A pair of clamps are necessary to hold the work, as both hands are employed in sewing. They may be made of two staves of a powder barrel, or an American flour cask, or any other light elastic boards that can be made to curve inward, and grip with a fair edge with tolerable firmness. These are held between the knees, so that the work may be in a convenient position for eye and hand. If barrel staves cannot be had, two small bits of plank, with fair edges, may be fitted in the smith’s vice. A young sapling, 2in. or 3in. thick, may be cut off about 30in. from its root, and the stump slit down with a sharp axe, the edges being trimmed off thin and fair; or the boat nippers described at [p. 129] may be pressed into service.
Thread.
The orthodox material for sewing on the sole is, of course, the waxed thread, made by taking from three to six or eight thicknesses of the flax sold in balls for that purpose, twisting them loosely together, and waxing them with the mixture before described. The ends of the threads are thinned to a fine point, and, a bristle being split part of its length, the fine end of the thread is laid between the parts, and then rolled several times round both of them; and the fastening is made by opening the strands of the thread, and passing the perfect end of the bristle through them. It is much more easy to do this than to describe it, and in five minutes’ practice almost anyone ought to be able to learn it. We prefer, however, fine “reimpjies,” or thongs, rather less than ⅛in. broad, cut from the skin of a steinbok, and nicely rubbed up, stretched, and smoothed. The points of these cut sharp, wetted a little, twisted, and allowed to dry, will be quite fine and hard enough to be passed through the awl holes; but we have upon occasion taken a bit of fine brass rabbit wire, and passing it through a hole in the end of the thong, as far as the middle have doubled the two ends together, and twisted them into one, to obtain a more rigid point.
Stitching.
Of the several methods of stitching, the simplest, as has been mentioned, is to lay the edges of the sole and upper leather together, and stitch them through and through (Fig. 1). In this case, however, either the thread appears outside, and is exposed to be chafed upon the ground, or the sole itself must be cut so as to let the stitches in, and sometimes a cut is made in the edge of the sole, as in Fig. 2, but this has by no means a neat and finished appearance. Some of the Dutch farmers use what is called the “binnen naaid,” or inside seam. This is made by turning the edge of the upper leather (Fig. 4) in upon the sole (Fig. 3), and sewing it with a kind of backstitch, which will be better understood by reference to the figure than by description. It must be begun in the waist of the foot and worked round the front to the other side. The heel is finished last of all, as, when the shoe is once closed, the fore parts of it could not be reached. This seam is very neat, but a last cannot be used in making it. The plan we adopted is that used by shoemakers for pumps or single soled shoes, and we believe this to be the easiest, the neatest, and, at the same time, the most durable. The sole (Fig. 1) is cut with the heel toward the thickest part (if there be any difference) of the leather, and if greater thickness is required, another piece (Fig. 2) should be cut to the shape of the heel and thinned away to nothing in front, as it must be placed on the inside of the true sole, and a thick edge would of course give pain to the foot. A small groove or channel (Fig. 3), just deep enough to bury the stitches, should be cut about ½in. from the edge upon the upper surface, and a similar one (Fig. 3a) in the edge of the true sole; then, the holes being pierced with a curved awl, the two parts should be firmly sewn together. Fig. 4 represents the channel cut all round the sole and heel for stitching on the upper leather, and Fig. 5 the bevelled edge against which the upper leather is laid. B is a sectional view, with all the parts similarly numbered, the upper leather being stitched on; and C another with the upper stitched and turned into its proper position when the shoe is finished. The sole, with its inside uppermost, must then be laid upon its proper last, and tacked to it with nails or pegs that will easily draw out when no longer required, and care must be taken that the waist fits well down into the hollow of the last. The edge must then be bevelled off, at an angle of 45° all round, reducing its apparent thickness by about one-half. In very fine work the edge is thinned down almost to nothing in the waist, but is left nearly of its full thickness in the heel. The object of this, however, is to present an inclined surface for the upper leather to rest against and be stitched to.
The upper is then turned inside out, and placed upon the last; its height at the heel, at the sides, and on the instep, is measured, and these points are first secured by small tacks, driven about half in, so that they can be withdrawn when no longer wanted. The edges are then drawn tightly over the edges of the sole, and tacked to it, beginning at the toe and proceeding equally along the sides as far as the beginning of the heel. The last is then taken, with the sole upward, between the knees, where it may be confined by a strap long enough to pass round the feet; holes are pierced with a sharp curved awl, through the upper leather, and the bevelled edge of the sole, to the channel previously cut. The thread or thong of steinbok hide, being pointed at both ends, is drawn as far as its middle through the first hole, the two ends are passed simultaneously from right and left through each successive one, and the seam, commencing from the fore part of the heel on one side, goes forward round the toe, until it comes as far back on the other side. In commencing the sewing of the heel, if an inner thickening piece has been put on, care must be taken that in front, where it is yet thin, the stitches take up also a portion of the thickness of the true sole, and do not depend only on the inner heel, until they have passed the end of the seam that connects the two thicknesses together. If the stitches of the connecting seam have been set far enough into the substance of the leather, there will be no danger of cutting them in boring the holes for sewing on the upper.