This will be a do-over of Pair 4, abandoned as a casualty of glaring patterning errors.
I want to keep edges simple on this pair, but also want to compensate for failure-feelings about the last pair by improving on the fundamentals of the pattern. In particular, I’m planning on non-overlapping lining and upper quarter-vamp seams, inspired by the Seidich Uppermaking book.
I decided to do another mock-up with foam shelf liner. I’m using Con-Tact Grip “Premium Black Non-Adhesive Shelf Liner” again, this time in black for upper and white for lining.
Here’s the fully assembled mock-up over the last, on its side. The lines at bottom mark lasting margin.
Oh, basting tape, how many ways are there to love you? I got a couple rolls of ¼- and ⅛-inch tape a while back, I believe as an add-of to a Springfield Leather order for some belt parts, and have really enjoyed using it since. It can be a little fiddly peeling the backing off, but from there, I’ve been really impressed with the adhesion on leather, foam, and even paper. It’s definitely more expensive than liquid glue, but well worth it for me.
Here I’m lifting up the upper pieces to show part of the lining seam beneath. Per the Seidich’s descriptions, the two seams meet and only slightly underlap at a “fitting point” under the quarter tabs, just behind where the stay stitches will eventually run.
Here’s a closeup shot of the slitted tabs, which the Seidiches call “Derby noses” or “lining noses”, that pass up through slits the vamp lining, then through the curves on the sides of the tongue tab on the vamp, then under the quarter tabs to line them down to the stay stitches.
I originally patterned these “noses” to go all the way down to the bottoms of the quarter tabs, lining them completely with some trim margin. I’ve since revised my patterns to better track the Seidiches’ example, stopping the noses under the stay stitches. This did indeed allow me to baste the upper and lining together separately, then bring them together without “breaking” the upper quarter seams to slip the “noses” under.
I also decided to try a backseam style inspired by one @thenewreligion shared elsewhere, courtesy of Mikhail Bliskavka of Arno.
Basically:
For mocking up, I lay the backs of the quarter panels flat, then used a flat-clinch office staplers to hold them together, along the line marked for the seam allowance. I then stuck thin strips of basting tape to the edges of the flaps and pressed them down. A whole lot easier than doing it in leather! No hammering required.
I did the mock-up gusset tongue out of paper, rather than foam. I think that was a mistake. All I could really do a for a fit test here is tape the bottom of the tongue around the tab and check that the “wings” to either side of it roughly matched the vamp and quarter tabs.
I went with a roughly 1-inch or 25-mm heel slide. The quarter linings just butt right together.
The Wawak “HyperStick” basting tape I threw into an order to try really impressed here.
There was a patterning error here that I didn’t account for: the backstraps covering the backseams from featherline to topline cross the top bands, so I ended up picking the topmost stitches through the backstraps in order to stitch the topbands on without showing a horizontal line of stitches through the backstraps on the outsides. As a consequence, I’ve got lines of backstrap stitches showing through the lining on the insides.
I’ve since gone back and stitched the second line down from the topline. Straight lines up there, right by the throats, are easy enough to get to and sew, but I’m still not sure if I like the look of the double lines.
Before I forget:
The lining leather here is “Resistance Tan” from Maverick. I’ve still got a nice freezer bag of scraps, including some bigger ones suitable for small goods. But frankly, I’m glad to be done with the hide. Maybe I’ve just looked at it too long now, but there is something off about the color, to my eye. I like the idea of tan linings, even on black boots. But not this tan.
These little setting pins do a nice job of holding. The two length sizes they came in make good sense. But I find it pretty annoying to remove the end pins by pulling the little nobs up. Maybe folks with smaller hands like them better.
I’ll probably go back to just basting.
Tongue tab of the vamp fully under the gusset tongue.
Showing the double topline stitching I mentioned.
I guess I chose to do this as a kind of compensation for letting myself do plain, cut edges on these uppers, rather than binding or piping or folding. In any event, I’m sure it won’t hurt, structurally speaking.
