Stitching types

The time-consuming process of handmade shoemaking requires mastery of about a hundred different tasks. In order to justify calling a pair of shoes “hand-sewn”, it is absolutely necessary that one of these tasks in particular be performed: The soles must be joined to the uppers by hand using linen thread spun by the shoemaker. Depending on the method, there may be one, two, three or even more lines of stitching. How properly the soles are stitched determines how durable the shoes will be. This job, which takes many hours to accomplish and is one of the fundamental and most difficult parts of the entire process, sets apart a product as top-of-the-line. Several methods for sewing soles that have long been used in our workshop are presented below.