Chapter V: Lasting the Upper

When the inner soles are fitted, blocked, holed, etc., on the lasts, they are ready to receive the tops. Select the best of these for each particular foot. Much of the beauty of a boot or shoe depends upon the maker thoroughly mastering the principles of lasting.

The upper should be laced up as far as the bend or throat, where the eyelets finish and the hooks start, to prevent it gaping open while being lasted and sewn. The stiffener H (Fig. 84) can be pasted on both sides, and put into the upper between the lining and the leather, the centre against the back seam of the golosh.

Place the last upon your knees, with the heel to the left and the toe to the right, inner sole downwards. Place the upper over the last, and with the right hand pull it down at the toe; get the back seam exactly in the centre of the last at the back, where the upper covers only about two-thirds of the last, as shown at D (Fig. 84). This is called “horsing,” or hoisting the back of the heel, and enables the boot to be lasted more forward. This will throw a draft into it which would be very hard to get by the use of the pincers only. Turn the last bottom upwards, hold the toe firmly with the right hand, place the heel between the knees, change the left hand for the right at the toe, and, with the pincers in the right hand, very tightly draw the toe of the upper over the toe of the last, taking care that the back seam and centre of the vamp and toe are quite straight on the last. With the left hand hold the upper firmly where you have pulled it, place the forefinger on the spot where the pincers are, and hold the leather there till you can put in the first tack at A (Fig. 85). Fig. 86 shows a lasting tack--³⁄₄ in. shoemaker’s rivets will answer the purpose for light or medium work, but Scotch tacks are best. This plan of the sole of the last (Fig. 85) has each tack marked in alphabetical order, to show which is the proper order to put them in. The leather is then pulled over, and tacks put in at B and B, working in reasonable and equal portions of stuff between each two neighbouring tacks. All tacks used in lasting are put right through all materials, and are driven into the last far enough to keep the work solid; for although they are there only temporarily, they have to remain till the stitch takes their place in the sewn boot.

If the upper is quite straight upon the last, the two tacks next to be put in are C and C (Figs. 84 and 85). These are draft tacks, so called because they put and keep a draft in the boot or shoe. This draft is got by pulling hard with the pincers in the direction shown by the line E E (Fig. 84). To get this draft the upper is hoisted at the back as already mentioned; when the whole of the fore part is lasted, the back or heel of the last is knocked down into its place, and it must necessarily form a line of tension at E E, and it is this tension which is called draft.

The main principles to be observed are tightness in lasting, drafting out of all the wrinkles and pipes around the toe, equal strain at all parts, and uniformity on both sides. It is this evenness in lasting which gives the finished boot a good appearance and makes it set nicely. A boot that is lasted properly when the last is out will look as shapely as it was before the last had been withdrawn.

The side linings (Fig. 83) are now put in between the lining and outside leather, they are not pasted, and their position is indicated by the dotted line F, Fig. 84. The two tacks D and D can now be put in to hold the side lining firm; while lasting up the sides or round the heel, always see that the lining is lasted tightly; otherwise, when the boot is finished, the lining will set in puckers and hurt the foot.

It will be seen in Fig. 84 that the top leather does not touch the last at G; but it must be lasted, first on one side and then on the other, until all this fulness is got away, or the work will be too large when finished.

When all the tacks are driven in the fore half as far as E E (Fig. 85), the heel of the last can be knocked into the upper until the bottom of the golosh is just above the insole, for at the heel seats it does not need much to last over. The waist and seat can now be lasted similarly to the fore part, but here the leather need not be pulled so hard, especially at the waist. In the case of a shoe it will only be necessary to pull over the leather with the thumb and finger, or all the draft may be pulled from the quarters (see Fig. 76), which would make them baggy at the sides in wear. The boot is now lasted, with the exception of the toe.

In lasting stout, heavy leather it is likely to either set away from the last or form itself into wrinkles at the heel, and even up the sides. All these wrinkles or pipes must be got clear away before commencing to sew in the seat or the welt. The toe is a portion that will always form itself into wrinkles, and special instructions for dealing with this are given. The other parts will not need so much humouring, though their treatment is exactly the same.

“Pipes” and “wrinkles” are technical terms used in lasting; they mean the hills and valleys that leather will form itself into where there is surplus stuff, and this fulness must be lasted away as explained. If when the toe is lasted as far as shown in Fig. 87 a ~V~-shaped piece of leather is cut out of each pipe, you would be able to hammer it down and get out the wrinkles and pipes. This is sometimes done by slovenly workers, but no good craftsman would resort to such inferior means, for, although it looks very well at first when finished and in wear, the result is far from satisfactory.

We will now proceed with lasting the toe, which process can very well be left till the end, after the first three tacks, A B B, have been put in (Fig. 85), as described on page 76. The toe is the most important part to last, and if not well and properly done gives a very ungainly appearance to the boot or shoe, both before and after wear. There must necessarily be a lot of wrinkles around the toe, and when a tack is put in, a pipe forms between it and the tack next to it. To last a toe properly, full stuff must be got round the toe end as much as possible, and here it must be lasted away: which means that, in putting in the draft tacks, stuff is drawn as much as possible to the toe. All fulness must be lasted away between these tacks, B B, dividing the stuff equally between either side. These parts will need care to last them well; negligence here causes great defects, because an unsightly appearance of unevenness is caused if these wrinkles are not lasted out. If the toe is lasted well at the outset, it will keep up and look smooth till the boot is worn out.

