simpleshoemaking
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Buyers bought gifts from this shop and gave them 5-star reviews!
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Erin on Dec 13, 2021
4 out of 5 starsI did not receive my item within the shipping window that I was given. I reached out to the seller and they had forgotten to ship but they sent out with 1 day shipping and I got it really fast, which was great. They also sent out another pair as there were some miscommunications. Thank you!
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321c4 on Dec 1, 2021
5 out of 5 starsThe sheet of soling rubber that I received was as described. Perfect for soling the slippers I made out of felted recycled sweater sleeves and needle-felted wool! I traced my feet, cut out soles, and stitched them to my slippers using thick waxed linen thread. It was sort of like sewing thin leather.
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Jose Juan on Oct 28, 2021
5 out of 5 starsGracias muy contento de apoyar tu tienda y tu trabajo , exitado de comenzar a trabajar muchas gracias.
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Barbara on Aug 25, 2021
5 out of 5 starsThe book is easy to understand with many ideas and photos. I'm anxious to make my first pair of shoes.
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S on Aug 16, 2021
5 out of 5 starsGreat ebook for the basics of shoes making. Worked well with handmade duct tape lasts. Caused some frustration at first as I followed the holes on the patterns, but once I stopped trying to use the hole marks on the pattern and made my own, I was able to create wearable shoes.
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S on Jun 29, 2021
5 out of 5 starsClear instructions. It was easy to enlarge the patterns to fit my 5 E wide feet.
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About simpleshoemaking
Making your own shoes is Possible!
Twenty years ago I was living with husband and daughter in a commune in the UK, where hand-made shoes could be seen on the feet of gardeners, potters, etc. The possibility of being able to make one's own footwear boggled my mind! I met a saddle-repairer who wanted to try making shoes, so we gathered in her shop with a "How to Make Shoes" book and made ourselves each a pair. I was hooked.
Concerned about where I would find shoemaking materials in the U.S., upon arrival I looked in the telephone book for Salem, MA, where my in-laws lived, and there was Sole-Tech, a huge shoe-sole company! And leather was available in several shops in Boston (since closed), so I was set.
I continued to use Christine Lewis-Clark's shoemaking book as a guide, but I was more interested in making shoemaking patterns than making shoes over feet, as she recommended. Thus began the file drawers of patterns that I have now, that I am sharing in the shoemaking books that I have recently compiled.
But patterns aren't useful unless you have "lasts" to build footwear over, so I've made a video of how to make your own custom lasts, posted on my blog. I also sell resin lasts.
So, the basics for getting started with shoemaking are available here in this etsy shop. If this possibility boggles your mind too, please get in touch!
Shop members
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Sharon Raymond
Owner
I've been making shoes for twenty years, and teaching others how to make them for twelve. I love to figure out how simple shoes were made back in time, or from indigenous cultures around the world.
Shop policies
All the footwear is made by the stitch-down method, in which the upper part of the shoe is turned out onto the sole; these components are then cemented and stitched together to complete the shoes. Lasts are needed in this process, which are molds of the inside of shoes (basically your foot, with adequate toe-room added, in a pleasing shape.) I have lasts available for sale, but there are directions in the books for making serviceable facsimiles if need be.
To see photos of shoes that have been made by using directions and patterns from these books, please see www.simpleshoemaking.wordpress.com.
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