November 20, 2017

Make your own shoes! Become shoemaking student!

To make your own shoes has been a goal of yours for a long time now, but you put yourself on hold and you are skeptical if this is possible for you. Can you learn this craft? Is it hard? What kind of training do you need? Where to start? There are numerous questions that hinder you from reaching this goal. Some of the most prevalent challenges include time commitment, unfamiliarity with shoe making supplies, and figuring out how to craft shoes on a budget.

In this article, I want to open your eyes to what is possible for you, if you would decide to step into this craft. Based on few of my student’s works I want to inspire you to follow your goal, as it is within the reach of your hand.

It is really no matter where you leave, no matter if you had any prior experience in shoemaking, you can learn how to make your shoes, starting from zero to making comfortable, beautiful, professionally made footwear.

Simple But Steady

It’s not the first time I write about it and my Shoemaking Program always starts from this shoe model for a reason. If you want to have correct and steady progression in shoe making you must start making your Ballet shoes first.

This is the most basic type of footwear that you can make [casual shoes], but it is so important because based on this construction all other, more advanced footwear type is created. 

Here are few examples of Ballets that my students made. We will go back to these students with their progress, to show you, that starting program from the right place, will 100% effect on the quality of your shoes and your progress.

Use What You Already Know or Smart Shoemaking

The third course in my program that you will be doing is Fashionable Ballet Shoes, but why would you want to make your ballets again?

The reason for that is very simple but important. In this course, I am teaching you to create different kind of footwear construction based on what you already learned [Ballet flats], with the construction that is already been proven and works.

The main goal of my course is to give you the freedom of making shoes by yourself, without having me by your side forever. You need to learn how to think, to create and combine everything that I will teach you, here is where you will find your freedom.

Yulia created shoe constructions that I don’t teach directly, she used the smart shoe making approach :)!

What she did was, she took the knowledge that she had learned at my flat ballets course and combined it with my T- strap pumps course to create these beautiful creations.

Advance in Your Making


You have already seen Emma’s work when she started from ballet shoes, and maybe they were not perfect, but because Emma followed the program it made her progress smooth and her shoes look awesome, with every next model she makes. 

After she made ballets, Emma created this beautiful pair of oxford shoes:

Next, she created her High boots and you already can see her progress, the boots look great and she made them even better with her own designs.

The most recent work that I got from Emma was her boots with laces.  You must understand that by following my program, you will get the tools to create any other footwear type and shoe design.

Emma-boots

No Limitations! You will make shoes if You’ll just Decide!

As most of my students are total beginners I have a very simple approach to what you need to get started. In all my courses I use only simple tools and materials that are easy to source and I have them in my Shoemaking Tools Kit.

If you want to learn this craft and you want to make your shoes, it is possible for you, all you need to do is to start learning and making.
I want to end this post with this story to inspire you. A student of my, Majedeh, wanted to create shoes for her father and she chose to make Ankle Boots. The big problem that she had was, she didn’t have a sewing machine.

When you look at the image of the Ankle boots that she made, you can’t even notice that, but the entire upper was sewn by hand.

ankle-boots made in my courses

That is right, there are no limitations if you want to learn and make your shoes, it is all up to you.

What I can promise you on my part is a professional, step by step shoemaking training that will take you, total beginners, to make the shoes that you really want to make. If you want to learn more about the entire process of making shoes, about shoemaking materials, shoemaking tools, custom-made shoes, and the most common mistakes that beginners make, you are welcome to read this article: "How to make shoes"

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About the author 

Sveta Kletina

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