New lasts! And the modifying of lasts....

I really like this particular last.  It's about a 2" heel, with a very nice toe shape.  It was designed by the Dr. Scholl's company as a dance shoe, and when you wear it, it shows.  It's really well designed.  And I was able to purchase 18 pairs (in a range of sizes) for a very reasonable price, from Walrus Shoe & Leather  Larry is a nice guy, but his website is a little bit out of date.  I was hoping to get the entire run of these, but this is what he had left:

 

 

As a separate purchase, I got the same last, in a specific size, and fitted it up for the first pair of shoes I'm making for someone other than myself.  Here's a couple of shots of the process of adding layers of leather to the last, to match the client's measurements:

 

I'm a little concerned that this last just wasn't a large enough size to begin with, since it required so much additional material.  I'm hoping it's long enough.  I guess we'll see - the nice thing about fitting up with leather like this, is that it can all be scraped off if it's not the right last for that person - and then I'll have this last in this size just waiting for the right person to come along....

Shopping!

Found another source for supplies:  Sorrell Notions and Findings

http://www.customboots.net/customboots.net/SNF_home.html

Lisa Sorrell is a master cowboy boot maker.  Having the same difficulty as many of us in finding supplies, she set up shop and sells a variety of tools, adhesives, and other supplies.  As I'm already using one of her skiving knives (purchased from Bill Shanor at shoe school), I've just now picked up an appropriate sharpener for it. 

She's also got a phenomenal selection of size 33 thread - tons of amazing colors.  I'm not sure it's heavy enough for what I want to do - but it's an amazing resource to have available.

She also has a YouTube channel, and produces a periodic "It's A Boot Life" series, which includes footage of her working in her studio, product reviews, expos she attends, and a variety of miscellanea.

It also looks like Montana Leather has some Kangaroo hides - mostly earth tones, but also sky blue, lavender, and lilac - at $15.95/sq ft.  (As most hides run around 4-6 sq ft, that's about $60 - 100 per hide, which is a little high.)  So, not great prices, but some selection you might not get elsewhere.

New Stuff! (and a quilt)

I've been working on a lot of small projects, but in the middle there, I ordered two pairs of lasts from shoe-last-shop.com.  The company is in Finland, but has the lasts made in either Portugal or Italy - mine came from Portugal.

Good to know - their prices are good - but shipping is expensive.

Here's what I got!

 

 

Higher heels (yay!).  Just two pairs.  After the holidays, I want to order some of the lasts I liked so much at shoe school, from Jones & Vining.  I have shoes planned for these, but need to get through the holidays first.  Also, I'm going out of town on vacation for three weeks - so, no shoes for a while.  (Although, I'll be looking for supplies on vacation - may have some cool new stuff!)

 

 

In other news, one of the projects I finished is a quilt for one of the nephews. 

 

 



New Equipment!

I keep meaning to post about this, but just haven't managed to do it. 

 

I splurged, and bought myself a really nice, heavy-duty sewing machine.  Not a $2,500 industrial model, that comes bolted to a table and has a motor that needs to sit in a gallon of oil.  But I've tried it with leather, in the way that I use it (multiple layers, multiple textures and stretchy-ness, with and without support of some kind inside), and it will be perfectly adequate to my needs.

 

It's a Juki - the brand our instructor kept saying was the best - and it works really well for garments, too.  I'm finishing up a shirt in the next few days, and my sewing has never been this precise before. 

On the other hand, it only does a straight stitch.  What do I do when I want to make buttonholes?