DIY boot heel repair

This type of repair work is performed with through wear or tear of the lining in the heel of the shoe.

Repair of the lining of the heel of shoes or low shoes consists in attaching, gluing and molding an inner soft heel, followed by gluing in a half insole or insole. Soft inner backs are cut out of lining leather materials with a thickness of 0.5 to 1.5 mm or from artificial leather (when repairing model shoes, soft backs from artificial leather are not used).

The length of soft backs should be equal to the length of the worn section of the lining with an allowance of 8-10mm on both sides. Internal backs are lowered along the upper and lateral edges to a width of 4-5 mm to a thickness of 0.5-0.6 mm. In the lower edge of the soft backs, 3-5 cuts are made of a triangular or oval shape with a depth of 10-12 mm. Soft heels should not have defects that affect the appearance of the shoe and worsen its performance.

Insert insoles and half insoles are pre-folded to the inner side or, if unsuitable for further use, removed. Soft heel pads, regardless of suitability, are removed from the shoe. The edges of the worn areas of the heel lining are leveled and glued to the rigid heel counter. Soft backs are attached to the heel of the shoe with an overlay if the upper edge of the heel lining was trimmed, and in an inversion if the upper edge was originally processed in a hem or an inversion in the lining.

In the first case, soft backs are applied evenly, without shifts and distortions, with the non-front side inward on the lining of the heel of the shoe and attached with a single-row seam to the upper edge of the heel. When soft backs are attached to an inversion, their upper edge is placed with the front side on the upper edge of the heel lining for a width of 5-7 mm and fastened with the last single-row seam. The seam fastening the soft heel to the heel of the shoe should run along the line of the original edging line, go over the lateral edges of the soft heel by 8-10mm on both sides, be even, well-tightened; the ends of the threads should be trimmed neatly. Machine sewing frequency 4-5 stitches, manual sewing 3-4 stitches per 10mm seam.

Stitched soft heels over the entire surface from the front side and the heel of the shoe from the inside are coated with a thin even layer of rubber glue. After 5-10 minutes of drying, the soft backs are folded or turned inside the shoe, pressed tightly to the heel and glued over the entire surface. Soft heels should fit snugly to the heel of the shoe, be well formed, free from folds, wrinkles and bulges on the surface. In the lower part, the heels should extend onto the surface of the main insoles by a width of 10-12 mm, be evenly laid and firmly glued to the main insoles. The upper edge of the soft backdrops in the process of attachment to the inversion is carefully beaten, and overlap is cut evenly without burrs and damage to the upper of the shoe.

The bent part of the insoles, half insoles or new insoles and half insoles, as well as the bent edge of the soft inner backs and the corresponding part of the main insoles are coated with an even thin layer of rubber glue; after drying for 5-10 minutes at a temperature of 18-20 ° C, insert insoles, half-insoles or heel cushions are glued to the main insoles without shifts, folds and wrinkles.

Internal leather straps of boots and boots, depending on the nature of wear, are fully or partially replaced.In boots and boots lined with natural or artificial fur in the worn heel, cut off hair with curved scissors, glue on soft backs or inner belts made of lining leather and attach on a sewing machine with a single-row stitch running in the boots along the upper edge, in boots - along the middle vertical lines.

Patches cut from lining materials corresponding to the lining of shoes are glued to the worn-out areas of leather, fur or textile lining of boots and shoes. In leather and fur patches, the edges are lowered along the perimeter by a width of 6-8 mm to a thickness of 0.4-0.5 mm.

Then the edges of the leather lining are cleaned, and in the fur lining the fur is cut to a width of 10-12 mm along the entire perimeter of the patch stickers. The edges of the leather, fur and textile lining on the front side and the patch on the non-front side are coated once with an even thin layer of glue and dried for 5-10 minutes at a temperature of 18-20 ° C.

The patches are glued to the repaired areas so that the edges of the patches coincide with the prepared and glued edges of the lining.

