Cutting A Channel

With the heatwave over, we can work much more comfortably in our workshop. In fact, we had a tropical downpour midweek, which left us with water leaking all over our work on the shelves. Not good! A typical British summer then.



This week, we have had an intern working with us from the Brit School, who was delightful and a pleasure to work with. He even designed a shoe with us which we think we are going to sample. Watch this space.

We have had a request from a shoe mender for a description of cutting a channel in a sole. So Simon, here you go.

Most leather soled factory shoes are stitched straight through the sole into a groove which protects the stitches. While this method is perfectly functional, it is not the most aesthetically pleasing option, as the stitches remain visible.

With handsewn bespoke shoes, we always hide the stitches by cutting a channel. This is a flap cut into the sole, which is lifted, so that when the stitches come through and the flap is flattened down again, they end up being hidden and, thus, invisisble.
You end up with a perfectly smooth and unblemished sole - gorgeous!

Once your shoe is welted, the shank and cork filler put in, you are ready to attach the sole. The first thing to do is soak your sole leather. This is vital because if you don't, it will be too hard to cut the channel.
Soak for at least an hour and then leave it to dry until it is mellow (about 85-90% dry). At this stage, the leather should still be flexible and supple and dry enough for the glue to work.

Place the shoe on the flesh side and draw round it leaving a 5mm margin and a 1cm one around the heel.




You now need to hammer the sole to compress it so that it lasts longer. If you don't do it, the sole will wear out very quickly. Don't hammer the edges however, because it will be too difficult to stitch through.
You need to use a flat hammer. If you don't have one, grind a domed one down on a grinding machine.



Now trim the sole to the line.



Place the shoe on the sole and holding the two together, trim closer, so that not much spare sticks out. If you don't need to aim for a specific final sole thickness, you can leave more spare leather. If you need a specific final sole thickness, you need to skive the sole to the desired thickness and then trim it very close to the welt. At the end of this process, draw a line on the sole where the welt sits, so that you can place the shoe on the sole accurately after you have glued it.



Now you are ready to glue the sole on. Use rubber solution because if you need to repair the shoe, you can take the sole off without pulling out the cork filler and the shank. Put the glue on both surfaces and let it dry for ten minutes. Place the shoe onto the sole following the line you drew previously.





You now have the shoe and the sole attached. Turn the shoe over, sole side up. You need to nail the heel in place. Mark your heel points. Draw a line around the sole so that the nails will go in about 1cm away from the edge. The line must finish 1cm from the heel marks.



Using 20mm nails, hammer them about 15mm apart, stopping behind the heel marks. Make sure the nails go in at an angle in towards the centre of the heel. About 15 degrees off vertical.
Leave the top of the nails sticking out.



Clip the top of the nails off with nippers.



Punch the nails with a punch so that they sit just under the surface.



Trim any excess leather off the sole, so that the welt and the sole are perfectly aligned. You are now ready to cut the channel.



Drag your nail around the edge at 45 degrees so that you leave a mark on the edge. This is your guide for cutting the channel.



Using this guide line, and starting just behind the heel mark, start cutting the channel with your exceptionally sharp knife. Things to bear in mind. You must cut the channel deep enough to stop the stitches making the bumps on the finished sole. But you must not cut it so deep that you cut through the sole. If you do this, you must start again. So no pressure then. Aim to cut about one third the thickness of the sole.
The angle is about 15 degrees and the channel must be about 8-10mm wide.
Go all around the shoe to just behind the other heel mark.



Open up the channel with a screw driver.



Now you need to make a small groove in the channel for the stitches to sit in. I use a broken awl which I have sharpened into a point.
Drag it round the channel on the inside edge.



You are now ready to start stitching.

By the way, that paste oozing out of the shoe in the last picture is because I use paste on the welt because rubber solution can leave a tiny line on the finished edge. Paste avoids this problem but is more of a fuss to do. Your choice.

Hope this is clear. Please get in touch if you have any queries.

Good luck and until next week, happy shoemaking.

Leather Sole, Rubber Sole

Back and refreshed from a wonderful holiday in Venice, I am well and truly into the groove of work again. It has been a bit manic here this week with two clients champing at the bit for their shoes and the Other One in Southwold. I have delivered today, so I can relax and do something more pleasurable, like write a blog post.

