With how much time we are spending at home right now I am really excited to delve more into shoemaking and have lots of isolation shoemaking plans! Making my own shoes is so rewarding and has quickly become a favourite hobby of mine! I recently bought some shoe lasts as I think that will really help me up my game. I also just signed up for the I Can Make Shoes Beginners Guide to Home Shoe Making online course and can’t wait to start learning more techniques.
Since I really want to try some different styles and sharpen my skills while I’m social distancing I decided to stock up on a bunch of materials to help me do that! There are a lot of places where you can buy shoe-making supplies online, but I ended up purchasing mine from Leffler. Their customer service has been great and everything comes in large quantities (like full sheets *gulp*) so I feel like I can make practice shoes without too much stress about mistakes or material wastage, and I’m also super keen to try making some for my kids.
Supplies
These are the supplies I purchased in case anyone is interested, once I’ve used some I’ll let you know how they go!
- Leather scissors (these are SO much better than using my sewing scissors, i highly recommend)
- 4mm firm EVA
- 3mm Resin
- Stitched Randing
- Embossed Randing
- Waxed poly thread
- Renia Aquilim glue (For the bulk of the shoe construction)
- Renia Colle De Cologne (For attaching randing and soles)
- Safety Beveller
- Cork Filler
- 19mm shoe buckles
Shoe Lasts
When it comes to the shoe lasts I was really struggling to find anywhere in Australia that sold them. Finally, someone very kindly sent me a message on Instagram directing me to Bruce Miller. Bruce is retired now, but used to own Shoe Lasts Australia. He was incredibly kind and helpful and asked me to send him my measurements, which he used to find me some second-hand lasts from his stash.
If you’re looking to find shoe lasts in Australia I’d highly recommend sending him an email (I am posting his address with permission) at bamiller@netspace.net.au
Can’t wait to show you what I make!
