The Book of the Feet: A History of Boots and ShoesHall, Joseph Sparkes
History
The Book of the Feet: A History of Boots and Shoes
Hall, Joseph Sparkes
Footwear -- History; Shoemakers
The next business is to cut the pattern in paper; and, presuming it to
be a lady’s boot, the greatest care is taken in seeing that it stands
well--neither dropping back, nor pitching too much forward. The goloshes
round the side, the leather toe-caps, or whatever the form may be, of
the lower part of the boot, has its pattern cut also in paper; for much
depends on the correctness of these little matters.
The linen linings are then cut true to this pattern; the cashmere,
prunella, or cloth, cut to form the outside, and the morocco, patent
leather, or cordovan, added for the goloshing; and in this state it is
given to the binder. Great care is now required and exacted, in working
up the boot-leg true to the pattern; and if it be lace, button, or
elastic, the binder has it in her power to spoil the whole affair.
More, perhaps, depends on fitting the work, than the workmanship; a
union, therefore, of skill, in these two points, constitutes a good
boot-binder. The leg is next passed on to the _closer_, who, with the
awl, instead of the needle, closes the seams of the golosh; and then,
having lasted the boot, attaches the leather by means of a neat row of
stabbing round the edge, thoroughly through the leg and its lining. This
is the most secure, the neatest, and also the most expensive method, of
getting up a good boot-leg.
This boot-leg, which has been twice sent out from the shop, now comes in
to be again handed over to the maker, who receives the lasts, together
with the leather soles, insoles, welts, stiffenings, shank-pieces, and
other little matters essential to the work; not omitting, if the master
knows his business, or considers the comfort of his customers, a good
piece of _felt_, to insert _between_ the insole and outsole, to prevent
the intolerable nuisance of creaking. Neglect this, and besides the
music (the fillings, which are bits of leather pasted between the soles,
and which the workman is obliged to put in to make a level sole), you
get lumps, after a little wear, at the bottom of the tread, which give
great pain, and often produce corns and callosities on the soles of the
feet.
It would be tedious to the reader to describe the various manipulations
of the workman in making a pair of boots. If he accomplishes his work in
the course of a day, he does well; and keeping the boots on the last
during the night, to dry and get solid, is all that is required of him
before bringing them to the shop.
If he has attended to all his instructions for width of tread, thickness
of forepart, thinness of waist, height of heel, left no pegs sticking
up, and kept his work clean, there is every probability of the lady
being pleased, the master pleased, clicker pleased, workman pleased. But
should either have failed, inadvertently or through carelessness, in one
of the minute matters before mentioned, the boots are returned, and the
whole must be gone over again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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