Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker

If you noticed that this pair of boots disappeared from my social media pages for a while, you weren’t imaging things.

I made the boot tops and all was well, but then I added a gray calf foot and they turned on me. Nothing went right after that. The color of gray didn’t make me happy, they fought me for hours before I got them lasted, I used a tool I don’t normally use during lasting because I was filming a video demonstration comparing tools and the new one scratched the finish a tiny bit, when I stitched the soles one boot looked terrible, and a little screw on the Curved Needle that’s never caused any problems before gauged out a huge chunk of finish on the side of one boot.

I had planned to finish them before I had to leave the shop for two weeks at the end of June, but I was despondent and just left them so I could enjoy my time away. When I returned, I looked at them and realized what I had to do. I took a sharp knife and SLICED THE FOOT OFF THE LAST. It was painful, but sometimes you have to commit to doing something that keeps you from rethinking the decision. Once I made that first slice I couldn’t change my mind. Then I took the boots home and spent all evening on the couch picking stitches to completely remove the old vamp from the boot tops.

I chose another piece of gray leather — kangaroo this time — crimped it, made a new red wingtip, and sewed it on the vamps. At this point I was nervous because sometimes when you tear something apart and put it back together, it’s obvious it’s been torn apart and put back together. But I guess these boots had only been fighting me because they didn’t like that gray calf either. I sewed the new gray kangaroo foot back on and restitched the side seams by hand, and it could not have gone better. Then I put them on the last again, and they lasted like a dream. Instead of hours of fighting, I had them both on the last, with the heels wiped in, in thirty minutes.

Now I am finally back where I started, with the soles on and stitched. The stormy cloud that hovered over these boots seems to have disappeared and now they’re happy. I like this gray foot better too. It’s basically the same depth of gray but the first one had yellow undertones and this one has blue undertones and it looks nicer. Plus, while I was in Nashville I had the unexpected opportunity to see one of the original boots made by Dixon in this design and I got a better look at the butterfly on the heel. I’d never seen a full picture of the heel so I had to guess at it, and I hadn’t gotten it quite right. This version has an accurate reproduction of the countertip (heel decoration).

It’s always so hard to know when to call it and start over. Will I be able to fix it or will trying to fix it make everything worse? It’s a decision I like to ponder for a while and give my intuition time to speak. In this case, I realized I could not be happy proceeding with the boots as they were and it was a relief to start again.

Just for fun, here’s a photo of my little collection of tchotchkes (that I had to purchase) which are reproductions of boots I’ve made, along with images of the actual boots.

Note: The red/yellow rose boot image is from Tyler Beard’s small “Cowboy Boots” book. I don’t personally own a photo of those boots, or if I do I can’t find it.

Introducing: “Butterfly Love”

Modeled by the proud maker, Eleni

Eleni’s boots are lasted, the toes are in, and they’re ready to be inseamed. So far we’re on schedule to get them finished before she leaves.

We have two pairs of boots ready to put on the lasts tomorrow!

Eleni has all of her boot top panels stitched and she’s done an absolutely fantastic job. I was most impressed with her ability to understand how to start, stitch an entire design, and come back to the same spot. It’s not intuitive and it’s one of the most difficult things for me to explain because I’ve been doing it for so long I’ve almost lost the ability to put it into words. I told her how to stitch the first butterfly and I had to help her through it. I assumed I’d need to supervise for the rest of the butterflies but once was all it took!

Eleni is stitching her boot tops today, and finding that a good sewing machine can be her friend!
If it appears she’s sitting in the dark with a circle of light at the machine, she is. All of my shop lights decided to burn out the week before she arrived so we’re supplementing with multiple desk lights.

Eleni, a shoe maker from Greece and England, will be in my shop for two weeks. I’m helping her make a pair of cowboy boots and she’s telling me lots of things I don’t know about patterning shoes.

One set of boot tops completed