Description
A beginner’s guide to the fundamental techniques of footwear Patternmaking.
Do you want to learn how to make shoe patterns? Do you know how to design a last for a high-heeled fashion shoe, a sneaker, or dress shoe? In Footwear Pattern Making and Last Design, we will teach you the shoe last design process and detail the basic techniques of footwear pattern making.
Footwear Pattern Making and Last Design will show you how lasts are made, the shoe last design process, the hidden geometry, special features, functions, and size grading principles of lasts. You will see many different last designs and shapes for sneakers, trainers, high-heels, boots, and more.
This book covers the craft of footwear pattern-making, including a step-by-step guide to patternmaking for beginners. Hundreds of color photos illustrate the patternmaking process. See and compare sample patterns for joggers, hi-top sneakers, high-heels, and many other shoes. Learn patternmaking procedures, how to make a sneaker forme, computer-aided design software for pattern making, and shoe pattern grading.
Why is a shoe last shaped that way? How can you make a shoe pattern with simple tools?
Find these answers inside!
200 pages, 11 Chapters, 500+ color photos.
THE SHOE DESIGN PROCESS
Start with a footwear design brief
Turn your sketch into a rendering
Make a shoe design pattern
Find the right shoe last
FOOTWEAR DEVELOPMENT
Step by step Transform your design
Outsole tooling mold design
Footwear pre-production process
Shoe material preparations
FOOTWEAR PRODUCTION
Learn how are factory makes shoes
Upper stitching operations
Outsole rubber pressing
EVA midsole forming
The shoe assembly line
MAKE FOOTWEAR SPECIFICATIONS
Learn to create your specifications
What does a factory need to make your design
How to read an outsole blueprint
SHOE MATERIAL SELECTION
Create Logo designs for shoes
Pick the best leather for shoes
Design textiles for shoes
How to use synthetics for shoes
Foam for shoes
THE SHOE BUSINESS
The shoe designers tools you need
Find your job in the shoe trade
What is footwear quality control
Life working at a shoe factory
CHAPTER 1 : THE LAST IS FIRST
The shoe last design, parts of the last, technical terminology of the shoe last.
Shoemaking pattern points and construction lines.
Last dimensions and how to measure the shoe last.
How is the shoe last different from the human foot?
CHAPTER 2: LAST FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS
Types of shoe lasts, last fitting, and key functional attributes such as;
toe spring, heel height, ball girth, cuboid roll, toe box, and cone.
Why are lasts shaped this way?
CHAPTER 3: SHOE LAST DESIGNS
18 different shoe styles and their unique lasts including;
running shoe last, basketball last, hiking last, and high heel shoe last.
Many shoes styles require different lasts.
What makes the shoe design and last design?
CHAPTER 4: THE FOOTWEAR LAST DESIGN PROCESS
How shoe lasts are designed and developed.
Last factory operations. Sample last development and production.
Wood, plastic, and metal last design and production.
CHAPTER 5: THE GEOMETRY OF LASTS
Designing the last bottom and side profile with the geometric system.
The hidden geometry of the shoe last.
CHAPTER 6: LAST SIZE SCALES AND GRADING
Last grading, size scales, and standardization.
Last grading systems: arithmetic, geometric, and proportional.
USA, UK, Euro, Japanese, Mondo point, and Chinese sizing systems.
Complete last grading charts for length, girth, and widths.
CHAPTER 7: THE PATTERN MAKER’S TOOLS
Common tools and their uses in pattern making.
All the simple tools you need to make patterns.
CHAPTER 8: HOW TO MAKE THE LAST FORME
How to make the shell pattern or forme of the last.
The principle of reversibility and lasting pressure.
Taping the last and slotted pattern forme making procedures.
CHAPTER 9: PATTERN MAKING PROCEDURES
Step-by-step guide to footwear pattern making.
Creating sectional patterns for sports shoes and fashion shoes.
How to draw on the last and cut the sectional pattern.
How to make a sneaker pattern.
CHAPTER 10: COMPUTER-AIDED PATTERN MAKING
The basics of computer-aided pattern making.
Importing the last, projecting the pattern in 2D, and 3D pattern rendering.
Creating the digital sectional pattern.
How to make a simple shoe pattern.
CHAPTER 11: PATTERN SIZE GRADING
Pattern grading equipment techniques and processes explained.
Footwear commercialization process.
Title: Footwear pattern and Last Design
Series: How Shoes are Made (Book 4)
Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: Wade’s Place
ISBN 13: 9780998707075
ISBN 10: 0998707074
Language: English
Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.5 x 11 inches
Craig (verified owner) –
I have been a hobbyist shoemaker for 20 years and I have probably read most of the available books on last making and pattern design. The books and articles are often difficult to follow. ‘Footwear Pattern Making and Last Design’ is a breath of fresh air with its modern look and readability. The authors know their stuff. It also has great photos and diagrams. If you read this book, you will be well on the road to shoemaking.
Craig
Johana (verified owner) –
Valuable book with step-by-step procedures to follow. I recommend to others.
Liz Ishii –
I want to thank you for this incredible book you produced! I purchased it through Etsy, and I’m so so happy to have it. I’ve been in the footwear industry for over 13 years and never have understood elements of footwear like you’ve laid out.
Thank you for taking the time to create such an incredible book.
Tate –
As a newbie to footwear product creation, having a firm understanding of last design can be crucial to a project. Would recommend giving this a read to create a strong foundation in the last area. I didn’t even know what a Last was until a year ago (fyi super crucial in footwear product creation).
Emily –
Highly recommend. Updated information of this sort has been hard to find and this book is well done and easy to follow. The photos are great and really helped me to understand the patternmaking and last design processes.
D. Collins –
There have not been any books on modern footwear last design in almost 20 years!
I have worked in this industry for more than 40 years and find this book and the others by Wade Motawi to be extremely useful and helpful to both me and my clients who are starting their own footwear brands. I would recommend you add this book and the How Shoes Are Made series to your design and reference library.
Verified Buyer –
What I was looking for. Easy to understand, step-by-step patternmaking. Great chapter on lasts and size grading. I highly recommend this book.
Rick –
Great. 5 Stars.
P. Salvage –
Super Informative and has lots of very specific tools and templates. There is not a lot out there written by an actual world class nuts and bolts shoe/sneaker maker. This is one of them. It is a practical step by step guide on exactly what to do. A large number of photos, measurements, terminology explained, etc….
This is Motawi’s 4th or 5th book on how to make shoes. He is not writing theoretically. He designs, builds and supervises production of his foot products, including walking the floors of factories in China several times a year. All his books are excellent and cover different angles on the process.
This is Motawi’s 4th or 5th book on how to make shoes. He is not writing theoretically. He designs, builds and supervises production of his foot products, including walking the floors of factories in China several times a year. All his books are excellent and cover different angles on the process.
Deb –
Great resource. Valuable find. I will recommend this to product design students at my university.
Mike M –
The tables of the various shoe sizes, British, American, French, Chinese, Japanese, and Mondopoint are extremely useful in converting from one system to another. Illustrations are clear and to the point. Only complaint is he dives right into making a ‘pretty’ shoe and I would have preferred a much simpler design as my first attempt at making shoes.