After reviewing various source on making bespoke shoes, I thought it best to make my first pair under the guidance of Carreducker in London who run various courses. I decided on a Derby shoe rather than the Oxford pattern made earlier. The supplier of the internal leather (insoles, soles, toe puff, stiffeners and the various ’lifts’) were all source from J&FJ Baker, who are the only remaining oak bark tannery left in the UK.

The thickness of the toe puffs was 1.6mm and the heel stiffener 2.8mm. They need to be soaked in water for about 10 minutes prior to skiving. As it was my first attempt they had a tendency to dry out so needed occasional re-soaking. The aim is to keep the central portion indicated above at full thickness and skive the upper edges (any edge above the sole) down to nothing. Otherwise they will show through the uppers when lasted. The area in between is skived down evenly to avoid any lumps.
The heel stiffener is coated in Hirschkleber shoemakers paste on both sides and then needs to be place as high a possible between the outer leather and the lining, right up to the top seam, with skin side outermost.
The initial positioning of the upper on the last is critical. First the top of the heel is nailed approx 10mm above the top of the last. Then the front is lasted with 5 nails hammered in around the front of the toe area, making sure the upper is correctly aligned. The nail is removed from the heel and the outer leather and lining pulled down to the marked position of the top of the heel. This tensions the top line which should be quite taut. Lasting the uppers started with three nails right at the rear of the heel and then working forward alternating on each side for two nails up to the ball of the foot. It’s important not to pull the upper leather forward as this will cause problems by increasing the bulk of the leather at the toe.
It’s also important to continually compare the two shoes when lasting to make sure the seams finish at the feather edge at the same points. Once lasted they need to be left overnight to allow the paste to fully harden. Note: gardening twine is used to keep the quarters together as it doesn’t stretch.
The five nails are removed from the toe area to enable this area to be lasted. The first task is to last just the lining.
The lining is fairly stretchy so doesn’t require a huge amount of effort to stretch it over the toe.
The lining lasting nails need to be knocked flat which also applied a final bit of tensioning and then the excess can be cut away.
The position of the top of the toe puff is marked (approx 2.5” from the feather edge) and a line drawn across the toe perpendicular to the centre line. Shoe makers paste is applied to the lining and skin side of the toe puff and then it is aligned to the marked line. The top is fixed in position with a nail to then allow the puff to be lasted. Note: the nails should go into the thick area of the toe puff.
Similar to the lining, the toe puff doesn’t need to be be pulled to hard. It just needs to be hard against the feather edge. First a nail at the toe and then working backwards alternating on each side. Once lasted, the lining lasting nails can be removed. The excess can then be removed and the toe puff lasting nails knocked over. The toe puff needs to be hammers to compress it and rubbed with the handle of a hammer to remove hammer marks before being left to dry.
Once dry, the toe puff feather edge needs to be rasped and then the whole toe puff rasped. This is to remove all lumps and bumps and the top edge can’t be felt. A skiving knife can be used if the top edge can be felt.
The toe puff lasting nails removed and the excess material removed. The area can then be hammered flat. Note: there doesn’t need to be an substantial toe puff material remaining underneath.
The outer leather can then be lasted around the toe area. This is the most trick part of the lasting as there’s quite a lot of material bulk to stretch over the feather edge. Where lumps existed between two nail, the leather needs to be lasted further by adding a nail in between.
Toe lasting nails knocked flat. Note: the excess lining has been removed right to the inner edge of the holdfast.
Both shoes lasted, ready for stitching the welt – a strip of 3.0-3.2mm thick leather approx 16mm wide. A 1mm deep stitch line is cut 5mm from the edge on the flesh side and then that edge skived to 45 degrees from the skin side.