Customer Reviews

Crafting Handmade Shoes: Great-Looking Shoes, Sandals, Slippers & Boots

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Go ahead - just TRY to find a book on hand-crafting sandals and shoes on a small scale that wasn't written before 1973. This is the first updated book I have found on the subject.

The book lays out in logical order the basics of leather, working with it, construction techniques and variety of projects that use those techniques in modular fashion.

The book is easy to follow, the project instructions are not cluttered with commentary, and are concise. This book is excellent for a beginner who has had no experience in making shoes and sandals at home, and does not assume a great knowledge in any one craft. Instructions as to what tools are needed, how to buy leather and findings, and finishing are all included. Willingness to try something new and a little time is all that is needed on your part. (plus a trip to the craft and leather stores!)

The kind of shoes and sandals presented in this book are suitable for most casual wear. The style of construction used doesn't lend itself well to what most people would consider business-like or formal shoes. They will be sturdy and if you construct them well, I see no reason why they wouldn't last as long as any commercially available shoe.

Although it is not stated in the book - all the projects are clearly designed for women. But the book shows you the basics of creating your own patterns. After all - feet are feet - no matter who they are on, so with a little creativity you can design your own patterns (and choose materials) that would compliment a man's outfit, with the instructions in this book.

One minor disapointment, the book does not have a project for strap sandals. However the author has a thoughtful website and sells several additional patterns (to be used with the techniques in this book) for sale at very minimal cost.

The author also includes some colorful trivia and history on shoes, througout the book.

From the book you learn to make simple flat to low-heeled shoes. Each shoe comes with a pattern and exact description how to enlarge it for your shoe size. The instructions are basic and not always easy to understand, but the book is a good primer. The book is out-of-print but available for $25 directly from the author over the Internet simpleshoemaking.com. The book is black and white, with color photographs on the cover and worth its price. It is in no way worth the ridiculous price asked by second-hand dealers.

I also recommend "Make Your Own Shoes" by Mary Wales Loomis, which shows how to make higher-heel elegant ladies' shoes from fabric on your sewing machine. And "Handmade Shoes for Men" by Laszlo Vass, which shows shoemaking in great color photographs, but has no patterns.

I bought this book thinking it would be a useful tool when creating shoes for stage productions. I didn't really think the end result would be "good enough" for everyday wear. But I was wrong.

This book is really pretty amazing. I would have thought a host of expensive and hard-to-find tools and materials would have been necessary to create "real" shoes, but that's not necessarily true, as laid out in this book. Sure, if you want leather shoes (as opposed to fabric), it will cost a little, but you can make one of the more simple designs in this book and not have to invest a lot of dough. The author even suggests taking the finished upper portion of your shoe to a shoe repair shop to have soles put on it...Sound wonderful to me, although I haven't tried to find a shop locally to see if that's really do-able.

At any rate, if you want to make serious shoes, this book is definitely for you. And if you just want costume shoes, you can take the basic principles found in this book and do that, too.

This book contains some very pretty pictures and cute useless information but when it come to actually using it the instructions that are provided on how to create a basic pattern and size the shoes you are making are almost impossible to follow! The instructions sometimes even refer you to further instructions ("see page 116" for example) that are not actually there! The book is well presented so it looks like everything should be in order but when you actually really try to put it into practice as I have tried to do (for two days of my holidays!) it just doesn't add up. I have read some other reviews that actually commend the book; the only explainations that I can think of for this is that: 1. the reviewers haven't actually tried following the instructions to make shoes, 2. they are relatives of the author and are trying to promote the book, 3. they have a completely different copy to the one I have.

I came across this book quite by accident, and what a happy accident it was! I haven't yet made any of the shoe projects in the book, but I have read through everything, and do feel that I will be able to achieve some good results with Sharon Raymond's instructions.

The tidbits of shoe trivia scattered throughout the book are truly delightful!

This book really stimulated my imagination and inspired me to make a pair of shoes. Wonderful ideas and patterns.

But I could not follow the instructions. I sort of winged it, which wasn't that hard.

This is a great book for all those who want to make their own shoes. I definitely recommend it for the pictures and the text is easy on the eyes.