Jessica Makes: Blue Suede Shoes

Until up to about a month ago, I never, in my wildest dreams, thought I’d be able to make a pair of shoes at home with my regular sewing machine and that they would be cute and wearable. I always thought home shoemaking was limited to espadrilles and moccasins sewn by hand. Fast forward to now and I’ve just finished my first pair of Brogue Oxfords out of leather and I’m really chuffed with the final result.

Whenever I try something new I like to take a class (like I did with knitting and millinery), so after following I Can Make Shoes on Instagram for a while, I signed up to take the Boot Making online class. I went through the curriculum a couple of times while I waited for my supplies to arrive from overseas, while also knowing that I’d also need to make a trip to Indianapolis to pick up leather. Me and my parents were in Indy for a while this January, so my mom and I went to Landwerlen’s Leather Supply together and it was amazing. We had such a good time picking out leathers and one of the hides I found was this lovely navy lambskin.

I’d been sketching out a lot of boot ideas when I mentioned the idea of making this style of shoe to my dad. I remember watching him shine is own shoes when I was a kid and the Oxford style always reminds me of him. I just kept thinking about it in navy, so instead of forcing myself to carry on with my boot plans, I went back to YouTube and watched as many videos of Oxford shoemaking as I could find. Granted, they’re all professionals or factory settings, but combining those videos with the ICMS course, I felt confident enough to get started. (I filmed a little bit of this and posted it on my Instagram)

First I made my own pattern by taping up my last (shoe mold) and drawing up the design. From there I made a mock up out of felt just to get a grip on the underlaps and proportions. One thing about leather is that you’ve only got one shot at sewing it properly, so it’s good to have your fitting and planning squared away before you begin. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself because I also did my broguing (hole punching… and don’t quote me on that because I’m not sure it’s the technical term) before I sewed anything together. So it was a lot of measuring and a couple re-dos until I had my uppers stitched together.

I then made a lining pattern, stitched it together and sewed it to my upper. For those of you interested in further detail, I really suggest signing up for a class or doing some research/reading. If you’re the kind of person that likes to be very meticulous and has a grip on the engineering of garment construction, you’d definitely be able to make shoes. I wouldn’t call it hard, but definitely a challenge…the process humbled me quite a bit!

Once the upper and lining of the shoe are connected, the tongue sewn in and the lacing holes cut, the shoe now gets attached to the insole and sole. This involves a lot of glue and patience. I found cutting the thick leather for the sole and the heels and then smoothing it out, to be the most difficult part of the process. I felt good when I got the sole edges even, but professionals take it even further using hot tools, wax, even broken glass and dye to complete soles. I like the way these look now, but I’d love to continue learning so I can take my future pairs up a notch.

I made one shoe at a time, from start to finish. I learned a lot on my first shoe and made some improvements on the second. And next time, I’ll get even better!

I haven’t worn these out of the house yet (read: Midwestern winter) but when the sidewalks are clear and dry I’ll be giving these a spin. They’re very comfortable. Now I just need to decide what I’ll wear with them!

Jessica Sews | Buffalo Gal

This season I’ve been all about ruffles and puffs and big, statement sleeves. One pattern in my stash that checks all those boxes (and is a joy to sew) is McCalls 7977. I’ve made it up a bunch of different ways - short sleeves, no sleeves and in both upcycled and new fabrics. My latest shown here, is one of my favorites (who am I kidding? I love them all!)

I did make a few modifications as follows: I cut the neckline slightly higher than the pattern pieces and drafted facings to fit. Then I gathered a short ruffle and sewed it between the bodice and facing (plus understitching on the facing side).

On the sleeves, I cut them long (27” from the sleeve head) and made a bias casing, which I sewed 1.5” up from the hem of the sleeve. This is a lot quicker than a full cuff with three buttons on each side.

The bit that makes me most proud of this piece is the plaid matching. It adds another level of attention to detail and engineering to get it to work out and there’s no where to hide with 1” plaid. In fact, when I was learning proper techniques in college we always worked in 1 or 1/4” gingham. I’ve had some requests for a tutorial on this and it’s on my list! Stay tuned!

Jessica Sews | Folkwear 229 Sailor Pants + Self Drafted Upcycled Tee

I’m so excited to share two new makes I’ve stitched up this week. Firstly, a super simple tee shirt - made from a thrifted dress I picked up for $7. I made this top from a self drafted tee shirt pattern I worked on earlier this year and gave it a scooped neck. It took me under two hours from cut to try on and now I want to make allll. the. knit. shiiiiirrrtts.

More excitingly (and far more time intensive) - my newest pair of pants. These are the 229 Sailor Pants from Folkwear patterns, which I cut in a size 30 (the smallest available) and slightly modified to fit. Firstly, I added a few inches to the leg length when I cut, resulting in a 35.25” inseam. Yes, I’m tall. Secondly, I took out a little fullness in the crotch simply by grading in from the inseam about 1.5”. The only other change I made from the pattern instructions was to do metal grommets at the back gusset versus hand sewn, although I tried (and after all those buttons and pulling all of the threads to the back), but decided I was sick of it and went with copper grommets I had.

These are sewn in a medium weight denim with a slight stretch. I wish I had used rigid but I still like these pants a lot! They’re very comfortable and I foresee myself getting a lot of use out of them in the future! I used thrifted buttons from my stash but miscounted and was one short - so I used a matching colored button at the waist and think it looks just fine!

Quilted Tamarack Jacket

For a while now I’ve been thinking of starting the epic journey of making a king sized quilt for my bed. Before I jump into a project of such a huge scale, it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to see if I still liked quilting and to play around with ideas on what kind of large quilt I wanted to make. I knew I wanted to use the Tamarack Jacket pattern from Grainline Studios and I had an idea of a palette. I used pretty humble fabrics - basic muslin, chambray (some new yardage, some upcycled from a second hand dress) and some gold quilting cotton. From there, I just let my imagination fly and designed the piecing as I went!

I created each section (two fronts, two sleeves, one back) one at a time and then attempted to mirror or compliment the design with each subsequent piece. Next I hand quilted using a cotton/wool blend batting and cotton backing, before tracing the pattern lines onto the finished block, basting those edge lines and then cutting it out.

I ended up sizing down from a 12 by taking rather large seam allowances on the shoulders and under the arms - my guess is that it’s a probably an 8, but I’m not positive. I always wanted this jacket to have a little extra room for comfort and I like the finished feel!

On the inside I hand finished every seam by either appliquéing a strip of fabric over the pressed open seam, or making something sort of like a flat felled seam so that there are no raw edges.

I cannot wait to wear this quilted jacket all fall and winter long. I’m usually quite cold at home so I set out to make a wearable quilt and I think this does the trick! And the 120+ hours it took to make it hasn’t swayed me from making my own large bed quilt either! I’ll keep you posted on the progress!