Chicago Shoemaking Course
Project Outline
Took a shoemaking course to better understand the building process of a shoe.
Date
Spring 2023
Opportunity
Took the opportunity to take a trip to Chicago, and take a hands on class at the Chicago Shoe Making and Leather Arts School. Here I was able to learn about the shoe making process and end up with my own pair of shoes at the end of the class.
This class allowed the student to get an in-depth understanding of basic footwear manufacturing on a more personal level. Allowing the student to go from choosing the fabric to sewing together a full shoe.
Inspiration
Setup and Leather selection
Here, the proper midsole size was selected for the shoe and there was a vast amount of leathers and materials to choose from. Then there was a cut pattern to follow for cutting out the leather pieces for sewing.
Leather Preparation
Here after the leather was selected and cut out properly, the was to punch holes throughout the leather for the sewing steps of the process.
Leather Preparation Cont.
Punching out aglet holes for the shoe laces so they can be added at the end of the project.
Stitching Process
The final step was to sew all the pattern pieces to the midsole to the complete the shoe.
Wrapping Up
After the sewing was done all there was left to do was to insert the laces and clean up any stray stitches or strings on the shoe.
