A process overview of welt & sole stitching for bespoke shoes: https://gentl.mn/welting-sewing-bespo...

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00:00 Welting & Sewing the Soles Introduction

Whimsically wandering into the wonderfully welted world as Amara stitches welts to the uppers, attaches shanks and applies filler, and then sews on the insoles.

00:33 What is a Welt?

A strip of leather or plastic that partially or fully follows the perimeter of the outsole stitched to the upper. Welts can be made in two basic ways: Straight welt shaped to shoe, and Curved welt cut down from start to exact shape of the shoe.

02:36 Applying the Welt

Amara roughly measures the welt by laying them next to the shoe. Basically, she’s checking for the right size. She then skives the ends of the welt. That way they’ll feather or transition very smoothly into the heel block.

08:10 Preparing The Heel Area

The heel is repeated for pegs that will eventually help to keep the heel block securely fastened to the shoe. That also means she has to remove all the nails with a tack pull. Otherwise, the shoe would remain attached to a last and it would be much harder to get the last out later on. Also, any nails left behind could interfere with subsequent work, so it’s better to remove those.

10:22 Adding The Shank

The shank is a material in the midsection of the shoe in between the insole and the outsole. It supports the foot and structures the lower portion. The idea is that the shoe doesn’t flex in the area where the shank is inserted.

15:34 Adding Heel Seats

Heel seats basically cover the area before the heel block is attached. They level everything out because, obviously, the last is rounded and not straight up. Just creates an overall better look. And the heel seat will sit very close to the upper leather.

16:56 Preparing The Outsoles

Now, Amara has to prepare the outsoles. First, she refines the bottom of the shoes so it will all work for the outsoles; and I hate to disappoint all the fanboys of JR or Johannes Rendenbach outsole leather because, for this shoe, we didn’t use them. I mean, she had it there in her shop and we were talking about maybe we’ll use some leather from Baker because the upper was English, a little bit more English, but she also said she had this wonderful Italian oak-bark-tanned leather that she really likes to work with and has really good experience with, so I said, yes, let’s use that leather.

18:56 Stitching The Soles

Welts can either be stitched from a machine or by hand. Almost all bespoke shoes are hand stitched. Maybe, sometimes, if a customer wants to save some money, it may be machine stitched.

21:30 Refining & Attaching the Outsoles

Once everything is glued on, she then cuts off the excess leather with that five-in-one machine that she has. Of course, it’s just a start. She then more finely refines it by hand. Then, the sides and bottoms are wetted again for malleability and softness.

Finally, it’s time to stitch. This is the time when you see the shoemaker is sitting there with two threads, long and wide. To mark the stitches, Amara uses the fudge wheel and, to make it more efficient, she heats it up so you can really see the marks.