Kirby Allison Opera Pumps Series

YouTube video series by Kirby Allison about bespoke opera pumps from William Efe Laborde

Notes

Part 1

• history of The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers
• baby calf versus glace calf versus box calf

Foot Measurement

• Foot Draft
• pencil, freehand
• marks points over instep by laying pencil across top of foot, then tilting it down to mark the paper
• measurements same as for shoe, but used differently
• for lace shoe, would add ease just behind break
• profile tracing
  • heel shape
  • instep
• contour gauge over joints for volume distribution, traced onto paper
• loafer harder to fit than laced shoe
• uses long sheet of paper in a folding, facing-pages folio
• flips the sheets of paper in the same folio to trace the other foot
• general observations
  • general shape
  • arch high or low
  • fleshy or bony
  • inform where will apply or lift pressure
• behind the ball, shoe is anatomically correct, need to hold foot
• on forepart the opposite, want to avoid impingement
• measures heights of joints with two l-shaped rulers held edge to edge
• any toe shape for any foot?
  • everything’s possible, but may not work out
  • wider feet, may be harder to do square toe
  • softer shapes more forgiving than angular
• girths
  • starts with left
  • rests heel on his calf
  • always measures seated without load
  • view: measuring unloaded gives more support
• stick length with size stick
  • seated versus standing: from quarter to half size difference
  • invariably one foot springier than the other

Part 2

• last of hornbeam
• “amendments” (leather build-up) from oak-tanned leather
• hardens with shellac
• also focuses on the plantar surface
• preempt what would wear into the shoe after two years
• trial shoes
  • box calf
  • cork sole
  • celastic
  • “toile”
• trial gives assurance for 8–9 months down, working with fine materials
• “I like things to be a certain way…”
• now has help for patternmaking, as a second opinion
• pump stitch
  • lightweight, indoor shoes
  • ladies shoes
  • 2-3mm sole
  • much finer awl
  • has both outsole and insole, not a turnshoe
  • no welt
  • stitch to the holdfast
  • come in from the side, through the substance
  • lots of planning, then fast to actually stitch
  • sews outsole to upper with thread crisscrossing between the two
  • thinner sole, thinner thread
• Churchill infamously wore pumps outdoors, with siren suit
• fitting
  • a little heel slip — to snug
  • marks with silver pen
  • fitting without laces: same as slip-on
  • lower heel, rounder toe shape than slip-on
  • “double scoop”: clip around heel, scoop out quarters
  • take away about twice as much as usual through waist to hold in
  • elastic behind the bow to hold behind joint
  • starts sitting, then standing
  • also marking adjustments for pattern, e.g. lower lateral topline to avoid ankle bone by larger distance
  • then asks to walk
• loafer styles
  • low-vamp versus high-vamp
  • pump a low-vamp
  • foreshorten the look of feet for elegance
• made lasts with slightly different toe shapes to demo and let Kirby decide
• will do second fitting

Making Montage

• look like copper lasting tacks
• sacrificial shoe cover softened with heat gun, applied after lasting, tacked separately to insole
• drives in tacks with lasting pliers, then pushes them to bend down, rather than hitting to bend
• thread making by tapering fine thread with patch of sandpaper between fingers
• handwelt inseaming
  • piercing outside in
  • pulls one curved needle through before the other
  • foot strap in lap
• 37:24 pre-pierces holes in outsole
  • working over pane of glass
  • pierces awl along the line of the intended outseam, plunging in and emerging out of the leather
  • Rasche awl blade
  • no stitch holes around the seat of the outsole
• 39:06 outseaming
  • needle-nose pliers to start
  • plunges into and out of upper just above the insole, similarly to outsole
  • does two running stitches side by side of one thread