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Sharon Raymond
145 Baker Road
Shutesbury, MA 01072
Tel: 413.259.1748
Fax: 413.241.6119
Email:
sharon @ simpleshoemaking.com(please eliminate spaces when using email address)
January 25 - I am excited this day too, as another knitted and felted boot pattern has been created. This one was created by Jennifer Hoag at Northeast Fiberarts near Burlington, VT. Jennifer has run several workshops in which handmade felt boots were made; she took the same general pattern and made a knitted and felted boot with it. It has a tongue like Stacey's, but it is not attached to the sides. So, the concept that a person has to BUY something someone else has designed and made if they want to cover their feet is being changed; I call that EMPOWERMENT, and I can't think of anything I would rather be facilitating through my part of the process.
I am working on photographing all the combinations of soling that I offer; I don't want to be offering soling made from petrochemicals but realize in some environments the natural crepe doesn't provide the security underfoot that those walking in winter weather would like. So, I will offer vibram soling as well as a range of soles made with biodegradable materials that I can stitch on , and the lovely fellow Joe at my local shoe-repair shop will cement the vibrams on.
Here's a photo of the first pair of boots Kyt Eubanks of Amarillo TX, an experienced leather-worker and artist made, I'm happy to see what can be done when leather carvers bring their skills to shoemaking.
Welcome to my first blog, January 13, 2010!
I am excited to be making this transition from making and selling footwear, to selling the patterns so you can make them yourself. I realize traveling to Western Massachusetts isn't convenient for a lot of would-be shoemakers, so my goal is to make it as simple as possible for you to become a shoemaker without leaving your home. This will require me to make some videos of some processes, so those will be coming along once I get all those little punching-hole dots marked and tested on all the patterns, then I'll add some support videos to simplify the process.
When making shoes from a fiber material, from felt to canvas, these patterns will serve you well; since fiber will hardly stretch, your shoe will not deviate from the shape it had when first made. If you plan to make leather footwear, the standard and best way to make shoes is to make them over a last (a foot-shaped plastic mold); that way, any stretch in the leather will be pulled a little bit more with the lasting pliers (I'll stick a photo in here of what I'm talking about), so theoretically the whole upper part of the shoe has been tightened to the same degree. However, for making casual shoes, as my patterns are designed for, the amount of stretch in the leather isn't much of an issue. So, those who want to make lasted footwear still would need to arrange a workshop with myself or one of the few other teachers that I know of.
One last thing for today, I am most excited about the technique and soling I have created for making shoes that appear to be a fully-lasted shoe; the bottom edge is turned IN when being stitched to the sole (this stitching will done by hand). This means that you can use the thinnest of materials to make your shoe upper, and the bottom edge will be turned in - therefore no unravelling along the edge as would happen if you made these shoes using the "stitch-down" technique. A video will probably be required to make this technique comprehensible, but once someone learns it, all kinds of fabrics could be used for making shoes. I'll get to putting out more information about this technique as soon as I can!
Click on image below for a full-size clog pattern.
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