Subject Mens Derby shoe
Focus Patternmaking
ok at this stage you have all the land marks drawn on the last and you have laid out the style lines plus the proposed stitching lines.
we will take a very (see Notation #1 sharp knife) and cut right down both center lines dividing the tape in to the medial and lateral sides.
you will very carefully peal each side off one at a time and stick it down on to a piece of heavy grade tack board i use hot pressed watercolor paper the kind that is smooth with no texture.
the process for doing this is simple but you must work carefully we do not want any wrinkles in this step just like when you taped up your last.
you will clip in to the back half of the taped pattern along the feather line at 10 mm intervals and 10mm deep 3 or 4 times.
Likewise you will do the same at the toe 3 or 4 clips in the front half but much closer to the toe all the way in to it. this is called a relief cut and its purpose is to keep the wrinkles from forming as we stick the taped model to the paper
this process is done very carefully you start at the center bottom on the feather edge. stick down about 1 sq inch of the taped model work out from there in little radial movements working up and out on both sides. if a wrinkle starts to form you can pull the tape back up and put a small relief cut right at that spot on the edge. you probably will not need any more cuts then we initially put in already however each taped model is its own unique situation so let your intuition guide here.. it should have no wrinkles of any kind flat and smooth. now some times no mater how hard you try you will get what i call micro wrinkles these are extremely small and if no mater what you cant get them out just let them be and move on but try to get every one out. this is were the watercolor paper really shows its worth because the surface has been pressed hot it is very smooth and hard which allows one to pull the tape up with out any taring.
Special note on lasts that have a very high instep you will get some wrinkles that form on the facing. these differ from the other kinds of wrinkles you normally get. as this is a place were there is excess tape you might have to make some relief cuts along the facing. when you tape here they will close and overlap each other a bit instead of spreading like the ones do on the feather line. the way you handle this is that instead of doing a few relief cuts do about 6 or 7 or even 8 or 9 evenly spread out all along this facing so that you spread the fullness out along the entire facing from top to the VP. (Vamp point) thats the mark were your forward facing lines converged on to the center line just above the joint line. see photo
Notation #1 all knives are to be kept surgically sharp. you need good files and a cutting stone as well as a strop and jewelers roosh . start using the file to put the edge in shape most leather knives are set at a 22 deg angle just guess its not to critical but try and get it close. then you sharpen it further on your wet stone taking care to get it very smooth and clean edge. then you will take some jewelers roosh and strop the edge. this whole process on a dull knife should take you 30 mints to 1 hr depending on how out of shape your knife is.you know the blade is sharp enough when you rub your thumb across the edge and you hear a high pitched scraping sound. please be careful in checking the edge these knives!!!! they are dangerous at this level of sharpness. the slightest bump or slice will result in personal injury. many shoe makers go to the HOSPITAL every year for cuts and stab wounds do to a lack of care. never cut skive or create a hole in your leather or patterns when you are tiered, distracted or otherwise not clearly focused on what you are doing. do not talk to any one or listen to any music that distracts you.
I CAN NOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW DANGEROUS THESE KNIVES ARE SO TAKE EXTREME CARE
ok on to the Derby practice shoe.
so were we left off was we had the taped up copy all transferred to the paper.
you are going to have to add the other side to the drawing. remember a shoe has and outside that called the lateral side and an inside thats called the Medial side. the ideal is to make both sides aspire the same. they are not truly the same as we have different goals on each side of the shoe. the lateral side is there to hold the outside of the foot and to keep it from spreading and to support the joint line. the inside of the shoe is there to hold the arch and to give a good amount of support.this if made well helps the foot to rest when walking. so what i like to do and this is not standard is to cut the second taped side up in to its component pieces and stick them down so the are on the drawing in place. remember the paper we are using the Hot pressed water color lets you pull the tape up. this way you can trace around the tape to get the lines you need and then pull it off and fill in the detail. this lets your toe/vamp be one piece as at the beginning of this process you split it in two taking it off the last. now it has to be put back together the fist side you redid the center line of the vamp so its strait you will place the taped other side on that line. some of it will over lap as its still got the curve in it. i eyeball this but if you want to put it down and do the drawing then transfer it you can do that too. just fallow the second lesson and do the medial side but instead of putting it down on a new piece of paper you are going to merge it back together with the fist drawing. i hope that makes sens i will show you in a photo
i'm assuming that any one reading this has been reading the fist parts of the lesson. some of my directions may not make sens to you if you have not done the fist two lessons. in that case go back and read them fist. the rest of the lesson will continue in the comments below
this is what the shoe looks like when you have both sides on the same drawing all the pieces are put back together as they would fit to each other we lay it out this way because its a three dimensional object that has to be made in to two dimensions so we can make that pattern and lay it out on the leather notice how the shoe is split at the back line and how the facings overlap dont let this confuse you also see how i have all the overlaps added to the drawing its every thing you need to know to make the pattern
i also wanted to add that i make shoes in a rather old fashioned way most people do not make them as strong and heavy as i do but i will say my shoes hold up for a very long time and are a great value for the money. every thing i am teaching you is based on my philosophy of shoe making its not the way every one makes shoes. i'm trying to stick to basics so you don't feel pigeon holed in to thinking you have to do it this way but ones you learn then you can start to explore other ways of making shoes. my way takes a bit longer there are a few more steps to it but as my mother used to say any thing worth doing is worth doing well. i guarantee if you make a shoe this way it will last if you have taken care to do each step in a considered way thoughtfully and with skill.
