Accessories The Shoemakers' Circle

@SteamWitch that's brilliant!

@Ipledreamer You don't need to nail it. You do need to get it wet, but it can be enough to pull it really tight with some clever stitching, if the leather is thin enough (which it probably is anyway, doll-scale and all that) and can take the tension.
Plaster lasts can survive wetness and heat, so you could wax-harden the leather as well.

 

I have done this, but it was not that convincing. Ah well, I will figure something out.

 

I’ve fussed back and forth with the idea of making shoes and keep finding reasons to pass. This time I bought a pair of very plain $14 shoes from eBay....that are too long . Granted, raccoondoll girl feet are extremely petite.

For Christmas I got some cosplay books and the author makes cosplay shoes by covering existing shoes. I’m thinking I’m going to try this with my ebay shoes. I’ll stuff the toe so it’s a better fit, then build on top of it to make it a cool fantasy shoe. Hopefully it’s not too bulky. Wish me luck!

 

Good luck @skyealloway

 

Not much action over here lately but I have been trying to get these black leather shoes made for my Benimaru and finally got to use my lasts. I found I could use thses little silicone rubber bands, pretty neat.
Benimaru shoes cut out by SteamWitch, on Flickr
Using the last at last by SteamWitch, on Flickr

 

Oh nice @SteamWitch!

I've found a good supplier of lovely, soft, and relatively thin leather. Very curious to see how well it would work for shoes. Ragnar and Eirik are in need of some Viking boots.

 

Great work @SteamWitch !

Hello good people! I found this video on Youtube to make a mold and cast of a foot using alginate and plaster of paris. Seems like a good method to use for dolls too. The foot cast could be used to to make a custom stylized shoe last. You would have a pretty symmetrical set of shoe lasts that way. I made some shoe lasts by guess and by gosh and they are pretty close but it's fun to see how others do their work.

 

Just for a little bit of fun, a completely other kind of "shoe":



(admittedly this is my second or so try at this. They are a bit difficult, and you basically need tools in 1/2-1/3 of their normal size).

 

They look really cool! What material is that? Metal? What are the fasteners? Did you make the armor for the doll's head, legs and chest also?

 

I made them out of aluminium sheet, not steel. Steel does rust, and thus needs to be oiled. Which is mortal for our dolls, as we all know.

They are pretty much made the "traditional" way, i.e. metal banging (lots of it). I also already made a whole horse armour (but this is off topic here).

The lames (segments) are held together by pop rivets, so they have the full range of motion you would have for a human. Not necessary for doll feet, but still fun. They are held to the foot by leather straps underneath, and around the heel, closed with leather strap and buckle.

I am about to make the rest of the armour (right now it's the greaves - shin armour). One of the most challenging pieces, but the back parts went quite well already. So a nice pair of iron boots.

If you want to follow: /threads/armour-for-knight-and-horse-greaves-wip.720093/

 

Oh cool! I would love to see how you formed them. You mentioned using tiny tools to do the crafting. I wondered if you used pop rivets when I first saw the photo. How clever of you to make them that way! I will check out your link. Thanks for posting about your work! Very interesting, I love to learn the history of clothes making, it's always a deep rabbit hole of fascinating info.

 

I am going to remake some court shoes for Dollshe David. The first pair are pretty bad and I have a new shoe last that is much closer to his foot shape. Here is a pic showing my revised paper pattern on the new last. Looks like this will be a better looking shoe in the end, I hope.
doll Shoe last by Linda, on Flickr

 

Have not tried to make high heels out of super glue and baking soda yet but I am planning to. This artist sculpts roughly with wire and masking tape the covers the form with the super glue and baking soda to harden the sculpture. Here is the method used to mod a miniature horse I think it might be useful in shoe making.

 

Wow thanks for sharing this. Very interesting and well worth trying out for lasts and other modding projects too.

 

Wow, that could be used for so many things in the doll crafting world, just insane!

 

Ooh how interesting! Do let us know what the results are like @tinyseams!

 

Guys, there's two general common kinds of leather I think this thread is confusing. Veg-tan is a kind of 'basic leather" without much of a dye in the finish, just cowskin colored, and that is what leather artisans wet to mold and shape, generally speaking. Chrome Tanned, pre-dyed or finished leathers are the dyed and colored leathers you find commercially. They will not respond nearly as well to wetting and shaping because of the way they are a far more finished product made to be resistant to losing shape.

