Woman’s Wood-heel Pump, Calf, Spanish or any kind of Morocco Leather.

The stuff is to be fitted as directed in the making of the man’s pump. Then you must dip the heels in water, if very dry; but if green you should put them to dry. But it would be better to dip the heels in water, and then put them to lie by while you are fitting the stuff, as the wood will cut the better. Then with your heel knife level the seat of the heel, and cut it round the seat to the seat of the last, and a trifle narrower; then, with the crooked knife, h&low the seat of the heel to fit the seat of the last; but mind, that the seat of the heel should not bear on the seat of the last quite to the edge, but within an eighth of an inch to the edge of the last: the heel should be full one eighth of an inch above the edge of the last, which will nearly be the depth of the sewing seam; for you must observe,- if the seat of the heel is made to fit the seat of the last close all round, that when you have sewed in the rand, and put in the heel, the edge of the heel must rest on the sewing seam, which is about an eighth of an inch high, and the middle part of the seat of the heel will be hollow from the inner sole; which will render the heel neither smooth nor firm, but liable to break at the sides in the wear, if not in the work.

When you have done with the seat of the heel, cut the top piece so,. that it may lie level with the tread of the last at the joints; that is, when the seat of the last is put to rest on the heel, and the heel and the last put to rest on a straight flat board; and if the whole of the top piece and the tread of the last at the joints bear in every part on the board, then the top piece of the heel is cut to answer the tread of the last. Then form the top piece to the size and form you intend it to be (but I would have you to let the top piece be more wide than long if it be a peg heel; but if a court heel, otherwise), and from the edge of the top piece that is to be, cut, the heel down to the small, and from the small to the edge of the seat; but mind not to cut the heel too thin at the sides, for, if you do, they will be liable to break. Likewise mind in cutting the heel down in front, that you do not thin the shanks too much, otherwise they will break.

In hollowing out the front of the heel with your crooked knife, let it be so hollowed as to leave an edge to the side of the shank from the top piece to the end; but do not hollow the middle of the front too much, that the heel may not be too weak. After you have done with the knife, take your flat and half-round file, and file the heels smooth. Now, as you have got the stuff and heels ready, you must proceed as in that of the man’s pump; but mind to paste the linen socks on the inner soles, and mould them to the last, and put them to dry in the sun’s rays, or before the fire, that they may be perfectly dry before you use them. When you have turned the pump and got it ready for second lasting, cover the sock with some clean paper before you put the inner sole to the last, and after you have put the inner sole to the last, and pared it close all round, put the heel on the inner sole at the seat of the last, and let it be fixed there in its proper place, that is, about an eighth of an inch under the last; and with the point of the knife mark the inner sole close to the edge of the seat of the heel all round the seat of the inner sole, and with the back of the knife mark the inner sole across at the ends of the shanks. Then take off the heel, and with the point of the knife mark off within the first mark (if the inner sole be stout enough) the width, equal to the substance of the quarter, lining, and heel rand; then feather the inner sole from the first mark to the edge of it; and let the feather be as wide as will keep the quarter (when the pump is off the last) flush with the edge of the seat of the heel. Here the real width cannot be ascertained, hut must be left to your judgement to direct according to the nature of the work, whether it be stout or light. Now with a croaked sewing awl of a suitable size, hole the inner sole all round the seat, from the inner mark to the first.

