• My projects,  Sewing,  Shoemaking

    Handmade shoes at home? Finnishing my sneakers!

    I bought a pair of sneaker soles already a year ago. I had all that fine folk wool fabric I had spent months weaving and I wanted to use the scraps to make something fun and different – so sneakers! How hard could it be to make a pair? I had seen people make sneakers in Great British Sewing Bee and it didn’t look difficult. About the materials and patterns I bought my sneaker soles from magic4kids on Etsy which specialises in making patterns for crocheted footwear. These soles have both the rubber outer sole and the soft inner sole, so you only need to add the fabric parts. I…

  • Home shoemaking.
    My projects,  Sewing

    I made real shoes with lasts!

    I am super excited that I have finally learned how to make proper shoes at home and I can’t wait to make more of them! I acquired the lasts on last Friday and it took about one day to make this first pair of proper ballet flats. As you may know, I have made some ballet flats before without lasts but I now wanted to learn the basic shoemaking methods to make flats with hardened toe and heel that you can find in the shops. I guess my enthusiasm showed through my first shoemaking endeavours since a real shoemaker, Satu Puustinen of Satupuu, offered to help me. She got me…