Birthday Kicks

After many months of non-stop sample-making (and re-making) for the new collections in the factory, I've finally found a minute to do some work of my own. Unfortunately, this project was a bit rushed so I didn't get time to take process pictures, but here are my birthday shoes! (The woman who stitched them said it took her an hour just to put in the laces...and it takes almost as long for me to get them on and off...lesson learned for the next pair...)

I've been working on a pattern for a pair of pumps...but as usual I'm a little off on the seasons seeing as I've been needing a pair of pumps all Autumn/Winter and now that it's warming up I finally get to work on them! Check back for pictures in the coming weeks...

Finishing Up

Finished lasting and attaching the heel...

...now to add the rhinestones...

Mounted and Ready

The uppers are lasted and ready for a heel...I just need to find one! It's been difficult finding a heel because it has to be not only the right height and silhouette, but also the inclination at the top must match with the inclination of the last/insole. I'm going today to a tacchificio (heel factory) to try and find a good match. I have only a few days left and I still need to hand-stitch on the rhinestone trim...it's crunch time!

The Real Deal

Hello all - Once again I've been very behind on my posts...but only because I've been very busy with another project: the bridal shoes!

I found all the materials...

...and I got started cutting out the final shoe.

Back...At Long Last

I'm finally back! I spent three weeks of vacation at home and the past three weeks getting settled back into the swing of things in Italy and at work, and despite my best intentions, I managed to write nothing! But that doesn't mean I haven't been working on new things. The wedding-shoe-making has officially begun...

* * * * *

The lasts - I covered the external half of one of the lasts with masking tape and then drew the design straight onto the tape.

Then I took off the tape and pressed it down flat onto a piece of paper, corrected the curves, and created the internal lines (lasts, and feet for that matter, are not symmetrical and there are certain adjustments that need to be made the "external" line to make it fit correctly on the "internal" side). This base is called the camicia.

The final camicia - external lines in black, internal lines in red. This base is used to make the pattern pieces.

All the pattern pieces to make the shoe: including the upper (tomaia), lining (fodera), and reinforcements (rinforzi).

Gluing together the pieces cut out in leather

The finished upper (glued for the test run, but it will be stitched for the final shoe)

The lasted sample with the lining yet to be trimmed away

Insider's Look V

A few stragglers...

An upper lasted by hand (nailed in the back, glued in the front)

Going through 'the oven' to heat and set the upper

Cork filling the empty space to create an even surface onto which to glue the sole

Pressing on the sole

Adhesive padding to cover the nails used to attach the heels

Inside a Tannery

I visited the luxury leather tannery Stefania a while back, here are some pictures from that visit:

Even if it says the leather comes from Italy, it usually means that the skins come from another country (Eastern Europe, India, Asia, etc.), where the hides go through the first tanning process, then they are shipped to Italy for the other half of the tanning and finishing process. So in reality it's not the skins themselves of "Italian leather" that make them special, it's the high-quality tanning process. The hides, after they have undergone the first tanning and are ready to be shipped, are called wet blue hides because of their pale blue color (see above).

The hides are dyed in drums that spin like a washing machine. The smaller drum (above) is for sample-making, while the larger drums (below) are for large production orders. Once dyed, the leather goes through many steps to apply the finish, whether it be suede, patent, or laminated.

Above, black suede is sorted for quality. Most black suede is grey in color because it is difficult to get the dye to adhere and achieve a saturated black.

Finished skins, stacked and ready for processing

Insider's Look IV

Now that you know which factory I visited, here are a few more pictures...

Socks (more commonly known as insoles in the US) with their adhesive backing applied and ready to be put inside the finished shoe

Gluing on the sole

The leather upper is attached to the last by affixing a rope with nails to the lining that is left sticking out above the upper. Doing this ensures that the shoe doesn't slip down too far on the last when it is lasted.

Machine for lasting the toe

Machine for stretching and forming bootlegs

Insider's Look III

The automated stitching machine for quilting uppers. (Uppers are the leather/fabric part of the shoe that gets lasted and then finished with a sole. It's literally the upper part of the shoe. See last photo for an example.)

I promised that I'd tell you this week which factory I visited, but I think this picture does the job for me...

Yep, that's right!

An upper being accessorized before being lasted.

Insider's Look II

Here are a few more pictures from the factory...

Working on the cutting table. He's using the cutting version of one of the CAD-for-footwear softwares along with a projector that shines up into a mirror which then bounces the reflection back down onto the leather on the table so he can arrange the pieces on the skins.

The cutting table seen from above.

A pattern in cartone rosso (red cardboard used for patterns) used to trim a quilted upper.

Can you guess which factory I visited yet? (The hint is the quilting. Check back next week for the answer...)

Insider's Look

While in school in Milano, I visited one of the bigger shoe factories in the area along with a luxury tannery. A classmate of mine took some pictures and I just found them last week and wanted to share them with you all. For the next couple of Mondays I'll be posting pictures (sorry for the quality, we weren't supposed to have a camera inside the factory)...enjoy!

A look from above the factory floor. Those machines in the bottom are for cutting leather from patterns made on CAD (I use a similar machine at work).

Sandals on the production line.