2 days of cordwainery

Erin and I spent a couple days last week at the Colorado Shoe School in Bellvue, CO – learning, designing, and making our own sneakers. Yes, actual sneakers, fit for wearing, and built from scratch. Only the soles come pre-formed out of recycled plastic.

of Colorado Shoe School

TL;DR Annabel (my teacher) posted a tiktok of my process and results – my first outing as an amateur cordwainer.

The Shoe School

Annabel Reader and Dan Huling are wonderful artists with a background in performance, and started the shoe school out of their back yard. ‘Back yard’ is entirely underselling the magic they’ve created on their property. We stayed in the tiny home they converted from a 1940s train car, between the two days of our workshop.

A rusting vintage pickup
with Colorado Shoe School painted on the door
and a massive metal boot mounted on the cab.
Immediately behind that,
a fence of stacked wood with ends showing,
and Erin standing behind a small metal gate under a tree.
A house and barn in the background. — The entrance & yard (notice the log rocking chair) – along with some videos about the school and the converted train car.

View from the porch --
a chair draped in orange,
a stump with potted plant and cell phone,
a fire circle,
a log with a rocking-chair back,
a house to one side,
open yard, trees,
and stacked wood fence. — The entrance & yard (notice the log rocking chair) – along with some videos about the school and the converted train car.

They have several workshops available, but we went with the two-day option – making ‘Chuck Taylor’ style sneakers.

Day 1: Design

Day 1 was entirely dedicated to design. We spent the morning pulling out rolls of up-cycled leather and fabric to see what’s available, and sketching ideas on patterns they provided. Since we were the only two students, we each got a teacher to ourselves – Erin working with Dan, while I worked with Annabel.

Erin had done the workshop before, and came prepared with some fabric from home. I was starting from scratch (with almost no sewing experience), and didn’t really have any idea what I wanted to make. Eventually Erin suggested I work from some of my Riding SideSaddle* art, and Annabel helped guide me through translating from digital collage into shoe leather.

By the end of day 1 I had selected and cut out an assortment of bright, saturated leather for the sides, and gold leather toe caps. I still wasn’t sure about the design details, but my main concept involved using the high-top pattern for the outsides, and creating a shoe-within-a-shoe effect on the inside – with high-top uppers stitched onto a low-top base.

At this point it doesn’t look like much (besides a lot of bright fabric), and I think both Annabel and I were worried about how it would come together.

Top view of the work table
scattered with leather and fabric scraps,
scissors, and straight pins.
In the middle cut-out parts for one shoe --
magenta high-top outer,
with a floral fabric lacing panel,
back-to-back with a
cyan low-top inner with orange high-top upper,
and the same floral panel,
then a gold leather toe-cap. — My cut leather & fabric at the end of day 1

Top view cut-out parts for both shoes
laid out on the work table.
Top shoe has yellow high-top outer,
and lavender low-top inner,
with orange high-top addition.
Bottom shoe has magenta high-top outer,
with cyan low-top inner
and same orange high-top addition.
Both have the same floral lace panel,
and gold leather toe-caps. — My cut leather & fabric at the end of day 1

I guess I’m making clown shoes?

Day 2: Construction

Annabel and I both came into day two with ideas that had been brewing over night. We agreed that the floral fabric wasn’t matching the other ideas, and she re-cut my lacing panels from leather, while I began experimenting with how to stitch the designs.

It’s clear that they have a strong sense of timing, and will jump in to help with repetitive tasks when you start to fall behind. It’s also clear at this point I was falling behind. Once I picked out leather for my tongues, Annabel built the entire toe-and-tongue parts for me.

We had experimented on day 1 with sewing scraps of fabric to create the collage effect of my art, but I decided to simplify: using various colors of thread to get different stitched effects – sketched moths, hard lines, and scribbles. We found that it worked well to tack down my drawings onto the leather, and sew straight through the paper.

Scraps of paper and fabric on the work table,
two nested gold toe-caps sewn to rose gold tongues,
and a magenta high-top side panel
with a sketchy one-line stitched moth (wings spread),
and an awl for picking out remnants of stitched-in paper. — Sewing, gluing, and building on day 2

Two hand-sketched moths with closed wings on cutout paper,
tacked to a yellow leather high-top side panel,
on the sewing machine. — Sewing, gluing, and building on day 2

It was surprising to me – despite experiencing the same in other mediums – how much things come together in the last few steps, and the last hours of the day. What seemed like a random scattering of bright colors, came together into actual shoes I could see myself wearing. Shoes I’ve been wearing daily for a week now.

We used bike inner tubes to cover the heal seem, and provide a heal pull.

All that’s left to do is try them on.

Top view of my blue plaid pant-legs
wearing the completed shoes. — Trying them on in the workshop, and some closeups on the ride home

Top view with feet tilted
to show off the fake low-top inside panels
of both shoes --
lavender/orange on the left,
blue/orange on the right. — Trying them on in the workshop, and some closeups on the ride home

A little more

During the two-days of the workshop, I got my tan stitched moths, black stitched perpendicular lines, and red stitched scribbles. All that’s missing are a bunch of tiny errors!

When I got home, I ran some tests with red & black fine-tip sharpies on scraps of leather. Only the black is consistently visible, so I went with it.

Two Sharpies on top of
multi-colored scraps of leather,
with little arrows drawn in black and red.

Now I’ve been wearing the shoes for a week, and I love them. I’m on the road this week, exploring southwest Colorado, but here are some more closeups I took in the hotel room: