Construction Process VI (The upper Leather Parts)

 The Vamp

Moving to the upper leather parts, starting from the camp, the process goes the same as on previous parts.  That is first mark using the vamp blueprint the outline on the deerskin leather hide.  I did this using a piece of chalk.

Designing the blueprint of the vamp came to be one of the most challenging parts of this project.  It took three to four tries to find the proper width.  The shape was something that I have already decided on.  The shape comes from the Apache shoes described in the book used for this project.  The width though was something that I had to test on my dummy single pair of shoe before finalizing it.  This is the ideal width for the sole used.  Changing the shape of the shoe (something that I have to consider in future projects) means that the whole testing process for new blueprints has to take part once again.

The design process is something that should not be taken lightly.  A bad designed shoe will end up as a bad fit shoe.  Your size might be ideal yet the fit might be too tight or too loose.  Test at all costs before going to the actual construction.

Back to the vamp.  After marking out the peripheral on the leather use a rotary cutting tool and carefully cut out the vamp.  Use a blade cutter whenever tight turns are present or when detail in cutting process is needed.

There is a need for precision especially on the back of the vamp where it will be visible after the shoe will be complete.

At this point you can lay out the back part of the shoe as it will be from the same piece of hide so you don't have to repeat the same step of laying out the same piece of leather.  Yet I will write for the back part later in this same post.

Lining the Vamp

I did cut this wrongly out.  The other way round.  And I was aware that an error might occur so I double checked yet it was not enough.  Fortunately there was enough space on the cut out sheep lining leather that I could trace out the proper sized deerskin leather on it.  Gluing though was another experience since I had to be exact on placing the two parts together.

I used a non permanent marker for tracing roughly round the shape of the vamp.  Leave about 1-2cm of free leather space round the vamp blueprint.  This will help later on during the gluing process for compensating on any placement errors.

Preparing the two surfaces (actual vamp outer deerskin leather and vamp sheep leather lining) inner leather surfaces involves using a copper wire brush.  This is for rising the leather's fibres so glue can penetrate and make a better bond.  Do not over do it.  Those are delicate leathers.

Use the same glue cement as on previous applications and apply a thin layer of glue for the deerskin at all points and for the sheep leather lining as close to the edge as possible.  For me there are no seams whatsoever on the vamp so gluing must be exact at the edges.

Furthermore from my previous wrongly cut lining I had to trace the exact form of the reindeer skin on the lining so to glue it correctly.  Luckily I have managed to glue them without further problems.

Use a rolling pin to press on the two just glued surfaces.  Apply relatively low pressure.

Use a weight roughly about 5-10kg to press down the glued vamp and leave at least for 1-2h before further processing the parts.

Marking and piercing the Vamp

After the two pieces have cured you can move on to marking and piercing the vamp.  That involves using the pre pierced blueprint vamp with the appropriate number of holes to mark out and later pierce the actual vamp.

Place the blueprint on the actual vamp so it fits as mush as possible.  Slight variations might occur depending on how much force you have placed on that rolling pin.  Use an awl to mark out on the leather through the pre pierced holes of the blueprint.  Be very careful not to move the blueprint with respect to the actual vamp as you go along.  You could use a heavy wight on the centre of the vamp to prevent this.  The awl does not need to pierce trough the vamp.  It is only for marking the holes.

There should be two lines of parallel holes running across the edge here.  The distance between the first line (towards the edge) and the second line of holes should match the distance from the edge of the lower leather part worked previously to the single line of holes.  This might be difficult to grasp from start but stitching the upper parts with the lower leather part later on will ring a bell.

Use a hole punch or the rotary multi punch tool to open the actual holes marked with the awl.  I use the 2mm hole punch here too (same as the lower leather part).  Apply light force onto the pliers which leaves a small circle round the marking of the awl if necessary to test before the actual punch.

The Back Part

The process from making the back part is exactly the same as the vamp using the analogous blueprint.  Thus I will present here the pictures and refer to processes on the vamp construction process.

Lining the Back Part

Note that there is no problem on placing the blueprint on the wrong side.  Again mark lose leaving 1-2cm of space around.

I do not hold any of the gluing process pictures only videos.  So please follow along the videos provided at the end of the post.

Marking and Piercing the Back Part

Note that there will e some more processing on the back leather part from here onwards.  That involves adding some stitches at the top part.  This is because it will be exposed to wear as trousers wight come in contact with it or so and it needs some more support other than the glue cement.

Also for both the vamp and the back leather part a stamp will be added on future posts.