Integrations
My second prototype of derby shoes in navy blue in production. Probably more balanced than original take. I like that asymmetrical toe design.
That process of integration gives you a very satisfying feeling. Assuming that your working patterns produced perfectly matching to each other leather parts, that is. That kind of tailoring to the last is not new to me, but it grew on me a lot lately.
This is the reason behind my favorite method of designing nowadays - directly on the last.
The technique lets you peel off individual sheets to create its paper equivalent. Super helpful, when working with some weird angles or curves. And that’s my bread and butter. It truly feels like a puzzle game. The more original design, the more useful this method turns into.
Set of pieces stitched and ready to go, after an individual parts measurement method is done.
I take given piece or a small set of parts and I measure it against my master design on the last. I work with my go-to materials already, for I want to take into account my final leathers’ thickness. Sometimes I tape those to the last or I use my copper nails to fix it. I like how versatile that is. If similar pair of lasts - I create only one set of patterns for one shoe and use it on both, left and right. If different measurements of the feet - I need to draw my design on individual lasts separately, trying to make it look like a pair. I end up with two sets of patterns in return.
The real fun begins when I have most parts of the upper properly measured and ready to go. Then I can combine those together (usually two sets - front and back) and compare it against my original design drawing on the last.
It is so beautiful to see how they match!
If it works well, I go ahead and stitch it all together. If I need some farther modifications, I separate my upper and lining to execute those. This is the beauty of bespoke - it is truly tailoring to the last of the shoe.
That’s how my journey towards creating my master patterns looks like. Armed with these master patterns, I feel safe to cut the best parts of the hide to produce the final uppers. No surprise or compromise at that point, just purely professional job done.