Hola y bienvenidas. I’m taking an online sneaker deconstruction/reconstruction class from the Shoe Surgeon and am documenting the process as I go. If you missed Part 1, check it out here.
Last week I got as far as cutting out and preparing the Air Jordan 1 (AJ1) pattern. This Section 2 of the class – Pattern Prep, Tracing, Cutting and Skiving (again, a real word) – is a lot of work and technique-learning on the fly. If you’re a beginner, it’s building the plane as you’re flying it. It’s a little stressful but, as They say, you have to get uncomfortable to grow.
I am personally faring ok (I think), but did stress eat about ten Dum Dums the other night while tracing patterns on leather. I may have a new hand-made pair of shoes at the end of this but, at this rate, I will also have gaping holes in my molars.
Days 3-7, Part 2: Tracing
Once you get your pattern cut out and prepared (which basically means cutting out the “registration marks” that will help to line the pieces up together later), it’s time to trace the pattern onto your leather.
This is where you really have to make final decisions on your design since you’re now creating your pieces. The heading photo all the way to the top of this post is where I landed design-wise. The little black dashes in the quarter section is meant to indicate cow hide. Not a big sketcher over here, okay?
I start with the black leather, tracing the swooshes and collar. In order to get the correct pieces for both the right and the left shoe, you need to trace the pattern and then flip it over to get a mirror image for the other foot. I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around why this is the case and, as a result, not feeling very smart.
My dumb a$$ continues tracing. I’m not going to show you all of it. Yes, I know, you don’t care to see all of it. If you’re going to be like that I’ll only show you one more. Here’s the cow hide tracing. I had to blot the hair with a paint pen since an ink pen wouldn’t draw on it.
I’m not sure if this paint will come off (I believe it is permanent oil-based paint 🙁 ), be hidden by other pieces or stitching, or be visible in the final product. The pens you use on the leather can be removed by water or heat. I don’t think using the paint pen was an enormous mistake but, then again, I hardly know what I’m doing. I’m mentally preparing for it to be visible and toying with the idea of keeping it as a color pop/design element similar to the red stitching in these beauties.
Side note: working with hair-on hide is messy and difficult. This sh!t better look good because it’s a pain in the a$$ to deal with. I think I’ll be vacuuming up hide hair for the next 3 decades or so.
Days 3-7, Part 3: Cutting
The Shoe Surgeon himself uses an X-Acto knife to cut out his patterns and I don’t know how the fu@k he does this for all the pieces. I almost permanent disabled my fingers pressing on the X-Acto knife to cut out the paper pattern. If I were to attempt to cut the much thicker leather in the same way I fear I would never be able to properly work the TV remote again.
I also happen to have a quality pair of scissors from a previous foray into sewing. I made a way-too-huge pair of fleece pants and a Wonder Woman pillow cover that actually turned out well.
The Shoe Surgeon mainly recommends that you use the X-acto knife because over time you can build speed with it, moreso than with scissors. But he stresses that you should use whatever is most comfortable for you. It turns out I’m a sewing scissors guy. I also have a work apron that I started wearing. Thus begins my slow descent into becoming Mrs. Doubtfire.
I spent a few hours on a Saturday cutting these pieces out. It was a very satisfying activity. Seeing the design come to life in a relatively small amount of time is exciting.
Little did I know that the hard part was just now beginning.
Days 3-7, Part 4: Skiving
On to skiving, which sounds like hippie bro lingo for “sky diving,” but isn’t.
The idea here is to skive the sections of the leather pieces that will overlap with others, thus thinning them out and allowing them to lay together without bulk (that black tool above with the razor blade inside the little window is a skiver). The skiving step comes with a lot of questions. How much is enough skiving? Should it be super thin or just thinner? How wide a skiving border do I need (turns out it’s to the registration marks mostly, this was a sort of side comment in one video I happened to catch)? I’m still not sure if I did this right. I’m hoping it will become clear when I try to put the pieces together. Or I’ll have some bulky dogsh!t shoes. Good talk.
There are a ton of little things like this throughout this process so far. If you were to attempt this on your own there would be 100 ways to blow yourself up and end up with a truly crap pair of shoes. I’m finding out that the true value of this class is the Shoe Surgeon navigating you around all of these land mines.
Days 8-17, Part 1: Sewing Bootcamp
I bought a new Heavy Duty Singer sewing machine for this class since it is apparently good at handling leather (with a leather needle replacing the factory-installed one, of course. The class tells you this and recommends what to buy). This is both good and bad. I’m happy to have a machine that can handle the job, but now I have a machine I’ve never used before and need to get used to it in a few days before sewing a pair of shoes together. Commence a$$hole tightening sequence.
To help loosen your a$$hole, the Shoe Surgeon gives you a few days to practice on your machine. He walks you through winding the bobbin (sounds like a sex move) and threading the machine. He shows you how to reinforce your stitches and how to hand crank your machine around tight curves. Jesus, this all sounds like sex talk. The next few days are reserved for practicing these techniques.
Getting a good looking stitch around the curve of the swoosh is difficult. I’m not good at it.
The few swooshes I did at the end were 100% hand cranked, stitch by stitch . This takes some time but it seems by far the best way for me to get a decent line around the curves. I’ve resigned myself to this reality. It’s all going to be okay. I’ll be hand cranking my machine alone in my basement, possibly multiple times a day. Please knock before entering.
Today we start bonding and sewing the Heel, Sides and Toe. It’s getting real. I’ll tell you all about it next week.
-MG
