sewing — KICKSINMYKITCHEN

Day 4 was all about finishing sewing 30 pieces of leather, flyknit and fabric into two uppers.

With symmetrical patterns, the medial (inside) and lateral (outside) part of the shoe are the same. The small cutouts on the top of the pattern (image to the right) are the stitching paths, to help line up each of the pieces. The bottom row of cut outs are the guide for bottom edge of the shoe.

As each piece was stitched on, scraps turned into pieces, pieces turned into sections. Once all of the outward facing pieces were sewn together, the shoe liner was added.

One of my favorite aspect of Day 4 was being able to select the thread color. I had a chance to do contrast stitching on the white leather and red swoosh, but still keep a black stitch on the pattern pieces.

To match the sole and the swoosh, I picked a red sock liner. The sock liner is sewn on inside out to the outside of the shoe, foam is glued on, then its flipped and sewn onto the inside of the shoe.

Day 4 was tough, lots of sewing and gluing. I didn't spend much time taking pictures, wanted to finish my shoe on time.

One of the final stitches was connecting the toe box to the upper.

The end of day 4 was a fully sewn upper and an outsole. Time to connect the two...

UP NEXT - DAY 5 - Lasting and Sole Bonding

After day 2, The Shoe Surgeon took our leathers to be skived. Skiving is the removal of leather to reduce the thickness. The overlapping pieces of leather were skived to fit together properly during bonding and stitching.

In Learning About: Flat Knitting, I researched traditional sewing and found this video that explain the sewing process nicely.

Sewing is all about repetition. I worked one stitch at a time on scrap pieces, until I felt comfortable to work on my pieces. A sewing machine engages everything: arms, legs, eyes and ears. The foot pedal, holding lining up the materials, listening to the hum of the machine.

After a few sloppy stitches, I started comparing my work to the one created by Nike on a high volume production line. Perfect lines sewed by a person with years of experience?

Should I start that row over? Should the stitches look exactly like the original? No. Our learning comes from making "mistakes".

Each stitch told the story of learning by doing. I am gaining confidence and building my custom creation, one stitch at a time.

UP NEXT - DAY 4 - More stitching/sewing and Lasting