A Stylized MAG - A Scratch Build - Almost Complete

[cavx]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

Thanks These are looking good, but I think I am driving my wife crazy with this though :unsure

I am really impressed with how well this pair are turning out and would really love to make a leather pair with the same shape. If I did that, I would seriously look into making my own mid-soles from scratch for that. I think I should be able to replicate the clear soles again.

 

[cavx]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

UPDATE:

Power Laces! Alright! Well if elastic will do.

Because I am now going to skin these foam bases with the canvas, I had to get my "power laces" in first. These are 15mm wide elastic doubled over to become 7.5mm. I did a test and there should be good ribbing once the fabric is laid over the top.

Just hope they are not too tight now.

 

[Hfuy]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

This may be only of historical interest now, but earlier in this thread I noticed someone talking about this component and how he wasn't confident of his ability to do it:

Now, I'm not a "shoe guy", but my suggestion would be to do it by sandwiching the inner foam layer between the outer layers of leatherette with plenty of glue, and using a shaped block to compress the "thin" parts together until the glue dries. It's a technique I discovered more or less by accident, when gluing layers of spandex to upholstery foam. You can stamp some fairly intricate shapes into it and control which bits are thick and thin by compressing the foam until the glue goes all the way through in specific areas. The only limit is your willingness to cut wooden stamping blocks of the appropriate shape.

Not sure if I'm hopelessly behind the times as I haven't read the entire thread, and I've never used the technique on shoes, but anyway, there it is.

HF

 

[cavx]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

Thanks for adding that. I was working on this part today and if I can work out the radii, will be able to sew this OK on the sewing machine I have access to.

On my tests today, the foam will have to be added after the two halves are stitched and turned in side out.

The 3mm EVA foam sits nicely on one side of the seem (now on the inside) and gives the outside look a very smooth finish.

I need to run a few more tests as the tension needed on the machine for sewing this leatherette is different that requires for canvas and apparently I am supposed to use a leather needle, not this canvas one I am using.

Sewing, what a learning curve.

 

[punisher]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

What if you attached the cloth to the foam, then sew them together? I'll be finishing up my sole tips today hopefully adding texture will blend it together, I'm just spraying fabric paint with a comb but if anyone needs specifics as to how I'd be down to make a video! When you see shoes being made like this...suite its not the easiest but looks sooooo much simpler than what I believe my over complicated conversion has turned into lol. About sealing the fabric they sell spray for shoes, its to water proof them but I'm not sure if its simply spray on scotch guard.

 

[punisher]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

What if you attached the cloth to the foam, then sew them together? I'll be finishing up my sole tips today hopefully adding texture will blend it together, I'm just spraying fabric paint with a comb but if anyone needs specifics as to how I'd be down to make a video! When you see shoes being made like this...suite its not the easiest but looks sooooo much simpler than what I believe my over complicated conversion has turned into lol. About sealing the fabric they sell spray for shoes, its to water proof them but I'm not sure if its simply spray on scotch guard.

 

[cavx]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

What if you attached the cloth to the foam, then sew them together?

That seems to work.

The Cuff is an odd part that I ended up changing several times as the shape just looked wrong, so mine is a slightly more 'rounded' version.

I made the cuff from double leatherette stitched face to face, then turned inside out. I also super glued the foam to one side.

The following is my 2nd attempt as I completely messed up the 1st set. A real shame too as the seams were awesome!. So I recycled the trim to make the 2nd pair. This is what the Cuffs look like after turning the parts inside out. I also super glued around the bottom edge and then pushed the top layer down to make the leatherette take the shape of the foam.

I am still learning to sew (especially curves) and you can see some earlier attempts at this in top part. I did initially use white cotton here, but the cotton was not the same gauge as the grey and kept breaking. At $6.00 for a 100m spool, I decided I would just use the grey I already had on hand. I could not get the needle close enough. Stitching this part was one thing i was not sure I even wanted to do, but of course, once started, both had to be done.

A quick mock up of how it will sit. As mentioned, the first set I did looked awesome with perfect shape following seems right around. Anyway, after some gentle massaging, these are looking better and after teasing the flat spots, I got them to sit more even and round.

And a view from the back.

I am wondering if I was to use this technique to make the uppers given gluing the foam seems to have worked here.

 

[cavx]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

I so need HELP with this.

This is my 7th (?) attempt at this and I've gone through about 3m of fabric and I am still not happy.

I think a leather pair would be so much easier as the liner could be glued inside the shell and edges trimmed, done.

 

[chris.jones]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

So you are doing the same things i did on my first pair. The problem is your fabric. You defenitly need a stretch fabric. The one you are using is not stretchy enough so the shape of your foam piece isn't really sharp. You also have to do glue the fabric on the parts where the shape has to be sharp, especially on the upper part of the mags. Sewing is just necessary on the lace part, on the heel and one the inner side. Just check the pics of the real mags this is the way to go.

Here you can see my first attempt with the same fabric that you are using right now.
Sorry for the bad pics but this was just a short stop.

