Survival Sewing

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A STEP-BY-STEP METHOD FOR SEWING ON NEW LEATHER HALF-SOLES

1. Either buy precut half-soles or obtain a piece of shoe leather.

2. Soften the leather or half-sole in a pan of warm water for ten minutes. This makes it easier to cut and sew. After soaking, wrap the leather in old newspapers to blot up excess water.

3. If you're working with a piece of leather, trace around the old sole and cut with a sharp knife.

4. With the shoe on the last cut the threads on the old half-sole, raise the sole and separate with a slightly diagonal cut in the arch area.

5. Bevel the new half-sole to overlap what's left of the original sole.

6. Select a clinching shoe nail a half size longer than the combined thickness of the shoe and new sole.(Clinching nails run from 3/8" to 7/8" long.) Hammer about eight to ten nails across the joint where the bevels of the old sole and new half-sole meet. Tack down the tip and each side of the half-sole.

7. If you want a neat job, trim the edge of the new half-sole with a sharp knife.

8. Cut a slight depression or channel where the stitches are to go on the bottom of the new sole. This protects the stitches from being worn off.

9. Using the original holes in the shoe welt as a guide, make holes in the new sole from the topside. Every other hole is sufficient.

10. Get a waxed thread about 36 inches long and thread a needle on each end. Starting in the first hole nearest the arch, pass the needles through the same hole (one through one way and one through the other) and continue the opposing stitches completely around the sole. Tie a knot or repeat the last stitch three times at the end and cut off the excess thread.

11. Finish by pounding down the channel in the new sole. Rub beeswax or shoe polish into all cracks, needle holes and stitches.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

SHOE REPAIRING, Henry Karg, The Bruce Publishing Co., 1965.
REPAIRING FOOTWEAR, Maurice Morrill, Univ. of Vermont, 1946.
THE GOLDEN BOOK OF CRAFTS AND HOBBIES, W. Ben Hunt, , Golden Press, Inc., 1957.

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