Accessories The Shoemakers' Circle

Sounds good! I want to make some shoes too! My son just 3D printed a shoe base.. He used a free shoe pattern from thingverse and reworked the model so just the base printed out (no upper) and he rescaled it to quarter size. I was amazed that it fits my Dollshe Amanda!
Here is a pic. I showed her feet in two positions. She really needs a higher heel but they are real close.
I might build up the base inner sole but I really need to redevelop the model to make a higher angle for the heel.
3D print shoe base by Linda, on Flickr

 

@tinyseams I was scrolling through this thread for inspiration and you are certainly inspiring, as I am a noob to shoemaking I learned a lot just by reading your posts and looking at your projects!. I must say that your 3D printing heals looks interesting. I have a feeling making hard heels will become more easy with printing :3

I´ve seen a few threads on the forum but not a whole lot. So I was wondering if you (or others) have used worbla thermo plastic for shoe making before? Once I dive into shoemaking I might try it myself for stabilization around the toe area or back of the foot. But I would love to hear personal experience from the bjd community or if any of you have thought about using it?

(Worbla is a plastic sheet that can bend and curve with heat and hardens again when cold, I see lots of people use hairdryers for it)

 

Worbla is a great idea! I don't know why I've not thought of it, but I thank you so much for that! It would also maybe work well for heel feet to get the right shape. I cannot try for some time, as my workspace isn't available, but will love to see if anyone has a chance before I can try.

 

Yes! I hope you do try it one day ^3^ it´s super interesting watching people making tiny shoes (and other various crafts for dolls) and it seems to work great for soles as you can literally shape it with little effort. I´m thinking myself using it to warp it for a front piece and then carefully glue some fabric on top/around the plastic of it like some ballerina shoe designs have? Like the black tip of a chanel flat ballerinas have. (I apologies for very bad explanation in english)
Maybe it´s easier to make a more sharp toe front?? it sounds workable in my head but only time will tell when I get some Worbla on hand

 

Hi guys! I made some shoes for a Christmas outfit I made this year for my 1/6 size Honey Delf. Unfortunately, the material is something that won't be available to everyone. I used to work for a company that printed tee shirts, and they were going to throw out a huge pile of samples of glitter ink. I knew the squares would be big enough for doll accessories, so I snagged them. So basically, these shoes are made of jersey cloth with silkscreen ink and glitter on them. The texture is kind of like a super thin vinyl.

The soles are craft foam and pasteboard. The only seam I sewed was the one on the toe of the upper. The rest is glued with tacky glue (pva glue). The trim is chenille yarn and the lining is synthetic chiffon. I coated the uppers with clear nailpolish (because I couldn't find my gloss medium) to control the glitter.

I'm thinking about making a pile of these for Christmas tree ornaments for next year. Still working on the design, but I bet I'll be really good at making them by the time I'm done.

Spoiler: Christmas shoes view 2

Spoiler: Christmas shoes view 3

 

Thank you! I was really determined for a while there. haha I love the 3D printed heel because they come out perfectly symmetrical which makes it easy to add the uppers without having to custom fit each side. I can see how the worbla would work for shoes. I have not tried it myself though. I like to use Fimo polyclay because I have a lot of it. Here is a pic of some shoes I made with the 3D printed heel

 

I'm glad to hear other people are having success with 3d printed heels. I just ordered some, hopefully they fit my doll well!

 

I am an absolute newbie at doll shoemaking (I made a pair of shoes for a tiny OT doll, but they wouldn't stay on). My main issue is how to make patterns for the uppers, as it doesn't in any way seem to match the way that I make clothes patterns from a sloper.

 

I use painters tape to make a shoe upper pattern. You can cut the tape in little pieces if need be to patch in the upper to the shape you want. Here is a example
shoe7 by Linda, on Flickr

 

I'm really glad to have found this thread and these resources! I may have gotten a little over-excited and bought more fine grade leather (offcuts) than I really need to try my hand at making shoes and accessories after getting the book Tiny Wardrobe from Hanon, which includes a boot pattern and a bag pattern for leather. I still haven't had the courage to try it but I'm loving seeing everyone's makes here!

 

I've always enjoyed reading this Fashion Doll Shoes blog and she's recently started updating it again:
Fashion Doll Shoes
She has so many ideas and such a good grasp on accessorizing and finishing her projects - it's inspiring to read through!

 

Oh leather is really nice to work with! I am sure you know that you can mold it to shape. It does take courage to cut into that nice leather but once you make your first pair, it is so satisfying!

I've bought her first book and I too find it so inspiring! I think I will buy her new book also to support her.

 

I posted this link in the sewing thread, but it probably fits better in this one:
Just an idea I had (years too late). So easy....
Making doll shoe soles the easy way

 

This is a great idea, thanks @ResinRapture

 

That is so smart!! Thank you so much for sharing this idea, I'd just been thinking of asking how people preferred to do soles. I think I even have some of those felt pads somewhere...

 

@ResinRapture I love your idea! That glue is so strong!