While in Venice, I went to see two shoemakers. The first was Giovanella Zanella, Calle Carminati, Castello 564. Unfortunately her shop was closed for lunch, so all I saw was the window display, which, I have to say, was crazy and quite wonderful. Mostly for women, the shoes were inventive, marvelous and very personal. I liked them very much.

The second maker was a more successful visit, as her shop was open and we got to talk. Her name is Daniella Ghezzo, the shop is called Segalin, Calle dei Fuseri, San Marco, 4365. She apprenticed, like I did, with a master shoemaker and took over the business when he retired. Her work is very high quality and totally handsewn bespoke. She has the advantage of access to all those wonderful Italian coloured leathers and hence her shoes are full of interesting use of colour. About a 50:50 mix of men's and women's shoes, she says she has a similar mix of locals and tourists. A beautiful shop which made me green with envy. I want one too!

Most of our clients choose a leather sole for their shoes. This has many advantages. One being that you get the full handsewn shoe with a handsewn welt and sole. Another is that the leather is breathable, thus healthier. A third is that they look great, for example, you can have an elegant bevelled waist on a leather soled shoe. But to some clients, these advantages are outweighed by one major issue. Slippiness. Now, I wear leather soles shoes all the time and have never had a slip in wet weather, but some people say they slip and slide around to a dangerous degree. I think it is because of differences in gait, but I don't really know.
So, for these clients, we offer synthetic sole.

The process is the same for measuring, making the last, the upper, and the fittings. We welt the shoe as per usual, except that we welt all the way round the heel, so that it joins up with itself (like a welted seat). Start just behind the heel point where it is still straight. When you get back to where you started, bevel the welt to match up with the bevel you cut on the start piece. Put some glue on the two pieces and stitch through.




The other difference is that we use a leather welt which you can buy by the metre. This is because it is easier to go all the way round a large shoe. You glass and soak it just like a normal welt.




Once the welt has been stitched on, we let it dry and then send it off to the factory to get a synthetic sole stitched on. You are obliged to have a square waist with this construction. They end up looking very nice, and the construction is very strong, but I think you sacrifice some elegance for practicality with a rubber sole. But tell that to the guy who is sat on his backside on the pavement in a storm.

Our course is two weeks away and all in hand, so that is exciting. The sun is shining, it's 28 degrees out there and I am going to sign off and finish early.

So, until next week, happy shoemaking!

Mid-summer Midsoles

So here we are, Friday morning, my last day of freedom, ha ha. Tomorrow is the big day, and what better way to distract myself than doing a blog post. Indeed.

We have announced another course date for January 2011. We had a rush of people who wanted to do the summer course and we had to turn a lot away, so, being kindly old shoemakers, we did not want to let them down. Call or email for more details.

00 44 (0)20 78130093
cd@carreducker.com

We are also in the middle of pricing up the shoe making packs for people to make at home (this will include, a pair of lasts, uppers and all the leather you need). So watch this space.

This week I made a pair of bespoke shoes with a feature not often included, a light square waist. This is where the waist gets thinner from the joint back to the heels. There are two ways to do it. Most common is to skive the sole thinner. With very thick sloes, it is more common to put in a midsole. And this is how you do it.

Once you have trimmed the welt, mark a point just behind the joint.



Then mark a second line 5/8" behind, towards the heel. Do both shoes.



The midsole is a piece of second grade soling or insoling leather. Soak it and let it go mellow (about 85% dry). Lay the shoe on the midsole and draw round it making sure you mark the two joint points.



Then draw a rough margin around giving yourself about 1/4" to play with. Cut out the midsoles.



On the flesh side, mark the second joint point as a straight line across the midsole. This where you have to skive it to the edge to nothing. This edge gives you the area where the transition from full thickness to half thickness soles happens.





Glass the skin side to avoid cracks and squeaks.



Glue the skin side of the midsole and the corresponding side of the shoe with contact adhesive. Leave it for ten minutes and glue them together.





Using a sleeking bone or similar tool, flatten down the welt to ensure a good bond.



Hammer gently all the way round. Gently!



Trim off the excess with a sharp knife. Make sure the cut is straight down, not angled outwards or under the shoe.



Now you prepare the sole as normal, glue it on and stitch it.



These two shots show the finished sole. You can see the transition at the joint. I like the look. It softens a square waist and makes it look a little more elegant.





And that, as they say, is that. Next week I am on holiday in Venice, so back in two. Until then, happy shoemaking.

Adieu to Crafted!

The Master is rather busy catching up with shoemaking work after our New York course so it's my turn to share a little, none-making related news. (Sorry makers, back to the leather and knives next week!)

Yesterday was a momentous day in some ways as we bade adieu to our friends at Walpole and Arts & Business, our fellow Crafted colleagues and our magnificent mentors and advisors. (But it was adieu and not farewell as the generosity of the mentors and advisors with their time continues!)

As pioneers of the Crafted programme it has been an interesting experience. We have benefited enormously as a business from the exposure to luxury brand and business experts - not necessarily in immediate sales, but in making contacts and getting the business ship-shape! We now understand better the business side of things and the one critical thing that we will sink without - profitability!

Any craftspeople out there looking for a little business help should definitely apply to Crafted. Get cracking though, because the deadline is the end of the month!

Anyway, yesterday was all about feedback and it was revealing to discover that not only have we all taken away something very different for each of our businesses, but that it has been a two-way thing and many of our mentors have also learned from the experience.

It is great to share success stories - Helen Beard's work with Fortnum; and discover Crafted collaborations such as our Winkers in Eloise Grey's tweeds. In fact, we are loving the whole tweed thing so much, that we are showing our new bespoke tweed boots and Harris Tweed Winkers alongside Eloise at the Goodwood Revival in September.

Looking ahead, I can't believe that it is June and we are already gearing up for the next shoemaking course. New York still seems just a few weeks ago. With eight students under our watchful eye this August it is going to be quite a time. We now have a waiting list for future courses, so we are currently discussing if and when to do an autumn course, and dates for our New York and London courses in 2011. It is great to hear from so many people keen to have a go and find out whether shoemaking is for them.

So not only do we have Goodwood to look forward to, but we have also been accepted for Origin which has relocated to Old Spitalfields Market for September. We hope that the new venue will be as big a draw as Somerset House was and that some of those uber cool Hoxton and Shoreditch trendies will venture into the world of craft to discover us there!

That's it for this week - oh, except to say that the Wolf & Badger sale starts next week and our Limited Edition Half Cuts will be on sale (not often a word associated with carreducker we know) so get down there if you want to snap up a pair!

Have a great weekend and happy shoemaking!

Long Stiffeners

Now, the full phrase is long stiffeners in and out, but I thought that would be too much for the puerile among you and I did not want to encourage too much sniggering at the back.

So what am i talking about? Well, it's the length of stiffeners used in different styles of shoes. More of that later.

We have been madly cleaning the studio in time for the Open Studios which start this evening at 6pm and go on till Sunday at 6pm. So much work! You would not believe how much dust accumulates in six months. Do not believe what Quentin Crisp said. Dust just piles up and gets progressively worse. At least in a busy bespoke shoe workshop.

Still the worst is over, so I can get on with some making today.

Now, back to those stiffeners. These are very important in a shoe. They keep the heel in shape and that shape keeps the shoe on the foot. If your heel lifts in a shoe it is very bad for the health of the foot. Your heel lifts and to compensate, your toes curl downwards to grip the sole and you end up with painful, misshapen feet. So make sure your stiffeners are strong.

In a lace-up shoe, the stiffeners should reach the counter point of the shoe, because the laces are what keep the shoe on the foot.
In a casual shoe, a slip-on, loafer etc, there are no fastenings and so the shoe itself must perform the holding function. This is why a casual must have long stiffeners which reach up to just behind the joint. This has the effect of keeping the sides of the shoe in shape. Without the long stiffeners, the sides will bellow out and cause heel lifting - not good!

So here is how to do it. The leather you need is a stiffener belly. You can use a toe puff belly too which is thinner and thus saves you a bit of skiving. I use toe puff leather and it works just fine. A stiffener should be strong but not too thick, as this makes the shoe heavy and inflexible.

So, cut the stiffener out roughly and soak it for about ten minutes.





