Tag Archives: bespoke

“Blackbirds and Crows”

Several years ago, a customer of mine brought in a pair of boots made by a Texas boot maker named Don Atkinson. They were beautifully made but I especially admired how neat and clean and flawless they were where the … Continue reading →

I have the boot tops skived and all the pieces for the inlay skived too. It took me around 45 minutes to hand skive all four boot panels.

The soles are stitched. I’ll let them sit overnight in a plastic bag; I want the soles to be still damp but not too wet or completely dry when I put in all the wooden pegs tomorrow.

Four layers of leather on top of each other (two boot front panels, two back panels), design cut by hand with an X-Acto knife

The customer chose the smooth leather over the rough-out and they’ll be completed soon. I laid the soles this morning.

New boot design for someone who was wise (or unwise) enough to say, “I don’t know… do what you want.”

Surprise! There are two pairs of these shoes! I couldn’t decide if I wanted the design to be stitched on the smooth side or the fuzzy side of the leather so I’m making a pair of each. Which one do … Continue reading →

These are only draped over the last. I’ll last them properly tomorrow but I was eager to share! P.S. See… I can do subtle!