In my post on the Anatomy of a Brogue from Chancery Lane I may well have chosen the most difficult example to work with – a case of Murphy’s Law! As you can see from the photographs, I used a thin inner sole and a thicker outer sole as per the original. I also began with a thick rand which I quickly abandoned in favour of a thinner example. As I was using parts cut to the size of the original find the next problem was how to hold the pieces together for stitching – not having a suitable sized last. I resorted to a high-tech solution and tied the pieces together at intervals around the sole seam. It worked!

Below you can see the grain/flesh stitch holes in the thinner inner-sole and the edge/flesh stitch holes in the thicker outer-sole. The rand between the upper and soles is also visible.

Jusqu’à ici, tout va bien……..

And then I discovered the less complicated method as you can see in the photos below. Three different examples, all with a double layer sole, but none using the edge/flesh stitch or the thicker outer sole. In each case, the two layers are relatively thin, about 2mm in each case and were placed on top of each other, then punched with grain/flesh stitches along the edge. The rand in each case is wide, at least 20mm and flat. The result is a slightly up-turned edge all around the sole.

Another detail worth noting is the pointed toe and curved waist. The bottom four photos show the thong used to stitch the upper and sole together with a single, continuous serpentine stitch. Unlike shoes, which were generally made as ‘straight’ at this time, the brogues are obviously made for left and right.

The story continues………………….