’t they look great!

Fabric; quilting cotton from Spotlight. Mainly chosen for the just-right colours, of course!

I’m so proud of her, because the whole costume is properly and beautifully made, and she did not take the easy way out in any part.

The dark navy blue, pleated skirt has an invisible zip closure and an interfaced facing. I suggested she make it a little longer, so she could at least wear it as a normal skirt too; but no; the costume had to be as faithfully executed as possible!

Those keys are an integral part of Lucy’s costume, and a part of her character’s story. Cassie was so thrilled when she spotted the key set in a store; and pounced… perfect for her costume!! Belt; surreptitiously extracted from her brother’s wardrobe mwahaha.

The camisole/corset top was self-drafted to fit her perfectly, and it fits like a glove! and then she drew the lines for the blue heart and gold edging on her muslin and cut it up to get the individual pieces. Meaning; they are not just appliquéd on but are all separate joined pieces; and the top is completely lined in white cotton.

She used a blouse pattern for the vest, mainly because the collar was right for the costume; it had no collar stand and was the right shape and lay in the right spot. The front and back pieces were easily modified to be a vest shape, and she individually drew out the gold edging pieces to fit, and with self-fabric facing throughout.

Really, I am so proud that she put so much care, thought and diligence into making it and finishing it all off perfectly and beautifully.

This is a character driven pose; it means “I’m watching and I’ve got your back”… and that symbol on her hand is also a key component to her character too. I freehand drew it on for her this morning, because you know; right handed, and it had to be on her right hand! It’s in pink ballpoint pen. I can’t wait to hear how her day was…. I’m sure she will be one of the best dressed at the convention!! As we drove in to drop her off, we saw stormtroopers and a Joker strolling down the esplanade on their way to the convention, laugh! It’s fantastic how everyone who goes makes a real effort to dress up in amazing costumes and really look the part… oooo I so wish I could be there to see all the costumes!!

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: Burda 8175, Burda 8548, Cassie, fancy dress, own design, skirt, sleeve, top

sheeplefeet

31/03/2016 11:52 pm \ 13 Comments \ Carolyn

shearling slippers

Baa-aa-aa!

So, I was thinking of calling these Uggspadrilles. You know… uggs? espadrilles? Haha. YeeeeeeeeaNo.

Anyway. I’m fulfilling a need for some slop-around-the-house winter footwear. All winter, I usually LIVE in my sheepskin ugg boots at home. I wanted, nay, needed something like that for my year of handmade! I had some leftover shearling from my shearling coat, that I made for Japan, and for the soles I used an insulative foam kind of stuff. It’s black foam, that has one side covered in a thick silver foil-y type of coating that’s both quite tough and waterproof, so I used it silver side down. This was cut from some very small scraps given to me by my friend Megan recently. They were actually not just small scraps but awkwardly shaped ones too, and I’m pretty sure she will be rather surprised that I managed to get two soles out of it!

shearling slippers2

The slippers are a pretty basic design. An espadrille really must be the simplest style of shoe design, after the humble thong. They are beautifully snuggly warm, thanks to the shearling, and the sole underneath will provide some degree of waterproofing, if I need to leave the house briefly. Obviously they will be mostly inside the house footwear, but they’ll be ok to go outside and onto the wet paving sometimes, to hang out the washing, take out the rubbish, check the letter box, you know. Stuff.

They’ll do 🙂 shearling slippers 1

Also, I wanted to give a quick report on my latest Alabama Chanin project… the last time I wrote, I promised that I would have finished it by the end of March, which is today! Anyway I am happy to say that I met my deadline and I have finished! the only thing is that I’m not ready to write a blog post about it yet. I took a few pictures of my new ensemble in our boring old garage… *yawn* and then just decided it really deserved something better. So, in the meantime, while I get my act together in the photography department, here is a little sneaky-peaky glimpse of a some details… I can promise, it is a multi-shaded, multi-textured, multi-detailed ensemble and I am super proud and super happy with it all!

Thank you so much to my lovely friend Lisa of Lisa’s Carolina, for the gift of the lovely blue Alabama Chanin cotton 🙂

magdalena dusk

Posted in: sewing, shoes \ Tagged: own design, shoes

paprika suede desert boots

29/03/2016 3:24 pm \ 83 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made some boots! or kind of like, shoe-boots, really. Desert boots.

