Description
The shoes made from this kit are ecological, flexible, and minimalist. The soles that are a part of this kit are available in whole sizes, 6-10, in medium-width.
Imagine – they aren’t made 10,000 miles away by exploited workers, from materials that are toxic and will never biodegrade. Instead they’ll be locally and happily made by you!
You will first make a felt mock-up to make sure the fit is right – use the sole that comes with the kit to stitch your felt upper to. Then you will need to neatly cut out the leather, punch out about 250 holes, and stitch the shoe upper parts together. The final step is to stitch the uppers to the soles, and you need some strength to pull the stitches tight.
These shoes have a sole that I call the “nomoc variation”. Nomocs are similar to moccasins in their construction, but they’re not moccasins. The top sole has holes punched around its edge to which the upper is stitched. The sole consists of two layers – the bottom layer is natural rubber from rubber trees, the top layer is leather.
You can see from the following materials list that you can re-create this shoemaking kit so you can continue making shoes for your family and friends – and even as a business venture.
Materials in the kit:
leather for making the shoe uppers
a pair of nomoc variation soles in women’s sizes 6,7,8,9 and 10
leather for lining the topline
waxed, braided thread
non-toxic contact cement
felt for making mock-up uppers
Tools in the kit
cement brush
2 blunt-tipped needles
Additional things you need
leather-cutting scissors
00 punch, either hand spring-punch or drive punch
if you choose the 00 drive punch, you will also need a rubber or other mallet to hit it with, and a wood end-cut board, thick plastic cutting board or end of log to place under piece you are punching holes in
silver gel pen
pliers – for pulling thread through the small holes
silver gel pen