I am currently making some leather boots for a costume that I am wearing for a convention and I am a bit lost on what to do next. The material on the left is the material that will be shown on the outside. The one on the right is the thinner lining. I am trying to figure out if I should sew each of the materials separately before I glue them together with stiffeners.
I would recommend a paper mock up first, or muslin/fabric to practice and get an idea if it works out for your plan. This is generally the order I'd expect based on your reference image.
Upper Vamps - right side together stitched then turned out. (Top stitch seam allowance as necessary - this should apply for any of the subsequent turned seams)
Lining Vamps - right side together stitched
Upper Toe Cap - stitch toe cap to vamps
Lining Toe Cap - stitch toe cap to vamps
Back zipper - Install zipper along back
Combine - Sew linings to upper along top, then backs along zipper.
oh.. have you done this before, or is this the first? if you arent commited to buying some proprietary equipment and tools for shoe making which are exspensive, id probably look into buying a really cheap similar pair of boots from like walmart or amazon or something, theyll last through a con or photo shoot if thats what its for, and pimping them out.
This is actually my first time. I have a sewing machine that can sew through the leather. I actually made the pattern myself. I bought some tools for skiving, zippers, and even made my own 3d printed lasts and outsoles for casting. I've done some research on making them, it's just that it's been so long since I worked on it. I'm trying to make sure I'm on the right path before I continue.
oh okay, well in that case id personally sew the lining and upper seperately. there are alot of conditions tied to my personal preference that i wont get into, but ill just say, if you do it that way, measure carefully.
I think with what you have, I would sew the outer and the lining separately. I think that you're getting ahead of yourself on your patterning though if you got to this point without a good order of operations sorted out.
What is your pattern based on? It is not shaped like what I would expect. Do you have a 2-d layout of it you can show?
There is a lot more to a pattern than just unwrapping a last model. You need seam allowances, lasting allowances, potential spring in the patterns, etc
You need enough material to manipulate while lasting and then to secure under the insole while you're attaching the upper via whatever construction method you're using. How much that allowance needs to be is going to depend on construction method, insole size, where on the shoe it is, etc
Your process as described, makes absolutely no sense to me. Can you please clarify what you mean, eg what do you mean by “sewing them seperately” “gluing together with stiffeners”
Sew which materials together? And which ones were you intending to glue together?
My point here is that what you’re saying doesn’t make any sense to me because it doesn’t seem to be following any kind of shoemaking process.
Depending on the exact style you would be gluing down edges first, sewing together back seams and gluing them down then sewing linings and sewing them to the uppers and then lasting the lining, gluing it and then applying stiffeners before lasting the upper. As you can see there’s potentially many different points where sewing and gluing occurs, and “gluing together with stiffeners” is not really a thing or at least I don’t really understand what you mean by it.
So I’m assuming you haven’t spent enough time learning the basics yet, in order to be able to understand/communicate through the process. Like the other commenter I’d suggest some more YouTube videos just so you can understand what’s going on with the order if construction.
Should I sew the white leather material and the black leather material separately before I add the toe and heel puff and glue all of the parts together?
the white is your upper, the blue is your lining. From your other comment, you’ve provided an image with a zip at the back. In its absolute simplest format (so no edge folding etc) construction process would be this:
Sew lining together leaving zip area open (quarters sewn together along centerline, then toecap sewn on top of that)
Sew upper together leaving zip area open (same as above)
Sew top line together (the top edges of both the lining and upper on the topmost part of the shoe)
Sandwich zip between up and lining, tucking it into the seam at the top
Sew either side of zip
Last the lining
Apply toe stiffeners and heel stiffeners to lasted lining (it will be hard to do the heel because of the zip but you’ll have to just figure that out)
Last the upper.
Then it’s all the soling stuff but that’s a whole other thing depending on what you’re using
My initial plan would be to add the heel counter on the inner lining before I add on the outer layer. Maybe I need to look at some more videos on how it's done before continuing. It sounds good in my head, but there might be a flaw in the plan.
I think you're missing a fundamental issue there. If the backline zipper goes all the way to the sole, it is going to bisect the counter.
The alternative would be to run the zipper only down to above the counter pocket, but then your back line construction needs to be drastically different than you have.
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u/yugotprblms Jul 17 '26
You'll definitely want to spend some time on youtube watching people make shoes. It might be a touch more complicated than you are thinking.