How’s our shoemaking evening class going? Let’s follow Florrie’s diary to find out what has happened in the past three weeks.
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The next shoemaking evening class will start from January 14, 2011. Click here to book
The new term of shoemaking evening class has started since September 10, 2010. In 10 weeks’ time, five students in the class are going to start from scatch and make a pair of shoes. Are you interested in what they have done in the first four weeks? Read one student’s diary via the link below!
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via La Maison de Florence
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The next shoemaking evening class will start from January 14, 2011. Book early for two months in advance to enjoy our Early Bird Discount!
Click here to book
The first course video from Prescott & Mackay is ready for everyone!
We now release a six-minute video shot directly from one of our 5-day intensive shoemaking class in our studio in London this August. One student in the video has experience of making men’s shoes, two students have crafting experience, while the others are complete beginners. However, they all grasp skills quickly at P&M and seem so professional in the video! Enjoy it and get ready to learn these skills in real in the class.
More videos about P&M’s courses will come, if you tell us that you want to watch more! Please vote by leaving comments below.
P&M’s five-day courses about learning how to make shoes are available in the following cities/countries:
Caterina is in her final week of the Shoemaking Evening Course. See if she finishes her shoes and how they look.
Week 10
Sadly, today it’s going to be the last evening class.
I am looking forward to finishing my blue shoes and I’m running across London to reach the Prescott & Mackay workshop in Warren street.
Everybody is already working like busy bees to finish what they started and the atmosphere is great! Probably everybody will finish the shoes which is great news!
I still have to apply the stiffener , last the shoes, lay the cork, stick the soles… I’m pretty sure I will not be able to make the socks too…
Luckily I love lasting and I am pretty fast at it. The time went by really quickly today and it’s already 9pm but Chau is very patient and stayed a bit longer to allow us to glue our soles down. I will make the socks for my shoes at home.
I have to say I’m not a beginner and my project was a bit more complicated because of the piping and the bagged lining…plus I haven’t make a mock-up and I’m a perfectionist… but I’m so glad to see that students who attended the evening course and were making shoes for their first time managed to finish their own project and in such a brilliant way!
Jiyoung for example, look at her wonderful patent court shoes! She was so excited when she tried them on…
So, I highly recommend to every shoe-enthusiast or shoe-freak curious to attend this course to achieve a really good result and receive the ABC of shoe-making. Thanks again to Chau Har Lee, brilliant tutor who followed everybody in a constant one to one approach.
I’ll see you all at Black Truffle in Broadway Market (I will be probably wearing my blue shoes)
Check out these photos of the rest of the class and their shoes.
Links:
Evening Course diary week 1, week 3, week 4, week 5, week 6, week 7, week 8, week 9, and week 10
Caterina is on the penultimate week of the Shoemaking Evening Course at Prescott & Mackay this week. Her shoes are coming together and you can feel the excitement in the air at Warren Street.
Week 9
Last week we didn’t have the class so today I’m really looking forward to going across London after work to the Prescott & Mackay studio for our 9th class.
We are all so excited because all of our shoes are almost finished and honestly we better crack on working because this is the second last lesson of our evening course…
Today everything is about the most important part of the lasting process for me: the lining.. you see, if you last the lining not in a smooth and almost flawless way your upper will appear all wobbly… so first lasting pincers and tacks, then trim down the excess and then finally comes the glue. Let it dry while you start to last the second shoe…that’s the plan. When you last the second shoe you have to make sure that your pair looks pretty much alike…
After three attempts my lining seems alright and I decide to glue it down.
I can’t believe I had the time to apply the toe puffs too…There wasn’t much time left in the class and I still have a few things to do next week, deciding if I want to use a stiffener for the heel of my shoes and eventually apply it, lasting the uppers, making the socks…
I’m looking forward to seeing my project finished next week, I hope.
Links:
Evening Course diary week 1, week 3, week 4, week 5, week 6, week 7, week 8, week 9, and week 10
It is Week 8 and Caterina is has only 2 Weeks left to finish her shoes on the Prescott & Mackay Shoemaking Evening Course. See what she got up to below.
Week 8
Last week I sewed together my uppers with the linings…this week I have to check if what I have done actually works! So here I am again, 6pm close the shop and run to Warren Street to the P&M studio…
It works! Now I need to apply some rubber solution all around and stick the topline tape on it to reinforce the topline…done!
As the other students in the workshop I’m really happy with the result of my efforts. Today I want to start to pull at least one of the shoes into the last and this is actually what I will do next.
I placed it onto the last using tacks, and got the positioning right so that they looked good from the top. I then began to tack down the lining, the first stage of the lasting process.