 

Yeah, I sort of learned this the hard way, I was used to my leather masks wet molds to really keep their shape but then I tried the same process on the finished leather and it was a major fail. I cried I had no idea why it wouldn't work.
Thanks now I know. I'll go back to the basic leather to do my molded stuff.

 

Yes, that is true. As far as I know (a tackmacker for real horses explained that difference), the naturally tanned stuff is also more difficult to produce and thus more expensive (but also environmentally more friendly). I had to use for my cowboy boots both for the toecaps/heel reinforcements, as well as the black uppers both vegetably tanned leather. But I have to admit that for the flame designs I used chrome tanned furniture leather leftovers which I had laying around. This chrome tanned kind is comparably cheap, but you cannot shape it wet and does not hold its shape even if you boil it.

 

I didn't know that! Thank you for the info.

 

I am playing with veg tanned leather right now, making very small shoes for my PukiPuki and tiny Imdas. The stiff, natural veg tanned leather can be edge finished by burnishing, but I am still looking for an edge treatment for soft dyed leather. Has anyone found a way of turning and gluing a really tiny edge? I think I probably need to skive it, but the pieces are so tiny, and the leather so thin, I am a bit wary of trying! I have tried wetting and hand rolling it, but it's hard to get a good finish.

That super glue and baking soda trick is fascinating - one more thing to try some day!

 

How do you know if it's veg or chrome tanned? Are old leather gloves veg tanned? I have some very stiff leather that is thick and some floppy thin leather. I am thinking the floppy stuff will not hold a shape?

Another topic check this link out for inspiration. Beautiful shoes!

 

Most of the leather you buy that's been made into anything that isn't cowboy boots some old belts and some old wallets.. is all gonna be chrome tanned. Veg tanned leather is a raw material for crafters to work, and you can buy it from craft suppliers in thicknesses suitable for doll armor, but ask them for their 1-2oz veg tan scraps (read: super thin) to make any shoes for dolls.

 

Thank you for the info @Rosslyn ! I bought some leather that is thin at a fabric store and it is floppy like suede but smooth surface maybe I'll give it a try anyway. I have a leather store in town so I will ask to see if they have the 1-2 oz veg tan scraps. I do like working with leather as long as it is thin enough.
Here is a pic showing 4 different materials. Thin ultrasuede is easier to work with than the others IMO.
Left to right is green Ultra leather Ultrasuede. grey light weight Ultrasuede, brown upholstery fabric backed flocked vinyl and white leather from a old belt.
shoes by Linda, on Flickr

 

You can either leave the edge raw or go over it with a leather edging liquid. Acrylic paint might suffice at this scale instead of a proper edging liquid.

 

Thanks, Rosslyn - real life got in the way for a while there. I bought some Japanese Tokonole which works well, and, at the amount needed for shoes on this scale, will probably last the rest of my life!

 

I just found this nice doll shoe making tutorial on YouTube

 

I learned a couple of things while removing the fake snakeskin off the boots, it's dusty and crumbly underneath. I used regular clear tape to remove most of the peeling plastic, it came off really easily all but one side of one boot. It must be from another batch of (good?) pleather because it is not peeling at all and wouldn't budge with the tape so I left it alone. I cleaned if off the peeling stuff and the dust as well as I could and used Tandy Eco-flo water-based leather dye over the fabric. It worked okay but I made the mistake of covering it with acrylic satin varnish. Satin and gloss varnish dries hard and when put on the fabric tends to crack when stretched, just like the plastic snakeskin so I was back to zero again.
I used regular acrylic paint once I got it cleaned up and it didn't crack, it was flexible and stretched with the fabric below. Some of the texture of the snakeskin is still evident in some spots. But I feel it was a success because I didn't have to throw the boots away. They aren't smooth and shiny leather but I have boys would will love these.
Boot repaint WIP by SteamWitch, on Flickr

 

Hooray for boot rehabilitation! O have only had one show fall apart on me, a pukipuki shoe and it absolutely disintegrated! Other pukipuki shoes are fine, I don't know what causes it. Because its it small it was barely recognizable as a shoe.

 

Here is a pattern I altered from a Scargeear boot pattern made to fit Dollshe David fashion size. It is for the left foot. Anyone is welcome to use it if you feel like throwing caution to the wind. I'll be making a pair of boots from this pattern over the weekend and will show and tell.
Dollshe_David_Boot_pattern by Linda, on Flickr

 

Let us know how it goes! I've used one of their patterns before to make some Arabian-style shoes. They worked very well, though the leather I used was a touch too thick.

