Lisa Sorrell, cowboy boot maker

I’m at the beautiful Triple Creek Ranch in Darby, Montana. Through the day I get to play and in the evening I sit in the bar area with my boots on display and visit with nice people. This is the view from my room this morning.

The boots have been lasted and I’ve also put in the toe box, the hardened area around the toe that gives the toe its shape.

These boots have just been stretched around the last. Lasting is done with the leather wet, and here the foot leather looks dark because it’s still wet.

After the side seams are stitched the boots are ready to be put on the last. The last is the wooden or plastic form around which the leather is stretched to give it a foot/boot shape.

After the boot tops are completed I sew the foot part (called the vamp) onto the boot fronts and the heel part (called the counter) onto the boot back. Then I’m ready to sew the side seams. The sideseams are stitched with the right sides together; then the boots are turned right-side-out.

A cowboy boot design is created with different layers, colors, and pieces of leather. After the design is completed I stitch everything in place on my old Singer sewing machine–there are no computerized machines in my shop!

A cowboy boot begins with cutting out the top panels (two front pieces and two back pieces) and cutting the design into each panel. Here I’ve cut flower shapes out of the top panel and prepared small pieces of red leather to go behind those holes to create red flowers.