You should measure the length you need from the upper. Remember, about half an inch behind the joint on both sides. You are now ready to skive the stiffener.



Then using your template, mark and cut the stiffeners out.





On the skin side, glass the surface off. This avoids cracking and squeaking in the future.



The edges of the stiffener should be skived down to nothing to avoid it being seen on the outside of the shoe.



I start at the two ends and then do the top edge, which should bevel from about three quarters an inch down to nothing.





Follow with the bottom edge. I do this a bit less as you only need to skive enough to last under the insole (about half inch).



Here you have all the edges skived.




Depending on the thickness of the leather, you should skive the rest at an equal thickness. Don't worry about lumps and bumps at the moment. When you have finished the general skiving, feel the leather and touch up uneven areas with your knife.





When it is generally clean and even, glass the surface to finish the process. The surface should be even and free of all lumps and bumps.





Your stiffeners are now ready to use. And remember you need two!



That is it for this week. Wish us luck for the Opens. Until next time, happy shoemaking.

Hotting Up

Dare I say it, but has summer arrived? Cue thunder clouds and biting north wind (again). I am sitting here, all the windows open, the fan on 3, with not a cloud in the sky. It is lovely. And it was like this yesterday. Miraculous!

Bits of news.
We have Cockpit Arts Open Studios next weekend (11-13 June). Starts Friday evening, 6pm till 9pm. Then it is Saturday and Sunday 11am till 6pm, and this time it's FREE. I am doing Friday and Saturday and The Other One is doing Sunday.
Your chance to see London's premier community of designer craftspeople in their workshops and buy some of the finest handmade one-off pieces direct from the maker.
All sorts of lovely things to see, jewellery, ceramics, millinery, glass, weaving, couture fashion, furniture, homewares and, of course, our gorgeous bespoke shoes and boots.
It is a fun and fascinating visit, and free this year, so no excuses.

I have just sent 3 shoes to the Northampton Shoe Museum, as we are taking part in a new exhibition running all summer, called Best Of British. This is very exciting and we are delighted to be included in such an illustrious list of participants. Can't wait.

Best of British at Northampton Museum, Guildhall Road, Northampton NN1 2PH

Saturday 26 June to Sunday 19 September 2010

Britain and in particular Northampton has always been known for the quality of its shoes. Discover the very best in British shoe design with our summer showcase exhibition. From classic English shoemakers to top British shoe designers, this exhibition is a celebration of British style and design.

Not only will the exhibition include many examples of British shoes from the Designated Shoe Collection, it will also showcase a number of special loans and donations from local shoe companies to the elite of British Designers. By their kind generosity though either a loan or a new donation we are delighted to be able to showcase shoes by the following:

Vivienne Westwood

Alexander McQueen

Rupert Sanderson

Oliver Sweeney

Edward Green

Paul Smith

Georgina Goodman

James Taylor & Sons

Beatrix Ong

Caroline Groves

RaeJones

Lodger Shoes

Manolo Blahnik

Carréducker

Tricker’s

Church’s

Cheaney

Rushton Ablett – JuJu Wellies and Jellies

Haynes & Cann – Mk 1 Aircrew Boot

Hotter Footwear

Clarks

The exhibition will also make the visitor think about what exactly is a British shoe. Is it a shoe that is traditional in style, a Derby or Oxford brogue? Is it a shoe that is quirky, with a sense of humour that makes you laugh? Is it a shoe that is designed by a British based designer? Is it a shoe designed by a British based designer yet made abroad? Is it a shoe that has MADE IN ENGLAND stamped on its sole?

We hope that are our visitors to the exhibition will take the time to tell us what a British shoe means to them.

Back to bespoke shoes. Those ladies brogues from last week are ready to try on and the client is coming in on Monday. I have lasted them onto an unprepared insole and braced them on with a welt thread. Because they have a two inch heel, I have glued in a wooden shank so that they do not collapse and so that the heel does not flip out backwards.







Our men's shoes have a leather shank as the heels are not high enough to warrent a stronger one. As the heel gets higher, you need to put in a stronger shank, wood and then steel.



I then glued on a temporary sole and nailed on a temporary heel.
We shall see what happens.



Will let you know how they fit next week. So until then, happy shoemaking.