Zatera Ul

The one subject that went the longest time without being addressed in craft books is how to make your own shoes. I have one book that gives moccasin instructions, but that’s it.

A while back, I found Crafting Handmade Shoes at the library. I also found Mary Wales Loomis’ excellent Make Your Own Shoes website. Then, from Sewing for Plus Sizes (by Barbara Deckert), I learned how to make a dress form by wrapping yourself in paper tape. So now I am putting these pieces together and making myself shoes.

First, I made paper patterns for the soles, more or less following the Crafting Handmade Shoes instructions: trace foot; mark toe, heel, widest points; repeat for other foot. Then work the outlines you have into a single, somewhat more idealized sole shape. For an upper pattern, this book recommended propping up your toes a little (to simulate their movement while walking), and scrunching aluminum foil over the top of the foot, to get the shape.

I also went on a paper tape hunt. The kind you want for dress form making is brown kraft paper, non-reinforced, with adhesive that you activate by wetting the paper. But all I could find locally was the kind with regular adhesive, similar to masking tape, so that is what I used. I put on old socks, wrapped my feet with pieces of the tape, and then cut them enough to get them off; repairing them afterward with more tape. I propped my toes for these as well, but they still ended up too tight in the toes.

The Mary Wales Loomis instructions recommended making plaster lasts for your feet, by casting plaster in a pair of your old shoes. I didn’t have any old shoes that fit well enough to use, so I cast in my paper tape foot forms instead, after I lined them with plastic bags. The plaster lasts came out wrinkled from the plastic bags, but still usable. I used all my plaster, but didn’t have quite enough to get the upper heel.

So now I have sole patterns, paper tape forms, and plaster lasts. For shoe materials I have some thick leather from the surplus store, some thin leather from a thrift store purse, and various fabrics. So far I’ve cut out soles, and I’m working on making insoles from layers of thin cotton batting, stitched together and covered with fabric.