 

@Quiet and Insane I am working on the boots now! I did not chicken out after adjusting the pattern. haha I hear you on the leather thickness. I think it's better to go thin and beef up edges if needed. I made a pair of loafers with thicker leather and I was not as pleased as I would like with them. They are sturdy though.
Here is what I have so far. I am using Ultrasuede Ultraleather which is very soft, flexible and stretchy--really nice for making doll shoes. I did not glue them to the inner soles yet. I gathered the toe area and stitched across to hold the toe in place to see how it all fits together. I think I will make and insert a tongue and also beef up the edges and punch the eyelets in before final assembly.
Dollshe David boots WIP by Linda, on Flickr

 

Those look amazing!

I've been trying to decide what shoes to buy for my new dolls, but really hesitant, because she's about 1/8 scale BJD, so it's really easy for shoes to look clunky. Now, after reading the thread, I think I want to have a go at making her shoes. Probably I'll start with flats, but I really want some ankle boots for her eventually.

 

Oh wow that looks fantastic so far! Very professional. Was that hand stitched?

 

@PearlZenith Thank You! Yes you can make shoes for your doll and flats are a really good place to start. I find the more I make them, the more I realize the fine points of shaping the shoe. I finally see that the inner sole is really narrower than just tracing the doll's foot. The clown shoe look disappears when you get the sole right. Shaping the inner and outer sole so it follows the arch also improves the look too. The sole is your foundation and applying the upper flows nicely from that.

@Quiet and Insane I did the stitching by machine because I am lazy. haha I am thinking of gluing a facing on the back side of the front edges before I punch in the eyelets. Thank you! I am very happy with them using this very thin material. Surprise! --thin is good. I almost picked a thicker leather. Glad I didn't, especially for shaping the toe area.

So I decided to try reinforcing the eyelet area with non stretch mesh net, lightly glued with Fabritac glue. You can see how I gathered the toe point to see how the front and back uppers will fit together before gluing.

boots with mesh facing by Linda, on Flickr

 

Thank you for those tips! I hadn't even thought that far ahead about the process, but it makes sense, when I look at my own shoes.

 

So here is the latest progress, I installed 44 eyelets! A couple went caddy wompus so I pried them out carefully and started with a new eyelet. I spaced the 1/8 inch eyelets 5/16 inches apart. I used a punched template to mark the punched holes evenly.

Next I will design a tongue with the lacing pulled up to fit the tongue making sure the tongue is long enough. I had a problem with a short tongue last time I made shoes.

44 eyelets installed, next step fit the tongue by Linda, on Flickr

 

You guys inspired me to try making a pair of shoes. They're not perfect, I realized after making the first on that I had accidently sewn the wrong bottom to the wrong to top But I learned a lot. I just resized an American girl shoe pattern for my first attempt. I'm hoping to try making her a pair of boots next.
@tinyseams You're boots look amazing so far!

 

@tinyseams - Ah, I really wish my machine wasn't so terrible. It's very old and despite having it serviced several times some functions are irreparable...so thicker materials are a no-no. Looks like I'll be hand stitching again. I like how you've reinforced the inner area, the eyelets came out looking really good!

@elfy016 - Hey those look great! Good job!

 

@elfy016 Your shoes look amazing! It adds so much to a outfit and makes me extremely happy to see my doll wearing my handmade shoes. I bet you feel the same.

@Quiet and Insane My sister gave me her super nice Pfaff that has the walking foot. I really worry when I sew on this slightly sticky soft squishy fabric but it worked! YAY! I find a roller foot works well for this type of sewing and definitely the right needle. I used a fine stretch knit needle because this Ultrasuede Ultraleather is synthetic and has a knit backing. For thin leather I would use a fine sharp point needle.
Installing the eyelets are scary for me. But I took deep breaths and tried to be patient not frustrated, staying aligned and centered like the punch tool. haha

Here I am making toe supports using paper mache (Elmer's white glue and paper napkin strips) I put the foil over the shoe last so the paper mache does not stick to the last.
making toe support with paper mache by Linda, on Flickr

 

My sewing machine is about 60-something years old...so it's a little bit uh, finicky.

