Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker

On this St. Crispin’s Day (the patron saint of shoe makers) here’s a small collection of boots I’ve made.

The boots are titled, in order:
“There’s A Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere”
“A Satisfied Mind”
“Windowsill Song”
“The Bramble and the Rose”
“When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again”

Half of a flower on a boot top

Every boot which has a wingtip (decorative toe piece) doesn’t necessarily need to have a coordinating countertip (decorative heel piece) but this one does. I forgot to make that pattern but I remembered today!

Double top bands and double wingtips are double the trouble, but also double the impact when the boots are finished!

I won a Buckle in the Stitching Category at the annual Boot and Saddle Maker’s Roundup in Texas this year with these boots. My absolute favorite moment with them was when I met a small fan — a young girl who’s been faithfully watching my YouTube videos since she was very little. I pulled the boots out of the bag to show her, and she gasped and said, “OH!! You stitched everything but the design!”

I can’t wear huge trophy buckles because I’m too short (and plump) so my goal is to collect enough of them for a concho belt. I only need one more and I’ll have a fantastic belt made entirely of trophy buckles.

I’m speaking at an artist retreat this weekend, about Process, Inspiration, and Motivation. I’ve been traveling so much I’ve barely had time to practice this presentation and this morning has been spent practicing it aloud and refining it. Here’s an excerpt:

“What motivates you as an artist? It can change throughout your career; it can even change from day to day. I’ve definitely had months where what motivated me was finishing a project, getting money for it, and paying my bills. I reached a point where it was no longer enough to only DO, I needed to understand *why* I do what I do. I’ve found that the bedrock of my motivation is joy — joy in the process, joy in the skill my hands have, joy in creating something new, joy in challenging myself and my medium.
I’m going to close with talking about that final joy: Challenging myself and my medium. After making boots for thirty-six years, after struggling to pay bills and keep the doors open in those early years, after losing a daughter who worked with me in my shop… I realized I had lost the joy. My customers couldn’t see it in my work, but I could, and I wanted it back. I found it again through teaching and mentoring, through music, and through challenging myself. I could have just made the same boots and the same designs over and over, but I didn’t want to do that anymore.”

Today — October 8 — is the National Day of the Cowboy Boot so I’ve chosen eight pairs of cowboy boots I’ve made to share with you!

They’re titled, in order:
“Bluebird Let Me Tag Along”
“Magnolia Wind”
“After The Fire Is Gone”
“Sing Me Back Home”
“This Land Is Your Land”
“Foolish Notion”
“Take Me Back To Tulsa”
“The Wild Side Of Life”

Today, after several attempts to draw something that wasn’t terrible, I thought, “You know what’s really difficult? Lining things up at the side seams! Let’s design something that includes multiple points which must line up perfectly at the side seam!”

Introducing: “Do You Know You Are My Sunshine”

All of this stitching was done on my single needle, pre-1940 Singer 110W125 with the original clutch motor.

How It Started
How It’s Going

Allow me to introduce myself, for those who don’t know me. My name is Lisa Sorrell, and I was raised in a conservative little church where the ladies all wore long hair and long dresses. My mother began teaching me to sew at age twelve and by age fifteen I was sewing professionally. Yes, I made that stylish ensemble I’m wearing in the photo on the left. I have a vast and deep knowledge of hymns, gospel music, and four-part a cappella harmony singing. If you ever need someone to sing all three verses of “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” *in order* I’m your girl, but since I no longer attend church my skills in this area are mostly unappreciated.

When I was twenty-one I answered an ad in the local newspaper looking for someone to “stitch boot tops.” I had no idea what that meant, I didn’t know there were people who made footwear, and I’d never worn cowboy boots. As it turned out, my sewing skills served me well and I quickly decided I wanted to become a cowboy boot maker. Over thirty years later, I’m an award-winning artist and published author, I regularly speak and teach both nationally and internationally, and I’ll be inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum this fall. My work, a pair of Oklahoma-themed cowboy boots titled “This Land Is Your Land,” is on permanent display at the Oklahoma State Capitol. In 2025 I received a Lifetime Achievement Award celebrating my contributions to the craft of cowboy boot making.