More 18th century shoes.

A month ago I started experimenting with shoes, at least decorating an 18th century look a like pair. I posted about it here. It was just plain decorating simple shoes to make them look like more ornamented 18th century mules, but of course, the heel wouldn't be accurate. It's just a cheap option for those of you who are fine with it or can't spend a lot on shoes. I'd love to have lots of historical shoes to wear with different gowns...*sigh*

While waiting for the American Duchess Pompadours, that should be here next week *yaaaaaay*, I'm still experimenting. So what this time? Another option for shoes but a bit craftier. If you read the other post on shoes, I wrote about bad experiences with heels, right? So well, heels are sometimes easy to remove, and other times they're real bitches. Some heels are held with 2 or 3 screws, therefore you just have to unscrew them... others are stuck with a huge staple or metal clip, I don't really know how to call it in English, but really, that stuff is hard to remove as hell!

I got myself a cheap pair of shoes, you can use some old heels or whatever, but make sure they're pointed and curved if you want them to look like mules. Well, these ones had screws! :)

That's what you end up with when the heel is removed. Then if you "peel off" your shoe, you'll get something like this:

Don't throw it, you'll need it! The shoes' cover will be used to make the pattern for your 18th century version, applying the necessary changes you want (I chose mules because they're easier); and the sole will be used with its natural purpose, that's why I bought the shoes, to have some materials and not make them from scratch.

My pattern, made from cream satin and painted with fabric paint (yeah not very accurate, but I can't embroider this!). You'll need a heavy fabric as a lining because the shoe needs "consistency".  If you have heavy upholstery fabrics that you think they may work, do as you please, that's just my version. As you can see in the pic they're not stitched yet, I still have to work a bit more on them. But let's move on.

Look at these beauties! Handmade curved heels! Ok, I didn't make these, my awesome granddad did. He used to be a carpenter so he offered me his help. I tried to ask for this kind of work at a shop and they said their huge machines couldn't work with pieces of wood this small. Maybe you'll be luckier where you live. Maybe you can ask someone or maybe you can try it yourselves. This is the difficult part, getting the heels, because they don't make shoes with them any more :(

Looks great, doesn't it? Well, then you're supposed to screw this new heel to the sole (using the same screws, because the holes are still on the sole) and then glue the shoe cover to the sole too. I haven't done this yet, because I haven't had the time, and also I need my boyfriend's screwing tool. I will be here with more updates as soon as I can to show you the finished product. I've been sewing a lot too, so (probably) I'm posting pics from the 18th century jacket tomorrow.