The time runs out so quickly, that all of us today tried to ignore Chau when she told us that it was already 9 o’clock! We wanted to go on working…
Links:
Evening Course diary week 1, week 3, week 4, week 5, week 6, week 7, week 8, week 9, and week 10
Week 6
After a long day at Black Truffle and I was so tired, that the thought of going to the other side of London didn’t fill me with joy. But as soon as I thought about going to the Prescott & Mackay studio to crack on with making my shoes I didn’t feel so tired anymore!
Unfortunately I have a busy schedule and I doubt I will be able to finish my uppers today. Let’s see how it goes…
The atmosphere in the class was really great, as we all relaxed into the 6th week of the course. Excitement was buzzing aroudn the room, as we all reached different stages in the process.
At the end of the session, I managed to finish the piping (really difficult) in both uppers and sew the lining but next time I will definitely catch up with all the students who are with their uppers ready or already pulling their shoes into the lasts they’ve chosen…well done everyone!
Links:
Evening Course diary week 1, week 3, week 4, week 5, week 6, week 7, week 8, week 9, and week 10
Here is Caterina on Week 5 of the Shoemaking Evening Course at Prescott & Mackay, the sister company of Black Truffle.
Week 5
Finally it’s Thursday again and I can go back making my blue shoes.
Everybody is very focused on their uppers during the class…after 5 weeks all of us feels much more confident around the workshop.
I’ve decided that my lining will be in a yellow pig skin, because you never go wrong with matching blue and yellow! I’m still struggling to decide if I should use vintage fabric on the socks…
I’ve managed to cut all the pattern pieces of my lining. It has been challenging because the pig skin is as usual very thin and wasting leather because of a wrong cut is not the best.
Going back to an industrial sewing machine has been grand and I’ve already done some work on my lining and upper. I have decided to put some piping on the seams, and have been really happy with the result so far.
Looking forward next week to finish to close the uppers and lining ( I hope!! )
Links:
Evening Course diary week 1, week 3, week 4, week 5, week 6, week 7, week 8, week 9, and week 10
Caterina the manager of Black Truffle, Broadway Market, is giving us a weekly update on her experiences of the shoe making evening course at Prescott & Mackay. She is on Week 4 now, see what she is up to.
Finally it’s Thursday again and I’m looking forward attending the shoemaking evening class with Chau.
At work, my colleague Emily, asked me if I had chosen the materials to make my shoes with, and I realized that I hadn’t thought about it at all!
Thank God I live really close to the shop so I decided that on my lunch break I would go home to source something…well, I found a scrap of amazing blue leather and it’s been love at first sight, I will probably use some vintage fabric for the binding and lining.
After closing the shop I ran to take the tube and join the class at Prescott & Mackay and finish making my patterns. Yes! I managed to finish all the patterns and I could start to cut the pieces needed for the upper.
The class was great fun, everyone was really excited about their materials and getting started on the shoemaking. We all brought in nibbles and had a cheese and chutney evening. The atmosphere was great.
I had almost forgotten the sensation of making something from scratch in a workshop, it is a kind of magic!
All the pieces of my upper are now ready and I’m really happy about the leather I’ve chosen. I feel inspired again!
Links:
Evening Course diary week 1, week 3, week 4, week 5, week 6, week 7, week 8, week 9, and week 10
Caterina, the manager of Black Truffle in Broadway Market, is taking a Shoemaking Evening Course at Prescott & Mackay. She has studied Shoe Design and wants to have a career as a shoe designer. She will be writing about her experiences here each week.
Week 1
” After taking on the job as the manager of Black Truffle, Broadway Market, I haven’t had the time to dedicate myself to this creative side of me so I’ve decided to attend the evening class at P&M with Super Chau (that’s how I call Chau Har Lee, amazing designer/tutor) to reconnect with lasts, masking tape, dividers and lasting pincers.
After closing the shop last Thursday it was time to run across London to attend the first class. It has been even more interesting than I was expecting because I immediately learnt something: a different method of taping the last (that’s what you do when you need to make the patterns of your design).
It’s been such a long time without hands on experience of making shoes that I almost forgot the great feeling of it. Honestly, I struggled deciding what to draw on the last.
I had such a great time that the end of the lesson came veeeeery quickly and I am a bit sad cause I will miss the next lesson, but I am sure I will catch up on the 3rd one”
The Prescott & Mackay School of Fashion and Accessory Design is located below Black Truffle at 52 Warren Street, and its principal Melissa Needham, is also co-owner of the two Black Truffle stores. Prescott and Mackay offer short courses in Shoemaking, Bag Making, Corsetry, Millinery and Tutu Making as well as Private Tuition and Footwear seminars. Across all the disciplines there are courses suited for absolute beginners to those who want something more advanced.
Follow Caterina’s journey here each week and maybe you can think about doing a course yourself.
Links:
Evening Course diary week 1, week 3, week 4, week 5, week 6, week 7, week 8, week 9, and week 10
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