Where was I? Oh yes, I have finished making the pattern of my shoes and started to cut the materials. The picture below is the cut leather: the cherry blossom pinky white ostrich for shoe upper, and the fire orange ostrich for the heels.
上次我在“设计师之路：全手工英式皮鞋制作日记”里說到鞋的紙樣已經做好，開始切割皮料了。下面就是已經切好的皮子，米色帶珊瑚紅點（其實整體看來是淡淡的櫻花粉色）的鴕鳥皮是鞋面，火橘色的鴕鳥皮是鞋跟。
leather for shoe upper and heels
The next step is to sew all the upper pieces together. Some leather is very thick, my ostrich for example, so we need to thin the edge of the leather to make the overlapped part the same thickness as a single layer. The technical term is SKIVING. Traditionally people use special knives to operate by hand, but most of mordern designers use skiving machines. Please note that only thick leather needs this process. Leather as thin as the pig skin for the shoe lining will have little left if you skive it… 
The picture below is the skived leather at the edge:
料子都裁好以後，下一步就是縫紉：將所有屬於鞋面的皮料統一為一個整體。我的鞋面只有兩片皮，所以第一步只要作一道直線縫合，但只爲這個，還有一個特殊的準備工作要做：削薄皮料，術語是skiving。這一步是皮具製作的基本而重要的技巧之一，把皮料反面的組織部分削去一定厚度，即方便縫紉，更主要是連結后的皮料不至於厚得難以操作。這個步驟可以用專用刀具手工削，但大多數現代設計師都會用專門的切削機器，即skiving machine。厚的皮料才需要做這個，太薄的料，如作鞋裡的豬皮，已經只有一兩毫米薄，再削就沒有了。削好的皮料反面是這樣:
skived upper leather
So I sewed this two pieces together, using the industrial sewing machine in the studio, particularly designed for shoes.
接下來要用專門的工業制鞋縫紉機Industrial sewing machine來車縫。我想我可能真的是個天才吧？
只是小時候和媽媽玩過幾次家用縫紉機而已，這個是一次就搞定了。老師也很驚訝呢！
sewed shoe upper
In order to sew the upper and lining together, my upper should be folded flat and nice to show a clear line, with the help of neoprene adhisive. Before actually folding the leather a nylon string is put on the reverse side to keep the shoe in shape, because nylon is not stretchable. Hammer the leather down and turn it over, the shoe upper looks neat!
然後到比較困難的部分了。鞋面的外部線條是隨時都能被看到的，所以當然要小心處理。在縫合之前要先用專用的氯丁橡膠粘劑Neoprene adhesive粘合邊緣子口，同時又要加入細尼龍帶以保證鞋面不會輕易變形。要知道鞋子可是承受全身重量的物體，走起路來鞋面是處在不停被拉扯的狀態中，所以尼龍怎么扯也不變形的特性在這裡就幫了大忙。放入尼龍帶并粘好子口，反過來就成了這樣：
glue the nylon string onto the leather
flatten it and turn it over
My lining has been cut according to the pattern as well. The most popular material for shoe lining in the industry is pig skin, because its characteristics (hard wearing, lightweight, and soft) are ideal for this purpose. You can see my sewed lining and upper in the picture below:
做鞋裡首選用豬皮。豬皮的手感特別柔軟，而且透氣性好又耐磨。同樣，根據紙樣把豬皮切好，縫合。下圖中，上面是鞋裡，下面是鞋面。
sewed lining and upper
Finally I can sew my upper and lining together! The sewing process takes me a long time because I have to make sure the line is neat and very close to the edge. Different from fabric, leather doesn’t allow mistakes because every stitch will leave a hole on it. If you unpick the thread and stitch the same place again and again, it may break… Look at mine, aren’t they nice? 
既然面和里都做好了，下面就該把它們車縫在一起了。依照之前做好的種種標記，沿這鞋面邊緣小心地縫紉，線與邊緣僅有1-2毫米左右的距離。皮料不同于布料，車錯還能拆掉重來，因為針會在皮子上留下明顯的洞眼，如果不停出錯反復車縫同一個地方，皮是很容易斷掉的。所以這裡真是要分外小心。好在我完成得還不錯。
upper and lining sewed together
The next class I’ll start lasting the shoes! Lasting is the most important process and technique in shoemaking, as the material will be wrapped around the shoe last and nailed in shape. I so look forward to the class next week…
Well, let’s also have a look at other classmates’ work. The cut pieces below are done by Dominique. I love the pattern of the blue fabric very much!
下節課就要進行制鞋最重要的環節：lasting了。這一步不知怎么翻譯，因為做鞋做鞋，說來說去精華部分就在lasting，要把鞋料套在鞋楦上，用釘子固定并造型。所以是最難也最有趣的部分。
好，到這裡暫停一下，來看看其他同學的進度。
下面是Dom同學裁好的面料。棕色的牛皮和蠟染印花般的棉布，這個設計我喜歡！
shoe pieces by Dominique
Read more:
Making shoes in the evening – week 1 to 4
Making shoes in the evening – week 8 to 9
Making shoes in the evening – week 10