Ok, I have to be honest; I’m so proud of these I think I might just explode with happiness!!! Finally, a pair of winter shoes in which I have complete satisfaction and pride and joy. I’m so so so so SO immensely pleased with how these turned out!

Woooooooooot!

Ok, calming down a little. The lowdown.

Materials; my friend Megan had given me a few small bits and bobs of sturdy fabrics, including some thick and stiff, paprika coloured suedette upholstery fabric. I immediately envisioned boots of course, hehehe; my mind nowadays almost totally taken up with thoughts of shoes and how I can bend whatever materials I catch sight of into making them. I used the paprika suedette for the outer, and the boots are lined completely with faux chocolate suedette, a far more flowy and lightweight fabric, the leftovers from this little cropped top. The outer and lining lightly glued together; plus I covered a pair of insoles with the chocolate suedette too. This fabric originally from the Fabric Store in Melbourne. Laces and insoles from Coles, all glues and the black rubber from which I cut the soles and heels from Bunnings. I cut an interior layer and one layer of the stacked heels from some thin cork placemats. Do you like the one layer of brown in the heels, from the cork? I did this on a whim, and while my husband and family thought it looked a bit weird, like a mistake; I absolutely LOVE this little feature. Kinda gives my own little touch :)Topstitching; I used upholstery thread, in a shade of burnt caramel. I like the contrast and that it doesn’t match the paprika.

Eyelets; rather than add metal eyelets, I left the holes raw. Most of the desert boots I’ve seen are like this and I prefer that look.

Pattern, I drafted my own, using my new (old) vintage lasts. It looks like this:

For my own future benefit, since this procedure actually worked very well with these particular materials: a rough run-through of the construction…

Glue uppers and lining pieces together leaving the front of the vamp free so as to create the toe puff later, and back part separate so as to sew the back seam together later and then create the heel counters… topstitch edges, punch eyelets, sew pieces together.

Sew quarters to vamps with some sturdy reinforcing at the point where the eyelet closure joins on. By the way; this style of shoe in which the eyelet closure sits OVER the vamp is known as the Derby style, as opposed to the Oxford style in which the eyelet closure sits underneath the vamp. My previous lace-up shoes have all been in the Oxford style, except for the yellow ones which were also Derbys. Learn something new every day, no? 🙂

Sew the back seam of lining and upper separately, sew the lining to a fabric underfoot piece, glue the upper and lining together behind the heel and topstitch the upper edge, back of the heel.

Create the toe puffs and heel counters. I used stretch cotton denim and several layers of PVA glue. My heel counters (not seen) stretch around to “just” join onto the toe puffs here.

Glue uppers to the lining, stretch and shape the fabric over the toe puffs and heel counters as much as possible. I spent an evening in front of the TV just stretching by hand. Then stitch the uppers to an underfoot layer of self-fabric (if sturdy) or leather. When stitching leathers and leather-like fabrics in any project, be it shoes or bags or anything; a double up-and-down stitch with two threads is employed. So, stitch a running stitch one way all around, then return and stitch back over the same stitching, in the same holes, completely the double row of stitching. This can also be done with the stitching going in one direction and employing two needles, doing each stitch twice, one at a time.

first row of stitching, sorry for the blurry picture, I swear it didn’t look blurry when I took it!

aaand, the second row of stitching, complete.

Then I trimmed away the excess, cut a cork inner sole and glued it to the under-foot layers with contact adhesive, then made a bias binding strip of black quilting cotton and glued this all round the edge (PVA glue). You can leave the stitching and edge visible and raw and unbound, which is a more authentic desert boot look; but I wished for a neater finish plus visually to have a stronger black line here to tie the touches of black in the shoelaces and (future) soles and heels together more visibly.

Up until now, most my glueing has been using PVA glue, but for the stacked heels and to glue the soles to the underneath of the shoe I used contact adhesive.