 

[cavx]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

So you are doing the same things i did on my first pair. The problem is your fabric. You defenitly need a stretch fabric. The one you are using is not stretchy enough so the shape of your foam piece isn't really sharp. You also have to do glue the fabric on the parts where the shape has to be sharp, especially on the upper part of the mags. Sewing is just necessary on the lace part, on the heel and one the inner side. Just check the pics of the real mags this is the way to go.

Here you can see my first attempt with the same fabric that you are using right now.
Sorry for the bad pics but this was just a short stop.

Hi Chris,

Yeah, this light weight canvas does not stretch like other fabrics will, though it does have a degree of stretch, just not much. I chose it for a more rugged material.

My issue is knowing what to sew and what to glue. It is not like there is a heap of freely available information on this.

This part in top image has really nice seems. It is a shame the glue came through the way it did and I only got one of these done. The other one tore at the seems as I turned it inside out.

This is all I ended up with. The fabric does pull tight and hopefully will when the sole is attached. The stitching on the seams is some of the best work I've done to date. What I did was glue a piece of fabric to one side of the foam (on the inside) and them stitched together a shell. I then nip/tucked and folded and glued the the shell over the edges to get the one piece look. Of course now I need a liner. The cuff will provide that at the top, but I need to do something for the rest of the shoe.

 

[cavx]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Scratch Build Now With Leather Uppers Pg 11

UPDATE:

Clearly I am not having a win with the canvas, however it looks like I have scored myself a small tanned leather hide to make my uppers - a pair leather MAGs :thumbsup

It still has hair on it that will need to be shaved.

Some questions:
Q1. Do I just use a standard razor for this?
Q2. Do I need special paint (what is used on bought shoes?) or will I be able to use that car interior paint I used to paint?

 

[AlexBC]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

Can't help you there i'm afraid.

Damn, you're making some wicked progress here. I'm working on my buck for the casting of the soles right now. Also making a pair of test cuffs for the uppers. I've set myself a limit of four test versions of each part before I make the final. Whether a complete success or not, the fifth will be the final.

 

[cavx]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

Can't help you there i'm afraid.

Yeah, started a thread on this at replica costumes to see if someone could help and nothing much either.

Damn, you're making some wicked progress here.

Thanks. I've almost completed the final scalable patterns. Just need to include the cuff and tongue and then hit the share button.

Today I hand stitched a pair of carpet uppers just to see how I would go hand sewing so when I do the leather uppers. They seemed to have worked out well for black car carpet.

I'm working on my buck for the casting of the soles right now. Also making a pair of test cuffs for the uppers. I've set myself a limit of four test versions of each part before I make the final. Whether a complete success or not, the fifth will be the final.

Knowing when to stop. Something I need to learn

 

[cavx]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

FREE PATTERNS!

This is based on my size US10/EU44. Each square is 25mm x 25mm so you should be able to print this out and scale it to any size.

Please feel free to post feedback if you think this needs changing.

 

[Taff83]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

Thanks for the pattern Cavx! i can recommend this to anyone building these at the moment, should have my thread up as soon as i am happy with the height >.<

 

[cavx]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

Thank you. I hope these work out for you and I look forward to seeing your build progress soon.

 

[cavx]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

A 3D shot.

You can view this in 3D by simply going cross-eyed.

 

[cavx]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

UPDATE:

Leather work has begun.

Yesterday I spend hours shaving this hide and not getting anywhere, so today I used VEET (I think I called it VOOM in another thread) which is chemical hair remover. Unfortunately, I ran out of the stuff, so will need to buy more tomorrow and go over this again. Hopefully from these images, you'll get the idea anyway.

Its slightly still wet, but this is the natural fur on the hide. And after 8 minutes...

The fur is gone. Well most of it anyway.

This is the suede (underside) side. If it snowed here, I'd probably consider leaving the fur as a lining. I pre-cut them out so I would not be wasting the chemical on parts of the leather I was going to throw away. I've also cut them out as a single piece to hopefully make assembly a little easier. Obviously, I need to stitch the back part, but this makes it easier to make the cuff for the collar and why so many other build shown on this forum have attempted single parts for their shoes.

The remains of the hide. There is probably enough to make my wife a set (now I have her size pattern) of 6~7s. or what ever her exact size is.

 

[cavx]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

UPDATE:

I hit the leather again with more VEET and now it is all hairless They are dry now too, so I might paint the outer grey first before attempting to glue fabric of sew anything.

 

[cavx]

Re: A Stylized MAG - A Build From The Ground Up > Creating New Uppers Pg9

UPDATE:

This project is going to driving me :wacko

So this is where I am with the leather uppers on the new Stylized MAGs. I've lined the inside of the leather with canvas (glued) so that I am not rubbing my feet against the raw leather. I did this mainly for the toe section as the rest of the shoe will have liners. It made the leather quite a bit more rigid which is good, as this leather was thin.

I'll be honest, there are parts I really like and parts I don't (and don't know how to correct either).

Focusing on the positives:

I like the shape.
The height is there.
The finger pull holes are well above the Ankle Strap.
The new Ankle Buckles and Heel Cups that I made look great and fit really well...

Yes the PVC uppers are still on the K-MAGs and they will remain there until I am at least 95% happy with the project on the left :unsure