The heel part of the shoe is prepared for inserting a soft heel as follows: remove the heel pad or peel off the heel part of the insole (half insole). The edges of the lining in the worn-out area are leveled with a knife or scissors until a smooth outline of the worn-out area is obtained.

If the lining has separated from the hard backing, it is glued. From the lining leather, which is uniform in color and type of the repaired lining, a soft back is cut out in shape (Fig. 38). The height of the heel should be equal to the inner height of the heel of the shoe with the addition of 14-16 mm, and the length should be equal to the length of the worn-out area, also with the addition of 14-16 mm. 3-5 teeth are cut out along the lower edge for more convenient bending of the heel edge at the heel rounding. The upper and both lateral margins of the backdrop descend to zero to a width of 4–5 mm. If the leather lining in the heel is badly worn, the worn part is cut out in the form of a strip located symmetrically to the back seam of the workpiece. To do this, the seam is steamed along the upper edge of the heel, two vertical cuts are made on a leather lining, separated from the heel and cut off at the insole edge. In this case, the length of the soft backing is taken to be equal to the length of the cut out part of the leather lining with the addition of a 14-16mm allowance.

Rice. 38. The shape of the soft backdrop

The leather lining and the hard heel of the shoes on the surface corresponding to the glued-in soft heel are cleaned of dirt, glue residues and lightly sanded with a sandpaper.

If the upper edge of the leather lining is processed into a fold, then the upper edge of the soft heel should also be folded, that is, processed into an inversion. To do this, the upper edge of the soft heel from the front side, and the upper edge of the heel of the shoe from the inside is coated with rubber glue. The glue is dried and the soft backing is glued to the edge of the shoe with the edge of the front side; gluing width - 3-4 mm.

The shoes are put on the platform of the sewing machine and the soft heel is attached with one stitch. The line should follow the line of the top piping; its frequency is 5-8 stitches per 10 mm of seam length. The needle thread should be the same color as the top of the workpiece, and the shuttle thread should match the color of the leather lining. Needle No. 85-90.

The seam should go 3-4 stitches outside the soft backing at both ends.

After stitching the soft heel and knocking off the seam, the non-front side of the heel, the inner surface of the heel of the shoe and the part of the insole adjacent to the hard heel are coated with a thin even layer of rubber glue. The glue is dried, the soft backing is folded along the upper edge, glued to the heel of the shoe; the lower edge of the soft backing with cut corners is folded onto the insole and glued to it (Fig. 39a).

Rice. 39. Schematic sections of the soft backing: a - with a bent upper edge; b - with a trimmed top edge

First, hammer the upper edge of the heel along the bend line, and then the entire lateral surface of the heel of the shoe.

A heel pad is glued into the shoes or a previously bent insole (half insole) is glued, covering the bent lower edge of the soft back with them.

If the upper edge of the leather lining is trimmed, then the upper edge of the soft backing is also trimmed. In this case, the processing is carried out in the following order: the padded surface of the soft back, the inner surface of the heel of the shoe and the adjacent part of the insole are coated with rubber glue and dried. The soft back is glued into the shoe so that it covers the worn-out area with an allowance of 6-8 mm on each side. The upper edge of the soft heel should slightly (up to 2mm) protrude beyond the edge of the shoe, and the teeth of the lower edge of the heel should be folded onto the insole. The upper edge of the glued-in heel is attached to the shoe with one stitch, which should follow the line of the top piping.

The heel of the shoe is beaten, after which the allowance of the soft back is cut off flush with the upper edge of the shoe (Fig. 396). If the leather lining is worn out in a small area, you can limit yourself to a patch. The patch is selected in the color of the leather lining from a material homogeneous with it, cut out with an allowance for the worn-out place of 6-8 mm. From the top side, the patch should reach the top edge of the workpiece. The edges of the patch are lowered to nothing, the patch is glued with rubber glue, and its upper edge is sewn with one line. The method of making such a patch is basically the same as the described method of inserting a soft backing.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to repair cracked leather on a shoe near the sole.

I'll tell you the subtleties of the work. How to patch without being noticeable.