Last step was to cut foam inner soles to fit, cover with the lining fabric and insert into the shoes…

The height of the heel was determined by the fact that I will wish to wear them with my favourite flared jeans… my lasts are not reeeeally designed for a high heel so I went as high as I dared while not destroying the line of the shoe. I’m very happy with this height as it looks with my jeans! 🙂

They are a little loose-ish on my bare and stockinged/tight-ed feet but fit nice and snugly with my hand-knitted socks. I will want to wear it with both tights and with socks, so this is perfect for me 🙂

Yes, I knit all my own socks too. Well, been making my own clothes for years so I’ve built up a supply of literally everything.

I’ve kept a few old shoeboxes from old rtw pairs for my self-made shoes, so they stay nice and unsquished by other pairs of shoes in the bottom of my wardrobe. Here they are, all snuggled up and ready and waiting for winter. I can hardly wait to wear them!

Posted in: sewing, shoes, Uncategorized \ Tagged: own design, shoes

the year of handmade, 1

26/03/2016 3:56 pm \ 31 Comments \ Carolyn

So, since I’ve already been quietly getting on with it for the last month and it’s actually been successful so far! I think I can finally officially announce that I am doing this thing; my Year of Handmade.

For a period of one year; I will wear ONLY clothing and shoes that I personally have made with my own two hands.

Long term readers may remember how I’ve dreamed of emulating Natalie Purschwitz’s Makeshift Project, a yearlong project in which she wore only clothing and shoes made by herself… I’ve been a long term admirer of her project and idea, periodically I even go back and browse through her blog and admire the clothing and shoes all over again! and for aaaages I’ve really wanted to have a go and see if I could do the same myself. During 2013 I did wear only clothing made by myself, but allowed myself ready-to-wear shoes, since at that stage I hadn’t made any. Well, now I have made a nice little supply of self-made shoes and am in the process of building up more, and so I’m starting to feel cautiously confident that I can do it!

So, it’s on! I’ve made a little button in my sidebar that links to my project outfit pictures in my dedicated Flickr album ; Year of Handmade. Actually I think I’ve held off announcing it on my blog all this last month not just because I was scared of failing at winter shoes yet, but also because I hadn’t thought of nor made a button yet! ha!

I started on 22nd February, and so I will keep it up until at least 21st February 2017.

I’m going to keep the project mainly in the Flickr album, although periodically I may write an update here on how I’m feeling about it as it goes along. Consequently, my thoughts for the first month;

It’s not surprising to me that I have plenty of clothes to see me through this thing, plenty; and that shoes are my biggest restriction. I am a beginner shoemaker, and while I am pretty happy with most of my handmade shoes, I still have to turn out a winter shoe that I am 100% satisfied with. SO far, the project has sailed along pretty smoothly because I’ve been able to wear my summer shoes, and I’m really happy with ALL of those. My 2-tone caramel/ivory sandals and my denim shoes are very satisfactory to me; I LOVE wearing them and am super happy with how both pairs turned out. It helped that they are both pretty simple style of shoe to make, and so I hadn’t encountered any of the challenges associated with making a closed-in shoe yet… though I have now!!

I’ve found that colour-wise and style-wise, both these pairs of shoes go with practically every item of summer/trans-seasonal clothing that I have. Cannot stress enough how useful this is!

On a morale point of view, it feels so SO great to be able to go forth wearing a 100% self-made outfit in which I still feel halfway stylish. In fact, that feeling is one of the most rewarding things ever, from a maker’s point of view. Every now and again, as I’m out and about, it occurs to me; how many other people out and about would be wearing a head-to-toe outfit 100% made by themselves? Not many, that’s what. It’s a hugely satisfying feeling, HUGE; and one that so far keeps me motivated to keep going for the year.

Posted in: fashion, Uncategorized \ Tagged: year of handmade

better black shoes

22/03/2016 1:38 pm \ 25 Comments \ Carolyn

So, black Oxford shoes, mark 2. This version was made with the help of my beautiful new lasts! Or I guess I should say, old lasts? ha.

Design, my own, based upon a classic Oxford shoe style. My tutorial on how I made my shoe pattern is here.

