Fashioning a craft business - in footwear
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You may be surprised to learn that I know how to make shoes by hand. Back in 2004 I went to Cordwainers @ London College of Fashion to study how to make footwear and I absolutely loved it! Alumni of this famous shoe making course include: Jimmy Choo, Emma Hope, Patrick Cox, Joseph Azagury, Linda Bennett (LK Bennett), Katerina Mutic (Mootich) and Olivia Morris. Pretty illustrious eh? Unfortunately my name is still not up there amongst these greats, but bags called to me louder than shoes so it’s U-Handbag and me all the way 
Earlier this week I was delighted to learn that one of my customers (Henrietta) is in fact an alumni of Cordwainers and her custom handmade footwear business is doing well and the press love her too. I found this very inspiring because Henrietta is still only in her twenties and getting a good job in the footwear industry (at least in the UK) can be quite hard; to make and sell your own collections (as Henrietta does) can be bloody hard! I thought it would be nice to give you a small insight into handmade footwear by focusing on Hetty’s business.
Business Name: Hetty Rose
Unique Selling Point: Handmade shoes and accessories in gorgeous vintage fabrics. Custom shoes handmade to your size and your choice of vintage fabrics.
Sold Via: Various stores and through her own website (for portfolio & contact).
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Making Shoes
If I remember correctly there are approx 200 separate processes involved in making a shoe. One of the first steps (after designing) involves selecting a ‘last’…
A last is a 3D model of the shoe shape and you need the last to make up your shoe pattern. A shoe last is used in the same was a tailors dummy is in dressmaking in that you build the shoe around the last. You need a different last for each shoe size.
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To make up the pattern you wrap masking tape over and over the last and then you cut the masking tape off (usually in 2 pieces) and you draw the desired shapes onto the masking tape and then onto card. Pattern making for shoes requires a lot of skill not least because you are working with the funny angles of a human foot and you are working to millimeters where a couple of mms can be the difference between a great fit and shape or a bad looking shape. Pattern making for bag making is far less involved!
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Fabric uppers on shoe lasts. These fabric uppers will eventually blossom into the gorgeous shoes below (there are lots of steps left before finishing this shoe which I won’t list here!)…
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…this design is called Amalie - yum!
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More designs in mid production. The sewing machine is a super-duper industrial monster machine (which cannot differentiate between leather and fingers!)
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This design is called Mika - delicious! See the complete Hetty Rose collection here. Just so you know my birthday is in June and I’m a Size 4, he he!
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To see a shoe that I made (a long time ago so please be gentle!) look here.
Thanks for all of the lovely images Henrietta. I hope your business continues to go from strength to strength
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Kris is a fun and crafty mom of four. She expresses her creativity as the owner of Jesse Kate Designs, a sewing pattern and machine embroidery brand. Kris also stays busy as the site manager of 
Crissy is the founder of 
Lisa is a generally content (who said generally - don't get her started!) 30 something living in London, who amongst other things sells everything you might need to make unique and lovely handmade handbags at home from her online store 
Ooh! Ooh! Me too! I can make shoes too!
Those shoes are seriously Y U M. I’d consider pricing the biggest issue. Potential clients are all like… “well, I can go to the store and buy a pair for 1/3 of the price”. Response: “for a piece of slave labour crap that’ll fall apart in a year. Good luck with that, I’ll make for those who value craftsmanship.” The second biggest challenge is the equipment. Darning machines are hard to find…. but it’s a work of love, passion, and really wonderful footwear!
Lovely shoes! Looks like a very complicated process though - I think I’ll stick with bags for now.
Lindsay’s last blog post..Tagged continued
Thanks for posting this, so fascinating! And your friend makes absolutely GORGEOUS shoes. Ah, to be able to do something so well…
karen’s last blog post..Hobo Bag Tutorial from J Caroline Creative
This is a really interesting post. I love that your friend has made a go of handmaking shoes. I have a weakness for lovely shoes and I find LK Bennett fits the bill!
I have wanted to learn how to make shoes! I have big feet (size 12) and it is practically impossible to find shoes in my size. I have been wanting to make my own. Thanks for giving me a little insight.
I think that this would most probably be my dream job…designing and making shoes. I love your shoe you made too on the other blog!
Zoe’s last blog post..Shop updates
I love the shoes that you designed for Clarks - they are amazing..what a shame they never went with them - a loss to them (but a gain for bag-making!). The hetty rose shoe pictures were fantastic too - what an interesting post.
It reminded me that quite a while ago my sister had sent me a link to this: http://www.prescottandmackay.co.uk/index.php - it’s a place in London that does two/five-day courses in shoe making, bag making, tutu making and a couple of other select things - such amazing and interesting skills to learn.
Florence’s last blog post..A happy plethora of pink & red…
I’m doing a 3 day shoe making class at the moment. It’s at the CAE in Melbourne, Australia. We are learning to make basic shoes that can be sewn by hand and don’t require a last - I’m making moccasins. We’ve only had one class so far, it was very interesting but also a bit scary how much work goes in to making one shoe that fits properly.
My shoes won’t be finished for three weeks but when they are I’ll put a pic up on my website if anyone is interested in seeing them.
That’s fascinating! It’s probably something that I’d never do unless one day I need to build shoes for puppets. But in that case, they don’t even need to fit well, and who needs lasts when you have the actual feet to work with? And unlike real human shoes, you can just sew shoes onto puppets…
Kelvin Kao’s last blog post..LCC presents: I’m Feeling Lucky!
Oh my! You know Hetty Rose?!? I just love her shoes! I’ve been meaning to do a post on her work for a while as you can probably tell, I love her choice of vintage fabrics
I’d love to buy a pair from her collection, but sadly, she seems to do all heels, I’m hopeless on heels, I much prefer a little Mary Jane, so I’ve designed some little Mary Jane slides with kimono fabric inserts that a lovely little shoemaker I met in Vietnam (and has all my feet measurements on file) is going to make for me (as I lack the skills to make them myself).
Melanie’s last blog post..Farewell to a cutie
I love the shoes–especially the ones you made. Too, too cute! Have wanted to try making them for years and have some books on how to do it small scale without the equipment. The only problem is finding something for the sole. I would like to find a source of small sheets of crepe rubber, very comfortable for me, and a glue to hold it to the sole(?). Can you help?
*drool* Shooooeees.
I always fancied having a go at making hats. You have inspired me to find out how.
Anna Chadwick’s last blog post..Playing house
I am inthe process of posting the link to hubby as I need a pair of those shoes. My life will not be bearable without them. they are just amazing what a fantastic talent. I am in awe
joanna’s last blog post..oo look another one
I would love to learn how to make shoes. Does any one know of any books or online resources?
Fantastic article! I absolutely loved this one. How beautiful! Lisa you’ve 1001 talents!
it’s great to know that shoe can be made in hands
something interesting ….