Disclaimer: This post contains a very old attempt at shoemaking, during the very beginning of my journey. I really didn’t know what I was doing at this time, and the post is left online for archive purposes only. Please do not “learn” anything from it, as the post is certainly riddled with mistakes. It’s just a documentation on some of my thoughts as a beginner in this venture. For a more updated view of my shoemaking, please see my latest posts instead.
Augusta is a hand welted austerity brogue adelaide spectator in white and dark brown deerskin. The uppers are hand-sewn, and only handheld tools were used in production.
This post is a display of the finished shoes – in Part 1 and Part 2 I describe in detail how they were made.
The design breathes of golf, and they are (litterally) made out of game. Hence the name, after Augusta National golf club.
I did a hidden outsole stitch and fiddleback waist on the J. Rendenbach outsoles. The outsoles were left in their natural color, undyed. I think this is my best outsole work as of yet.
Finishing heels has been a problem for me. This is not perfect, but it’s the best heel I’ve done to date.
Pegged up in the garden, next to the snow still covering the majority of the lawn.
And the obligatory premiere image:
Specs:
Construction: handmade with hand-held tools only, English welted
Last: Springline #977, size UK 10F
Uppers: 3-4 oz deerskin in white and dark brown
Lining: 2 oz vegetable tanned crust baby calf
Top beads: 1 oz chrome tanned black baby calf
Insoles: 12-13 oz vegetable tanned crust calf butt
Sockliner: 4 oz vegetable tanned crust calf side
Outsoles: J. Rendenbach 9 iron
Toe/heel stiffeners: 5 oz vegetable tanned crust shoulder
Rand/welt combo piece: 5 oz vegetable tanned crust shoulder
Second rand: 5-6 oz vegetable tanned split shoulder
Shank: Plastic
Heel lifts: 12-13 oz vegetable tanned crust calf butt
Top lifts: vegetable tanned (1/4 rubber) J. Rendenbach
Secret Cobbler 
I love the final result. I am looking back from the day you started till today and you made a great progress.
I have started my bespoke journey as well. Hopefully someday I share my first work with you. 🙂
The only negative thing comes to my eyes are upper stitching. There is a lot to improve there. Keep up the good work and posting.
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Thank you very much! I’ve started down the path, but have many miles to go… Nice to hear that you’ve started your own journey – it would be interesting to see how it works out!
Indeed, the upper stitching is an achilles’ heel for me (one of many). I’m trying to get a Singer 29k to work, but without any luck so far. Trying to improve ‘one thing at a time’ with every new pair.
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Thank you so much. I will be glad to share the results with you as well.
For upper I was searching for a Singer , but they are expensive. So I searched around and found this working:
-Singer heavy Duty 4423. $150
-Singer 90-14 Leather needles
-SINGER Open Toe Foot Snap-On Presser Foot –> to see the stitching line (very important for clean stitching)
-Bonded Nylon Sewing Thread Size T70 #69 (make sure it is bonded Nylon so it does not jam in the machine)
The result is almost identical to commercial shoe uppers.
Give it a try.
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Gorgeous work! I’m currently attempting to work towards making my first pair, and it’s slow going for sure. This is definitely inspiration porn to me!
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Thank you very much, and the best of luck (and skill) with your first pair! 🙂
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