Materials: black pleather from Spotlight, leftover from my moto jacket. I would describe this as butter-y soft, but of course since it’s not real leather that just sounds a little pretentious, non? Lining in faux chocolate suede, leftover from my chocolate suede top. Rubber for soles and heels, contact adhesive, PVA glue from Bunnings, , insole and shoelaces from Coles. Toe puffs and heel counters created from stiff, non-fusible interfacing and stiff cotton denim, and lots of PVA glue!

Method: I’ve been watching lots of online shoe-making videos. I’ve particularly enjoyed Andrew Wrigleys’ youtube series on How to make a Shoe by Hand, absolutely brilliant. I enjoyed this more than any blockbuster movie I’ve seen in a long while! Even though I don’t think I would ever go to that level of internal engineering when it comes to my own shoe-making effort, it was just fantastic to see a a traditional process broken down, step by step. Honestly, mind blowing. If you’re at all interested in making shoes then it’s a must-see. Many times I was just speechlessly shaking my head in awe and admiration, reflexively muttering “oh my god” and will never ever EVER complain about the high cost of a shoe, EVER AGAIN!!

I also found Marcell Mrsan’s video Basic Shoemaking Method – the Cemented Construction to be particularly useful for my own project, as my own efforts run more to the cemented/glued approach as opposed to the traditional method of completely sewing a pair of shoes. I was going to say the lazy way, but naturally making one’s own shoes could never be described as a “lazy” thing to do!

Detailing: I sewed the outer and lining layers right sides together, and turned them right sides out. Then, using black embroidery floss, I topstitched by hand around all edges in a long running stitch, in a way that a very narrow ridge of the faux suedette shows all the way around the edge, as a kind of faux piping. I absolutely love how this looks, peeping out 🙂

My shoe puffs and counters; in both videos they are using leather and some form of starch; I researched this a little bit more and learnt that PVA glue is also often used as a fabric stiffener too; I had plenty of this on hand so went this route. I made mine using stiff, thin, non-fusible interfacing, and some stiff cotton stretch denim, leftover from my Ginger jeans. And lots of PVA glue! The first layer of interfacing was glued over the lining, then coated itself with PVA glue, then I stretched a denim layer smoothly over this. I allowed this all to dry, then snipped and glued down the underneath, allowed this to dry a little and then trimmed and shaved the folds underneath down nice and as smooth and flat as I could. Similar to what they call “skiving” in leatherwork, but I don’t know if I can rightfully use that word for fabric? More like I was just trimming away bulk and bumps. Last step was to coat the topside of the denim with a smooth layer of PVA glue, and allowed this to dry overnight, with the outer flipped back out of the way. This has done the trick beautifully, and my toe puffs feel just perfect, hard and stiff and very unlikely to cave in. I made the counters in the same way. It was very helpful that my denim has just a little stretch, which enabled me to pull and stretch it nice and smoothly around my lasts.

Note; these are the toe puffs for my NEXT pair of shoes… but they look pretty much the same as the ones in these shoes 🙂

I didn’t glue the outer and lining together, so the middle bit, what they call the “waistline” is quite soft and not very stiff. This feels very comfortable and I think it does give the shoes that “feminine” look. I like it as a nice change although maybe the shoe overall could have used that little extra bit of stiffness that the glue gives.

As usual, I covered some insoles with the chocolate suede lining fabric. This is so soft and tough, and just perfect for lining! I’m using it for my next pair too 🙂

Thoughts ; I’m actually fairly pleased, I think they turned out quite elegant, especially when compared to my previous Oxfords! These feel more stepping-out-worthy, and even like I wouldn’t be horrified to wear them in public, dare I say it. Ideally I would like the heels a little higher, but this height is fine really, and will be very practical. To get a higher heel I’m starting to realise I would need a different set of lasts … o man, the need for and accumulation of more new equipment continues… *sigh*

I’m extremely happy with my hand-stitched detailing, I just love the handmade look of this. I’m preeeeeetty happy with the finishing although, obviously, it’s still not to the level where I would like it to be. But I’m starting to realise this could be a lifelong lament. 😉

Note, I still have not cut into any of my actual leather!! What a wuss, eh? It feels too scary. I’m still not ready. I feel like I’m working towards that… like training for Mt Everest or something, ha.

Anyway. Ever onwards and upwards!