 

@Quiet and Insane I have been repairing, cleaning and tune up old sewing machines for 20 plus years and I highly recommend old Kenmore machines especially if you can find one that's been sitting in a closet unused. My sister volunteers for a thrift shop and she brings me 1970 to 1980 Kenmores all of the time to look over and get them ready to sell. I am amazed at how many of them are in pristine condition! Little bit of oil and grease and they sew beautifully. I wish I could give you a nice machine, they are expensive to ship though.

Here are my finished toe supports ready to glue into the shoe. I could make slippers pretty easily from these paper mache forms.
toe support for bjd shoe by Linda, on Flickr

 

@tinyseams - Oh wow! Shipping a sewing machine would cost a insane amount...those things are heavy! I really should have a look around next time I go thrifting. There's a couple of really good places I've not been to in a while that would likely have something cool there.
Loving the paper mache idea. I should try that next time. Though I really should get off my butt and make some lasts first... (now doesn't that sound odd?)

 

@Quiet and Insane I would tell the thrift shop you are looking for a good machine, maybe they have one in the back . My local thrift shop has a mechanic who fixes them. They get piled up before he can't get to them right away sometimes.
Yes a last is really helpful because the doll's foot has more detail than you want. A last simplifies things for fitting the toe area. There is a old thread here at DOA that shows how to use 3D gel or alginate to make a last.
/threads/tin...completed-lots-of-images.226976/#post-3410395


Here is a old shoe making tutorial that might be helpful Shoe Making

Here is my finished shoe upper with the toe supports glued in. I still have to make the outer soles. I might stitch in a wire to the base of the upper like Scargeear does in her tutorial to hold the heel and sole in place.
boots by Linda, on Flickr

Before installing the toe support, I glued some napkin paper to the underside of the aluminum foil to keep the toe area non-metallic. I tried to remove the foil but it did not want to release so I left it in. The toe support made a big difference in shaping! I am going to use this method to make Amanda's high heels then just cover the toe support with fabric or what ever I want-- could be beads or what ever fancy stuff I want.

 

Start at 7:55 to see how she makes a shoe base from hot glue. The whole video is great!


And start at 4:30 to see how high heel is shaped with wire and sandwiched between card stock outer sole

 

I found 2 yards of thin faux leather at Wal-Mart yesterday for four dollars, I'm praying I can find a use for it and give my new girl some shoes!

 

@tinyseams - I shall!
Thanks very much for those links. I shall save them and have a read tomorrow.

@tinyseams - Ooh hot glue as a base. Very intriguing! Though we have very, very hot summers down here and hot glue is known to melt. Might have to do some tests.

 

Haven't watch the videos yet but I agree, a bit glue base would absolutely melt in the summers here! But I wonder if you could take the hot glue base and make a push mold and then have the base poured out of resin or poly plastic

 

You might even be able to use Premo, or one of the light weight foamy polymer clays if you make a push mold. So many options, depending on what you want the finished shoe to weigh.

 

@cloudmine Yay! I am sure you can make some shoes! It is so exciting! I can not wait to see what you do! I found some really great faux leather at Walmart and made these shoes from it. Walmart has some really fun fabric sometimes.
david by Linda, on Flickr

@Quiet and Insane and @skyealloway there are many types of hot glue and some are stable at high temperatures. Probably look at high strength hot glue used for construction. The package should tell you the temperatures. But other glues could be used like a liquid glue that will set up at a thickness even caulk would probably work. It would take longer to set up though.
@PearlZenith I like the idea of using a softer poly clay. If you add more layers of tape to support the mold, other clays-- maybe paper clay could be used.

 

Ooh those turned out really well!

 

I made some summery crocheted sandals for Yukiko. I had a bear of a time dealing with the cork that I bought for soles, so I decided to just 3d print a pair of soles using wood filament. I love how they turned out!

Showing off her new shoes

Showing off her new shoes

 

Oh those look so cute @LegoMyth! Wonderful job!

 

I love how you did the 3D design and the crochet, beautiful work!

 

I found this video on youtube. It has some great ideas for shoe making. I love to work with polmer clay too and her method of making a shoe base mold is simple and would give great results if you can get a good size shape and form of the sole using glued up card stock.

 

This is a new way to make a shoe pattern. Looks easy.

 

This is such a helpful thread, thank you!!

 

Resurrecting this thread to add a video I found.

 

I need to get my worktable tidied up and do more shoes. I have all this thin leather.