I decided to do a tiny color-contrast with the stay stitches, using some old burgundy braided poly I got in a multipack from a Tandy, many years ago. I was thinking about doing some fancy stitching here, maybe an X pattern, but decided to keep it simple.
I’ve been thinking of doing rivets, too. But I’d like to try something subtler, like jeans rivets, rather than my usually hammered copper or brass-colored rivets.
I believe these are Keystone insole blanks via @Customboots. Keystone recently confirmed for me that their insole blanks come from the sale sole bends as their outsole blanks, just cut from looser areas of the hides.
I tried this with a feather knife for the feather and a welt knife for the channel. I also ran over all the carvings with glass and a wood burnisher.
Dick Anderson #2 awl on these. Worked well. Definitely pays to get and keep a little moisture in the holdfasts.
The trick with them isn’t to pull the knob up but to try to push the base down into the leather while holding the knob still.
I ended up cutting away little wedges after lasting, but it was much harder and messier to do at that stage.
I tried to get away with lasting in my lap without tacking at the back height. It’s possible to pull the upper up tight around the heel seat by putting the shoe on a last jack and pulling the upper down, but it’s not ideal.
In the past I’ve relied on the little burnished ramps the awl makes when piercing to mark my pre-pierced holes through holdfasts. I set this pair aside for a few weeks after carving the insoles, so those marks really faded, making them hard to see after lasting.
I should have just marked the holes with pen lines on the insole again.
I have been guilty of this one and am definitely forcing myself now everytime to do it.
There was a video I watched that I will have to look for that discussed the "6 cardinal points” when lasting as a technique, with the counter point being #6 (#1 being the toe, 2/3 being at about the 1:30 and 10:30 positions, and 4/5 being just behind the joints). Made for a nice systematic approach.
I decided to ahead and nail the rands into these. I’ve never tried the Gurney 7 oz hand shoe tacks I bought ages ago, so this made a chance to try leaving them in a pair, too.
I initially cut the rands too short, leaving them way underslung at the very backs of the heels. So I ended up prying them out, cutting new ones, and going again.
I decided to lay carbon fiber shanks again on this pair. Each shank is roughly 6 by 1 inches. The carbon fiber kit I got comes with weave six inches wide, which has been handy.
10 grams each of hardener and resin would suffice for a shank of three weave layers. I have a cheap little gram scale with a tare button for kitchen work that suits fine.
Apart from waiting for cure, the longest part of the whole process is mixing the epoxy. My instructions say 5 minutes stirring. I use disposable plastic shot glasses and popsicle sticks to stir and to brush on.
I do, starting from the insole and working up toward my body with the shoe inverted for work:
With the plastic wrap on top, you can press the layers together and into the cavity. You can also make some small adjustments to align the layers and smooth things out.
See if you can get some peel ply and the place that down over the top layer before the plastic wrap. It will give you a clean release from the plastic wrap and a texture more ready to bond to the next layer of your build up. Another option to consider is to pre-saturate your carbon layers with resin before stacking them up.
Other tip… if you get some carbon veil and spray adhesive (3m super 77 works great) to your carbon weave before cutting, it will stabilize the fabric. You can cut out your shapes with scissors without worrying about pulling a strand and cutting, etc. Make more complicated shapes a lot easier.
I’d never heard of either of these products. Thanks for mentioning! For series production, I think both of these would make the process smoother.
Having priced some materials online, though, I think I’ll be doing without. I haven’t had problems cementing carbon shanks in place, even with plastic wrap on the outside. I suspect this is thanks to the way to the way the shanks are molded directly to the shape of the cavity. They clearly “click” back into place where they were molded.
Handling loose coarse-weave fiber layers is definitely fiddly, but I don’t think it’s worth the expense or time of more layers. If I were doing more elaborate shapes, rather than just specifically molded strips, I could see it making sense.
I might have some of both laying around I can send you to try.
Carbon veil is like tissue paper. Won’t add any noticeable thickness