Posted in: sewing, shoes \ Tagged: own design, shoes

yellow shoes

21/03/2016 2:24 pm \ 48 Comments \ Carolyn

Some crazy yellow-tape shoes!

I was inspired by Melanie, and I always find that lady inspiring!… she commented how she thought the taped mummy shoes in my shoe pattern making post could be called finished, and I just kinda though “aha!” And “why not?” Thanks for the fab idea, Melanie!

I have an actual proper pair of shoe lasts now, but I’m so fired up with enthusiasm I just couldn’t wait and made these yellow shoes before they arrived. MAKE SHOES!! I’m SO into this right now 🙂 I sort-of did use sort-of lasts, if you can call a pair of shoes, lasts. I used some favourite shoes for the toe region, the same pair I used to for my tutorial on how to make your own shoe pattern here, and for the rest of the shoe used my own foot in a thickish sock, for some “ease”. I’m not sure if “ease is the right word though, if applied to shoes? is shoemaking like dressmaking…? Anyway.

Materials: Bear cloth tape, originally from Bunnings, old yellow Tshirt for lining. Rubber matting for soles and heels, contact adhesive from Bunnings. Eyelets from Spotlight, insole and shoelaces from Coles.

I started out by making rough “socks” using an old Tshirt from my refashioning bag. I put them on over the shoe and got taping!! whimsically going on to cut a tongue, to firmly tape on some Derby style flaps with an eyelet closure, add a sole, and make them into actual shoes. The cloth masking tape was in our garage, no doubt originally from Bunnings. It’s an all-purpose tape, sometimes as a masking tape for painting purposes, although it can also be used in plumbing and insulative repairs, and I know from bitter experience that if not removed fairly promptly after a room-painting stint, that the adhesive on this stuff gets SUPER strong over time and is capable of tearing off parts of the thing you put it on, like varnish from your skirtings and architraves, and even sometimes little strips of actual wood from your skirtings and artchitraves too. So I figured, it could be strong enough for an actual pair of shoes too?

Time will tell, time will tell. They might fall apart straight away, but if so, no biggie; they only cost me the glue for the soles. Which would be re-used in the event anyway. By the way, after perusing online video tutorials, I’ve switched to using contact adhesive for glueing together my stacked heels, and for glueing the shoe to the sole. It’s super strong, permanent, waterproof, and seems like it’s the adhesive of choice for shoe-makers.

I put an insole inside, for comfort. I covered this with some of the yellow Tshirt fabric, so it all looks nice and cohesive inside.

They’re a bit dorky and in retrospect could have used a toe puff, but you know what? they actually feel great on, and I think they could be perfectly fine for walking, even in the rain. They are waterproof, and feel very comfortable too!, the tape makes them firm bodied, yet they’re still soft, with that cotton jersey lining. I’m just a bit nervous of the bright colour… hmmm I think we might actually have a roll of black cloth tape in the shed somewhere, and maybe an old black Tshirt too… must go and rummage sometime. I fancy a black pair now!!

NOW.

I’ve got to be honest, I held off on posting this and almost didn’t. I recently received some well-intentioned words about my shoe-making which was actually a little disheartening. So, I want to just reiterate; I am just a beginner here. I’m trying my hand at a new thing and learning as I go along. Obviously I am going to make some horrible shoes, make mistakes, learning is a process, and sometimes a long one; particularly when it comes to making shoes. Shoes are difficult, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

I do NOT have real-life shoe-making classes nearby, where I can just march in and sign up, and get supplied with everything I need. There are scant supplies around these parts and I’ve had to be resourceful and hunt things down, have to make do with what I can find; learn as best as I can from online videos and tutorials, and by doing.

I know my shoes look homemade, and I think I always look at the things I make with healthy attitude of self-improvement with regard to how I approach things next time… This is a new journey, and one I want to document here. If I’d just lain silent for a year and then suddenly come out with a fabulous pair of expertly made shoes, well where’s the journey in that?

Anyway, *deep breathe* enough of that. These are just silly shoes of course, albeit potentially useful too! but I’ve actually nearly finished my first, well REAL shoes, that I’m actually quite proud of!!! Just a few little finishing touches and they will appear here.. soon. Verysoon. Excited!

Posted in: shoes \ Tagged: own design, shoes