ok now in order to do the liner!. if you look at the drawing you can see on the back seem on the heel there is a second line just inside the outside line. that is the edge of the liner its brought in a few mm to give us room for the heel counter stiffener. if you are totally new to shoe making and do not know the parts of a shoe the stiffener is a piece of leather that sits inside the heel to give it rigidity so that your heel dose not brake down. a shoe is a complex system of rigid parts and flexible parts rigid in the heel for strength. this part of the shoe takes a tremendous amount of ware and is constantly taking forces that can exceed 5000 pounds per square inch. so we have to make it stronger the liner has to be a bit shorter in this spot to make room for that piece of leather. i like to keep liners as simple as possible no point in making any harder then it has to be. in the case of the derby we will make a two piece liner. in order to use this style of liner we need to use a lining leather that has a bit of stretch in it so that when we last it will conform to the last with out taring or distorting the outer. the two kinds of leather i use are Kid or Pig neither of which i would consider the best kind of lining but in order to get this stretch they are the best choices for this particular job. in better shoes you often see cow liners and I am all for using them but for this fist shoe lets make life easier on our selves and just go with ether kid of pig. if you have issues with smelly feet i don't recommend pig some people think it exacerbates this condition. kid on the other hand is some what slick so your foot can slide more inside the shoe. i do not personally like that i want my shoe to stay in place as i work on my feet for a living so im going with pig.its got a nice nap surface and its naturally full of small pores that let perspiration and air move threw the shoe it my favorite. its down side is the smell thing but powder helps with that and its not as strong as cow or kid so it wars faster.t now that you are a shoe maker if it wars you can fix it or make a new one. i normally get about three years out of pig mainly it wars in the heel but i can show you a way to keep that from happening. sorry i know there is a lot to consider here but i want you to understand what you are doing and how to make good choices based on logical understanding.
for the two piece liner you take the two quarter patterns and tape them together just slightly over lap the back seems to get it to lay flat only over lap it by no more then 2 mm. this gives you a pattern to cut your liner for the whole side and back of the shoe. remember when you cut the liner to leave 10 mm of extra material on the top line and facings this will be cut off later . the toe is just cut the same as the outer don't forget the over laps at the side seams for the liner. you don't want the liners side seams and the outers side seams to be in the same spot or you will get a big ugly bump that can cause pain. on the liner you just draw a strait side simple its not curved at all.and in this case instead of putting right sides together like you would normally do in a seaming operation the back half lays over the toe so that it dose not stick or impede your sliding your foot in to the shoe. you put this line in almost any place you want as long as its not on the outer side seam. if you move it back just remember to add the amount your moving it back to the front toe. also a liner has to attach at the trenches so make sure you draw your liner so it over laps smoothly in this spot. i will try and do a simplified drawing for you so that makes sens be right back. this may take a while i have to go finish the derby outer in order to make this liner for you. i think i will make more sens if i use the shoe we are actually working on.
ok sorry this took me so long. the forward edge of the liner is the strait line from the trenches down to the edge. the dotted line 10 mm to the back of it is the overlapping edge of the toe liner. see how all layers are captured under the trench stitches?. this is why the placement is so critical it has to hold everything tightly and in the correct anatomical position. when you sew your trenches make sure the stitch is no more then 2 mm long and that the tension in your thread is sturdy no loos or wobbly stitches here. do the row from the edge in then turn take one stitch across the end then turn again and stitch back to the edge. some shoe makers like to go one stitch beyond the edge its up to you. i think it looks untidy to do that but its your shoe. i also thing going beyond puts to much stress in the vamp and you could get taring there as it is only two layers on that side of the vamp. were as in the facing you have 4 layers plus the interfacing its surprisingly strong spot.. here is the photo ask me questions if you do not understand next we will make the real pattern off this drawing
