Monthly Archives: July 2026

Yesterday was a good reminder of why I became a cowboy boot maker. I immediately loved the colors and designs, but I was also attracted to the tools and the arcane knowledge and the physicality required. A day of feeling … Continue reading →

I have a customer who has requested a design with dragonflies. This is the sketch I’ll send for her approval. She prefers very tall boots and filling all of that space can be a challenge.

Today’s WIP. I need a new pair of boots and this project should immediately be shoehorned into my current schedule, right? Oh good, I’m glad you agree.

This pair of shoes (the lace-up boots) were inspired by Gene Autry’s Lucchese boots. Honestly, I never liked the original design very much and I’m not sure why I thought remaking them as shoes was a good idea; I disliked … Continue reading →

I’m dizzy from sewing in circles but I have the front panels done for this pair. I’m going to need a break before I start on the back panels.

If you need me anytime in the next two weeks or so, I’ll be at my sewing machine. With this pattern, I stitch all the negative space behind the design rather than emphasizing the design itself. For the panel on … Continue reading →

For those who have been consumed with curiosity about why the tack box has a corner cut off to create a triangular hole, it’s a factory technique. I bought out a boot shop and that’s where I got this tack … Continue reading →

Do you know why the corner is cut off on the Gurney tack box? There’s a reason it’s sliced off exactly as it is.

Today was all about patterns

It took a minute, but I finally convinced myself to start today’s work. The boot top pattern is created by stitching all the design lines on a sewing machine with no thread in the needle, and if your presser wheel … Continue reading →