Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker

Owning a small business isn’t all “skipping through daisies while singing a merry tune.” I recently wired a small fortune to a supplier–at least I thought I did. The bank sent the money somewhere else–no one seems to know where–and meanwhile the supplier was still waiting to be paid, so I wired yet another small fortune. Now I’m eagerly awaiting the return of the first offering to fate, while wondering if I should begin thinking of how to budget if it’s never found.

Today I added a double row of wooden pegs into the soles. This is the traditional construction for cowboy boots.

Look! The elves came in over the weekend and inseamed all three pairs of boots!

Oh, no, wait, that was me.

I have three pairs of boots completely prepped and ready to inseam. It’s a joy to work when my boots (and my shop) are neat and clean.

I lasted these two pairs of boots this afternoon. They need to dry overnight before I can work on them again, which is fine by me because I’m tired.

I put one pair of boots on the last this morning. I have two more to do this afternoon.

I’ve sewed the pulls on and turned three pairs of boots today.

Sigh… these boots are so pretty.

The design matches at all four side seams! THE DESIGN MATCHES AT ALL FOUR SIDE SEAMS!!

This pair of boots has a cleverly concealed zipper.

I’ve said the word with delight because they’re so pretty, with dread because it takes a while to make them, and with annoyance because I positioned them wrong. We’ll hope that both of these bring delight.

I got this design from Jay Griffith, the very first boot maker I worked for. I was hired to stitch boot tops, and for several months I only did simple one-row stitch patterns. The first complicated, multi-row design I remember was this one, and I shudder to think how it must have looked. My only memories of this design involve Marty Stuart–the first boot was for a friend of his, and the second was for a member of his band. I’ve always loved the design and longed to make it again, and I’m excited to finally be doing it.

Today’s quote from Morgan: “Real awls have curves.”