So I bugged my son to modify the 3D pattern for high heels I found online and printed at quarter scale. They fit my doll but the ramp was not at a high enough angle. He had a idea to stretch the pattern in the vertical direction only and got this result. Now the shoe sole is too long but the ramp angle is right, so more tweaking is needed.
3D printed soles with higher ramp by Linda, on Flickr
I put the paper pattern on the sole to see how long the toe needs to be for a pointed toe shoe base. Maybe I need to learn how to draw a shoe base from scratch in 3D.

 

could I ask where you found the heels? Please

 

There is also a "High Heel Foot" available on Thingiverse... I'll do some digging to see if I can find the link for it. Printed at 75%, they're a little larger than the ones I bought for my ResinSoul Mei, but I think I'll try printing them at 70% and see if that comes closer. The 7cm foot in the Polaris BJD reduced at 75% is almost a perfect match for the flat soles, so I have my fingers crossed.

The angle of the arch looks pretty close, though I think I'd have a better idea once I have feet at a closer size.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/iAUVm3JqVhMjKog8A


In the photo, the ResinSoul feet are the pale ones in the middle, with the Terra Cotta red ones being the 3D printed heel feet. The pair of grey feet to the right are the 7cm (reduced) feet I printed to use as lasts, with the single foot on the left being the 7.5 cm foot (also reduced to 75%).

And no, the layer lines aren't really that pronounced... yikes!

 

That is a excellent idea to make a nice even size shoe last! Thank you for that idea! Wow this thread is getting pretty exciting!

I bugged my son some more to rescale the pattern again in the horizontal direction. He made the original pattern taller and shorter in length to get the ramp height and length pretty close. Success! I worked on the pattern last night and plan to sew and glue it up today!
finished 3D printed shoe base and upper pattern by Linda, on Flickr

@Kimmera Update: my son says the original full scale shoe pattern is from Thingverse. My son shaved off the upper part of the pattern he found and printed just the base.

Here is a link to thingverse to make a sole for 1/3 scale BJD male doll Shoes soles for 1/3 scale doll by diygallery

 

Did a quick search on Thingiverse.com for "high heel" and got a lot of hits... some of them quite... interesting. A good number of them were complete shoes, but there were also several that looked like just the sole with slits at the sides, presumably to run straps through. Most seem to be for human scale, but that can be worked with.

Oh, and after a bit of digging, I found the high heel foot to be in this file set: Polaris: Double jointed ball jointed doll (1/3 BJD) by bahboh

It's a fun print - Terra, one of my OT girls, is this design.

 

@tinyseams Thank You, I have been having a ball perusing thingiverse! I think I found some usable resources, Thank you for the information!

I also saw that boot sole, YAY!

@phoenyxashe I saw that Polaris file, have Downloaded it and plan to play with it a bit in Blender, HOW FUN!

 

Progress! I have started on the ultasuede uppers. My tiny wheel rotary cutter worked well for a accurate cut
WIP 3D boots by Linda, on Flickr

 

YAY another new tool on it's way from Amazon LOL Those boots look amazing!

 

I had to make a last for the 3D printed sole so I could do the final glue up to the inner sole. Here is a look at my progress. Almost done!
WIP boots for Amanda 3D printed soles by Linda, on Flickr

I left the tongue long so I can trim it after everything is glued together.
You can see my tiny wheel rotary cutter in the pic.
@Kimmera Thanks for the encouragement!

 

I finished them. You can also see the shoe lasts I jury rigged from some failed paper clay lasts I made earlier. I filled in gaps with White glue and layers of cardboard to make the last fit the shoe base.
finished 3d print sole boots by Linda, on Flickr

 

So here I go again with another pair of shoes for Dollshe Amanda's flat feet. I made a dress with a skirt that is too short for high heels so now she is wearing her flat feet and needs shoes.
My pics show
1) Scan of her foot to get a accurate shape rather than tracing her foot
2) first mock up of sole to add a point to the toe. I noticed my point was off so I drew a line from her big toe to the point and adjusted to direction of the point and trimmed my mockup to get the point where I want it
2) measuring the height of the heel. It came out to about a quarter inch when I pressed her big toe down to touch the cardboard sole
3) view of sole from top and bottom

My next job is to trace the sole on cardboard and glue up layers of the outer soles with some shaping to fit her foot. Then I need to make a last to fit the shaped outer soles.
flatfootshoe3 by Linda, on Flickr
flatfootshoe2 by Linda, on Flickr
flatfootshoe1 by Linda, on Flickr

 

I made the shoe last by wrapping Amanda's feet with paper strips and tape using the pointed inner sole as a guide. Then I filled the form with Plaster of Paris. I peeled the damp paper off the fresh mold and shaved off extra dried plaster to even up the shapes.

Next I will make a painters tape pattern based on Amanda's foot and the inner sole. I'll check to see if the pattern fits the last and adjust as needed. Then on to cutting and sewing the upper together.

Dollshe Amanda flat foot shoe last by Linda, on Flickr
Update: here are pics of the shoe pattern on the doll's foot and the on the last. I need to flatten the toe area on the last.
amandaflatfootboot1 by Linda, on Flickr
amandaflatfootboot2 by Linda, on Flickr