When you have done with the seat of the inner sole, round the fore part at that distance from the edge of the last, as, when it is put into the fore part of the pump, that it will fully cover the sewing stitch, and skive it thin at the edge round the fore part of about the width of the sewing seam of the pump. The next thing is to put the shank piece on the inner sole, and the broad end must be put under a skive cut on the inner sole just under the rise of the last at the joint, and a tack in the other end, at the seat; but always mind to put some paste between the shank piece and the inner sole. Put a small peg in the inner sole at the toe, and give a short slit in the inner sole from the peg inward, that the peg may come out with the last, when it is to be taken out of the pump: then
some paste on the fore pert of the inner sole, and put it with the last into the fore part of the pump, and be careful that it is even, that the last is not more over one side than the other. Put a tack through the sole and inner sole into the last in the waist or small, and take up the quarters; secure them at the heel seam with a small tack, and be careful not to sink them too much, that you may sew off no more than what is sewed off of the quarters in the fore part; otherwise the quarters are liable to be too shallow, which will disappoint the cutter as well as the wearer. Now settle the sole, and put a cover over the upper leather to keep it from dirt or rubbing; unless it be common leather: in that case there is no need of it. Now put the heel rand (previously damped with water) round the heel, with the grain side to the heel, that you may not soil it with your fingers, if it be any kind of morocco, and mould it close to the heel; then take it off the heel, and cut it close to the mark that the seat of the heel has made on the rand; slit each side of it at the hollow part of the front; likewise cut off the end of the rand that you are to sew first with, at the mark that the end of the shank of the heel has made. In sewing the rand, let the first and last stitch come over the ends; and take only a sufficient hold in the rand, that it may not tear out, and no more. When that you have sewed the first side nearly to the heel seam, pare off the loose leather that is above the stitch near to the stitch, and with the hammer of the pincers lay the seam down smooth; and from the heel seam out nearly to the other end you must pare it every two or three stitches.

After you have fastened the end of the threads with a knot, or a stitch in the insoles, let the rand be set smooth and even; but before you put the heel in, let it be lightly waxed or pasted. If the former, which is the best for calf-leather pumps, you may put a little paste over the wax, at the hind part of the heel, that it may slip in freely. When the heel is in the rand, mind that it is even in the scat, and that it bears equally on the edge of the rand; then fasten it to the last with a tack through the front of the heel.

Now let the pump be held fast on your knees with the strap, by letting the strap come up between your knees over the pump; then with the pincers pull up the heel rand over the top piece, and put two or three tacks in the rand on the top piece, and last the rand in front of the heel; but mind that the two first tacks are put to strain the heel rand on each side of the small of the heel.

After you have lasted the rand to the heel, and if the rand be brown calf-skin, let it be coloured black, (and likewise the upper leather being black,) and scour it out with some paste. Then set the seat of the rand, and slick the rand well. All this is if it be calf-leather: but if it should be morocco of any colour, you must be careful to keep the rand clean and not soil the colour; and if it should he kid, it should be sewed in with a lining, as the kid is too weak of itself. Now secure the heel firm with the heel stay, and mind that the heel stay is long enough to clear the quarters from the tacks; and if the heel rand is of any kind of coloured morocco, &c. put some paper between the heel stay and the rand. After you have secured the heel firm with the heel stay, brace the rand in front of the heel, and as you proceed in bracing, take out the tacks; but that part of the rand which is on the top piece you may pare off.

Then with the long stick slick it smooth in front, and with the half-round file, file the shanks both sides from the ends t) the top piece lightly at the sides, that you may have an edge to the rand on each side. Now if there should be any vacant space between the heel and the inner sole (which should not be, according to the directions given for cutting the heel), fill it up smooth with some skivings and some paste.

Then let the shank piece be laid up the heel smooth with some paste; and if there should be any vacant places at the ends of the shanks, let them be filled up with some skivings and some paste, that the whole may be smooth and even: then cramp or fold in the sole full as much as the hollow front of the heel requires, and secure it with a tack in front of the heel between the top piece and the small of the heel; then with the cramping hammer lay the cramp in close and smooth, and with the long stick slick it in well. When done slicking of it, pare the sole round each of the shanks close to the edge of the rand, only leave as much space as you think will cover the stitching stitch, and thin the sole in front of the heel to the substance the work requires the edge of the shank of the sole, to be.

The roughness at the edge of the sole round each shank is to be taken off by running a thin horn between the knife and the rand, round each shank; then take the tack out that is in front of the heel, and put in a peg in its room, and with a knife level the sole even in front of the heel, and slick it down well; then cut the channel on the sole each side of the shank, at that distance from the edge that the nature of the work requires, and the width you intend the shank to be.

The top piece may be secured with one or two tacks, as the width of the top piece requires; but in rounding of it, let it float so as to have the same regular sweep or curve as the heel has from the small to the top piece, and leave the same distance from the edge of the top piece to the heel rand, as you have left to the shank, so as to cover the stitching stitch. Likewise round the top piece in front of the heel, so as to have that gradual sweep of the hollow ‘of the front, and the corners with that of the shanks, and the channel in the top piece must be cut to answer those of the shanks.

