Shoemaking Techniques and Traditions--"...these foolish things..."

[chogall]

Looks like a mistake to have rubber lift slanted on the lateral side.

That's some nice RTW shoes with aggressive waists.. Maker?

 

[wengxiah]

thank you!
it is a
ready to wear shoe....
so the last option
seems unlikely....

did this maker appear also in the first page of this thread?

 

[bengal-stripe]



That's some nice RTW shoes with aggressive waists.. Maker?

did this maker appear also in the first page of this thread?

That's the one! - It's not only the waist that is aggressive about his shoes.


No real harm done, a "top-lift" is easily replaced.

It could have been worse, maybe both shoes of the pair done on a left last. Well, he didn't do that:

 

[VRaivio]

Chogall, these look very Bestetti to me, you might want to try him out.

 

[ntempleman]

Heh, I've seen a maker get a pair of monks in welt before realising they've got the uppers the wrong way round.

 

[bengal-stripe]



Heh, I've seen a maker get a pair of monks in welt before realising they've got the uppers the wrong way round.

I presume, you did demand:

"As an imposition, in your finest handwriting, you will write one hundred lines 'The notch is always on the inside'"

 

[ntempleman]

Nothing to do with me, that pair, thankfully. What a headache. One I've had to contend with was a maker having a few jobs on hand, getting the uppers from two completely different orders mixed up.

"Ho ho, I did think they seemed a bit tight lasting them up", he said.

 

[bengal-stripe]



...... getting the uppers from two completely different orders mixed up.

Oh, I thought he had lasted the left upper over the right last (and vice versa).

I presume, that must have happened previously to someone, somewhere, sometime!

 

[ntempleman]



Oh, I thought he had lasted the left upper over the right last (and vice versa).

You're right, that's what happened to those poor monks. I just had another tale of woe to add to it!

Both pairs were shopped fully made - Quite expensive trial pairs in the end.

 

[DWFII]



Heh, I've seen a maker get a pair of monks in welt before realising they've got the uppers the wrong way round.

One I've had to contend with was a maker having a few jobs on hand, getting the uppers from two completely different orders mixed up.

"Ho ho, I did think they seemed a bit tight lasting them up", he said.

One has to ask if a single, "compleat" maker...with a mental image of what the final result is to be, and mindful to ensure it is achieved...wouldn't side-step such problems.

 

[ntempleman]

No one is immune from making mistakes. You might argue that you're at a greater risk of doing so the more things you have juggled in the air.

 

[DWFII]



No one is immune from making mistakes. You might argue that you're at a greater risk of doing so the more things you have juggled in the air.

Oh aye, I ken that fine. I'll take a backseat to no one when comes to making mistakes...although I've not had the misfortune to make those. You're 100% right about that.

But some mistakes are just so egregious, so obvious, it's hard to imagine how they could come about unless the maker wasn't paying attention. Or didn't care. How do you mount a toplift backwards, for instance, without seeing it? For that matter, how do you even photograph it...for promotional purposes or for posting on the internet...without seeing it?

IMO, it's not the number of things you're trying to do, it's the number you're trying to do at once. But then that's what "mindfulness" or even "skill" is all about, isn't it??--doing one thing at a time with all the focus you can muster, before moving on to the next thing.

 

[chogall]

Inseaming starts at 1:00. What kind of stitching style is that? Chain stitching?

 

[shoefan]



Inseaming starts at 1:00.  What kind of stitching style is that?  Chain stitching?

It is the hand-sewn equivalent of a machine-sewn lockstitch. The awl has a notch in it (akin to what is called, I believe, a jerk needle) that catches the outside thread and pulls it to the inside of the holdfast. The inside thread is then put through the resulting loop, and then the threads are tightened. This is not the same as a traditional shoemakers stitch, in which the two threads alternate going in and out of awl holes through the holdfast/upper/welt. On this pictured stitch, one thread is always on the inside and the other is always on the outside, but they are looped/locked in the middle of the holdfast. Alas, if one thread breaks, that stitch gives way. In a traditional stitch, if only one thread breaks the stitch will still hold.

 

[chogall]

Got it. The motion does look similar a sewing machine stitch.

Thank you very much for the info!