Next hammer the upper all round, A A and A (Fig. 87). This will knock out all the wrinkles in this region that the “pipes” have caused, and will have to be done each time a tack is put in or altered on the top. Before putting in each tack, the leather must be pulled quite tight. This is done according to the substance of the tops; the stouter they are the harder will be the work of lasting them.

Fig. 88 shows a pair of shoemaker’s pincers, A being the jaws in which to hold the leather. Lever the leather over, resting the fulcrum B on the inner sole, meanwhile pulling and pressing upon the handles C and C, holding them quite firmly, to give a proper grip of the leather. When this has been pulled enough, hold it in its place with the forefinger of the left hand until it has been made secure with a tack or rivet.

Keep putting tacks in round the toe as far as the toe-cap extends until all the pipes and wrinkles are out, and the toe quite smooth as far as the dotted line A A. (See Fig. 89.) It is often harder to smooth a wrinkle than it is to get rid of a pipe, because if a tack is put through the centre of the pipe, at B B (Fig. 87), between two other tacks or the wrinkles they have made, this tack will help to last the pipe out, and it can be got clear away with a tap or two of the hammer. These means are useless for a deep wrinkle, in which case the tack that has formed it must be taken out and an awl put under tacks to lift up the wrinkle C and form a pipe. Two must be put in at D and D, and then the pipe can be easily tapped out.

When there is a toe-cap to the shoe, the vamp should be lasted first. While this is being done the toe-cap can be turned back as far as the line B B (Fig. 89). The vamp should be lasted as well as though it were not going to be covered with the cap. Before the cap is turned back into its place, to make an even surface to last the cap upon, the vamp may be lightly filed or rasped round in front of the tacks at C, C, C on the top, and at D, D round the edge, and then hammered again at both places.

In hammering the upper, do not give heavy blows, but only tap it. This can be done well all round the boot, especially at the toe, where there is double substance, at the sides, where the side linings are, and at the heel, where there are the stiffeners. This hammering will all help to keep the boot in shape when made.

When a top is very hard to last, and is difficult to get it close down to the last in front--which happens if the last is very hollow here, or the tops are heavy--the lasting may be done with the help of half of a pair of medium welts. A half is quite sufficient for one boot, and then the remaining half will do for the other boot. Make a hole in one end, get two large lasting tacks called sole tacks, cut two small circles of stout sole leather, and drive the tacks about half-way through, as at Fig. 86. Nail that end of the welt with the hole in it to one side of the boot with one of the tacks, knocking it into the round piece of leather. Hold the boot firmly with the left hand, and letting the piece of welt come right across the vamp, with the pincers pull the free end of welt on the other side, and get any fulness away. Put a tack in the vamp, or put the other sole tack in through both the piece of welt and the vamp, until you have put a tack in each end of the piece of welt, then take out the sole tack and liberate the welt while again trying to get more purchase to pull, and the upper tighter to the last.

This system is also very good for the waist when that is hard to get in. However, the mode of treatment is different, although on the same principle, for if in lasting the fore part it cannot be got tight enough with the pincers, a sideways knock can be-given to the two sole tacks which will send their heads nearer together over the inner sole, and so tighten the welt. In the waist the welt does not go over the upper, but simply across the inner sole, from F to F (Fig. 85). Although tops need not be lasted much in the waist, it-often happens that they are cut so small that some means like the above must be resorted to in this case to tighten the upper. Put a chisel or file under the welt, and gently lever it up while you knock the tacks sideways, and at the same time drive them a little further in. As this tack has the piece of leather on it, this will prevent it from breaking away from the upper.

The welts should have been bought of the proper substance, and being already divided into two long strips and quite wet, all that is necessary is to take off a fine shaving from the grain side. If wanted lighter, reduce them from the flesh side by means of a welt mill, going down a rack a tooth at a time on each side till of the required substance, or an ordinary knife may be used, see p. 52. The welt next needs to have an angular piece taken off the whole length from a corner on the grain side. This piece is about two-thirds of the way through and about ³⁄₁₆ in. wide (as A in Fig. 85).

This process will give the welt an end section like Fig. 53; this is shown grain side down, which is the position in which it is sewn in the boot. The arrow, A, B, indicates where the sewing-awl has to pass through. If welt, this piece is to be skived for about 2 in. at B (Fig. 53). The way to take off the angular strip is by digging the point of the knife into the cutting-board, at an angle so that the welt can pass between the knife, the board, and the first and second joint of the forefinger of the right hand. The position of the knife, hand, and welt can be seen in the illustration (Fig. 53). Then, when the welt is pulled at B with the left hand, this angular piece will be cut clean off.

The width proper for a welt is generally in accordance with the substance of the boot or shoe, but some quite light work is made with what might well be called an extra-full-wide welt. Gents.’ widths that are generally recognised are half-wide welt, ¹⁄₄ in. full from upper; three-quarter-wide welt, ⁵⁄₁₆ in.; wide welt, ³⁄₈ in.; full-wide welt, ⁷⁄₁₆ in.; extra-full-wide welt, ¹⁄₂ in. In all cases the welt can be worked a little close on the inside, and full on the outside. A lady’s can be ¹⁄₁₆ in. less than a gent.’s. For bevel work the welt should be thin before sewing in, and it is the sole that needs to be bevelled to fit the iron. To fit all leathers before using them for their varied purposes is most essential in all parts of boot making.

To make a welt for dress shoes with a ¹⁄₈ in. edge the leather must be light, more particularly the sole and welt; the latter should not only be very light, but the fibres of the leather should be extremely fine in texture on both sides. The grain must be buffed off the welts, and then these are split down the centre and wetted. If they are too thick, reduce them on the flesh side in a welt mill or skiving machine, and then fit in the ordinary way.