YouTube video series by Bill Bird
Part 1
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGZovvTIXlE
- upper drawn on the last
- design stiffeners on the last to see how they fold and bend
- standard pattern
- notch in lasting allowance to mark medial side
- dip for ankle bone further forward and higher medially, further back and lower laterally
- they have paper patterns they’ve just kept copying for decades
- measure from just behind joints for length, find the nearest match to cut down
- cut paper with a clicking knife
- extend the index finger straight and run along the paper while cutting
- run the side of the thumb along the paper, too
- feels awkward at first
- worth it for controlling curved cuts
- three lengths of stiffeners
- long: to just behind joints
- mid-waist
- short
- variation: short outside, long medial, to support fallen arch
- medial longer than lateral
- back height
- generally: 1/5 SLL plus 3mm
- too low: feel like shoe will fall off
- too high: painful, digs into Achilles when flexing
- “C Point”
- 1/5 of SLL will be off for very pointy toes
- measured from above the insole
- adds 3mm (1/8”) because shoe shrinks down
- ==shoe mustn’t cut into ankle bones==
- will really hurt!
- outside quarter heights
- small lasts: ≤40mm
- big lasts (45-50): ≤45mm
- inside quarters
- small: 46-47mm
- big: ≤50mm
- have to stitch upper to can insert stiffener
Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIBROzJh_UE
- place on the last
- gap beneath paper above and below CP should be about the same so it pulls taught without dipping below the featherline at the front
- lay paper on the last and fold the leading edges at the joints
- trace the featherline onto the pattern
- mark back height and other features, including quarters/topline
- 8mm lasting allowance, 10mm to be safe
- Bill cuts on a green self-healing mat mounted to a board
- label shoe, client, date on pattern
- draw the topline on the pattern
- will stretch forward a bit
Part 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB8jngFYhJo
-
Salvatore Ferragamo trick
- from checking museum pieces
- keep stiffener high at the back, but cut a curved dip right at the back where it crosses the back line
- “Ferragamo dip”
- compares the pattern he just made up to a stiffener he made for the same shoe the day before
- to store stiffener: stretch apart and fold in half
- skiving:
- skive the top edge from the flesh side
- skive the lasting allowance from the grain/hair side
- live the middle full thickness
- feel with the hands for lumps and bumps
- apply paste with fingers
- making a laminated shell of the lining, stiffener, and upper leather around the heel