The stitching thread must be in proportion to the work, whether it be made of flax, spinnel, &c. and two threads must be made, one for each shank; that which stitches the first shank should be long enough to stitch the top piece too. The stitching awl should be round, and nearly of the same size, for the whole length that is used in the work, except at the very point, which should be rather flat.

Let the stitches be regular, and as near the edge as you can, with the proviso that the bold is firm in the rand. The number of stitches depends on the nature of the work and the size of the thread, but the number to an inch is about twenty to a morocco pump.

When you have done stitching, take the tack from the front of the heel and the top piece, and put pegs in their room; then close the channel, and with the cramping hammer lay the shanks and top piece smooth and even, and slick them down welt. With the thin end of the hammer turn the edge of the top piece next the stitch over the stitches. In the rounding up of the sole at the shanks before stitching, it was directed that it should not be left wider than would be needful to cover the stitch; but if it should be more after stitching, it is better to pare it off just so as to cover the stitch, that you may make the shank to a certainty. Then thin the shank from the channel to the edge of the sole that covers the stitch; but let it be so gradual from the channel to the edge, that the leather shank may be firm in the middle, and only thin at the edge: though the work should be ever so light, and the shank appear ever so thin, the shank should be left so firm in the middle that the edge may rest firm on the stitch.

After you have pared both shanks to the substance you intend they should be, take the half-round file, and file lightly the shanks to take off the roughness of the paring of the knife, and scrape off the roughness of the file with a bit of glass. Then damp the shanks, and slick them well with any kind of long stick; but if you wish the shanks to appear of a darker colour than that of slicked leather, make use of a long stick made of red sanders wood, or let the wood be rubbed with a little water on a stone, and it will give a colouring for to stain the shanks with before you slick them. But never be fond of daubing the shanks with a quantity of red earth of any kind; for it will look dirty, and will deform the work.

When you have done slicking the shanks, pare the top piece, and be careful that it does not float too much over the heel, nor too little ; for in either case it will appear unsightly: it should be pared in a line with the sweep of the heel from the small to the top piece, and like­wise the front; then there will be a proportion between the whole of the work.

Colour the edge of the top piece blacks if the upper be black, or any dark colour; but if white, or any light colour, let it be of the brown colour of the leather, well slicked.

In slicking the edge of the top piece, mind. that the shoulder stick is of the same angle or float with the top piece, that it may bear or press equally on every part of the edge of the top piece.

After you have slicked the top piece, take the thin horn and run it round the two shanks and top piece between the stitches and the edge, to rise the edge of the two shank a and top piece a little from the stitch.

Then at the end of the shank on the left hand side put the horn between the stitch and the edge of the shank, and with the point of the knife pare off from the edge of the shank as much of it as does cover the stitch; the knife to be held sloping inward, that the outward edge of the shank may rest on the back part of the stitch without any space to be observed between the stitch and the edge of the shank; and the same for the two shanks and the top piece. Now take a piece of clean linen rag, and wrap it round the end of the thumb of your right hand, and damp that part that is inside of the nail with thin gum water, and run it round the edge of both shanks and the top piece. At the same time you may clean the stitch, if it should be dirty, with the dry part of the cloth that is on the back part of the nail.

Then prick the stitches, damp the shanks and slick them down well, rid the edge of the top piece; but be careful not to rub the stitches of the shanks. In the next place level the sole in front of the heel with the knife, file, and glass, and slick it well, and the top piece. Now you come to the fore part, which is to be managed the same as directed in the making of the man’s pump. But here, as well as there, you must be careful not to pare the the edge of the sole under the sewing stitch.

When you have done with the edge of the fore part, slick and buff the sole as your fancy or the fashion of the time directs. Then take off the heel stay, clean the rand and slick it, set the seat of the heel rand, and stamp the tack holes. After the last is out of the pump, lay down the feather of the inner sole to the seat of the heel, and the tipper leather close and smooth to the edge of the forts part of the sole; rub down the tack holes, and strain the pump so that the quarters may sit close. and smooth, and put it to hang on a nail to dry before you gum the heel rand.—When you think the rand is dry, gum it lightly over with the middle finger of your right hand; don’t put too much on, but do it over quickly.

Woman's Wood-heel Pump, Silk, Stuff or any wove Upper.

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