Shoemaking Project: Cut-out Derby Shoes for Travel

I designed these latest cut-out derby shoes with travel in mind. I will be on holiday in Vietnam and Thailand next month and usually do a lot of walking (and get plenty of blisters from ill-fitting shoes). My intention was to combine the comfort of sandals with the support of lace-up shoes, without compromising the aesthetics. I made leather lined insoles with two layers of foam and used EVA foam for the sole so they are light and spongy. Keeping them as light as possible was very important as I often travel with only carry-on luggage.

I used a fun printed patent leather from The Fabric Store and some of the navy leather I bought in Melbourne from Leffler Leather. I lined them in beige pigskin from Lapco. The other shoe components were from Texon. I bent the metal shanks to fit the last perfectly myself with a metal bender borrowed from a friend.

As with my previous pair of pink platforms, I used a combination of notes from the Shoe School in Wellington, the online derby book from 'I Can Make Shoes' and Tim Skryme's shoemaking book.

The fit on these was much better than the last pair I made. I used my 9C Dorothy lasts from Bruce Miller and built up the width with milliput again. I took the time to make a mock-up from calico before getting started as we did at Shoe School and although I didn't make any adjustments, I felt confident in the fit of my pattern. I've learnt my lesson and won't skip this crucial step again in future.

Due to the cut-outs on the sides, I could not separate the outer and lining leather to melt in a thermo-plastic heel counter as I had done before. I remember using a vege tan leather heel counter at Shoe School but the only vege tan leather I had on hand was some bright yellow leather I'd bought from McKinley's shoe factory while visiting Dunedin. So I cut and skived a counter from the yellow leather and softened it with water before squeezing it between the outer and lining leather. Of course you can't even see the yellow so I like to think of it as my little secret.

s

I have seen and tried on similar cut-out derby designs in shoe stores in the past from shoe brands such as Rollie, but they have always been too narrow for my feet. Fortunately, it eventually inspired me to attempt my own design, however uncharacteristically practical. As I'm increasingly learning from making my own clothes, practicality does not need to be at the expense of aesthetics.