MAKING SHOES : Make Central Line Like a Pro

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my readers! Let him bring joy and good luck to all of us!

I haven't written a post for a while, It was a very busy month. As always before the holidays we all possessed with shopping and I'm not an exception.
All that we haven't bought during the year, we buy on sale before the New Years. So I have had a lot of orders, because shoes and diamond are girl best friends. Besides, I had an freelance project this month, that is still on the roll and therefore had no time to write.

This is certainly not an excuse, but I met a great pattern maker, that has enormous experience, he is doing this for more than half a century! I learned a lot from him, and I hope to continue learning, and certainly to share all my discoveries with you, my dear readers.

The world of footwear simply boundless and you can keep learning and studying the craft, always discovering something new. The truth is, the more I learn, the more I realize that I didn't even got the half way, but I'm still here. Even small details in the construction of patterns, which seemed at first not significant, with the right approach can greatly improve its quality. In general, the construction of shoes can be compared with the construction of the aircraft. So I once been told by a very skillful seamstress in the VICINI factory. And I 100% agree with her. You could only be mistaken for one mm, and shoes will fit horrible on the last! There are so many nuances in the art of constructing footwear, but for each specific model of shoes needs its own approach, and not always what we did in one model will work in another. Over time, of course, you develop a certain scent for shoes, that is the approach in the technique, required for each specific shoe model, but it comes with experience. Looking back, I would have made many models differently! But we'll start small, so what I want to show you today is one way how to accurately find the center line on the last, especially in the instep. It is such a small detail, but such an important detail for accurate pattern structure of any model of shoes! It will improve your pattern. I myself before that led my eye to decide (as I was taught), or use to measure the last and divided it in half. But this method is much cooler and more correct, in my opinion!

Draw a center line to the most protruding point in the toe and on the top of the last in the instep, by measuring it's with flexible ruler and draw a dividing in half or just trust your eyes. Then you first connect the ends, from the inner side of the last.

Also draw on the outer side of the last.

So we get two arcs.

Line drawn between them in the middle, connecting the with the lines in the top and in the bottom. Now we have perfect, accurate center line.

Take the pattern from the last without cutting through its center. To test whether the central line is correct, straight the pattern and apply ordinary ruler to the center line. It should lay smoothly on the straight line. If the center line is not straight, then fix it with a ruler.