Now Magazine

I made my own designer shoes

So you thought it was only Oscar winners and It girls who wore one-of-a-kind, handsome shoes? Well, think again. Party shoe designers Prescott & Mackay run weekend courses where absolute beginners can learn the art of making couture footwear. Alison Tay teetered off to their east London workshop as fast as her stilettos could carry her...

Of course, I arrived fashionably late at Prescott & Mackay's. But only because their studio is deep in the urban jungle of east London's Old Street, miles away from the West End where I spent my time store-trawling for Now Star style's pages.

I have to confess that I've never held a hammer in my life, let alone tried to cobble together a pair of sexy mules, but that's where Prescott & Mackay come in.

Kirsty Prescott and Melissa Needham (nee Mackay) met while studying footwear at Cordwainer's College in London's East End four years ago and started their shoe and handbag-making courses in 1998. They're on hand throughout the day to talk students through each step and help with all the complicated bits.

I started by rummaging through their treasure chest of off-cuts and trimmings, although if you have a particular fabric in mind - to match a bridesmaid's dress or a ball gown, maybe - just bring it along with you.

My immediate dilemma was choosing the right cloth. Customised denim is huge for the summer, so diamante-trimmed denim mules would be to die for.

Saying that, the catwalk was wild about animal prints, so I thought about stealing the jungle look with tiger stripes. But brights are big too, so perhaps fuchsia velvet? Oh, decisions, decisions...

For inspiration, Melissa and Kirsty produced a clutch of snapshots of past pupils with their finished footwear, to give me an idea of the range of fabric and finishes I could experiment with. Eventually, I settled for black Chines silk with decadent gold blossoms, which would work well during the day and would also provide instant glamour for the evening.

Next, I was given my very own personalised shoe box with all the tools and templates I'd need throughout the day. At a size three, my feet are tiny, so I was secretly hoping I could make mine in half the time it would take the others to make a size six. But I soon found out it didn't quite work like that.

I pulled out templates of the in-sole the upper (the fabric on the outside of the shoe) the leather upper lining as well as the heel covering , and started snipping. I cut a thing strip of fabric and glued it around the instep, which in reinforced with a steel plate. While I left that to dry, I pasted a backing to the fabric upper to stiffen it, added the leather lining and bonded all three with a quick blast from a heat gun, before I started the stitching.

Although no previous fashion design or shoe-making experience is required to do this course, having a steady hand on a sewing machine certainly helps. Failing that, choose a dark fabric and thread that will mask your mistakes. And if you thought that sounded difficult, wait until you get to the hammering.

The instep is then fastened to your very own 'last', a three-dimensional replica of your foot, which you build your shoe around. With a special pair of pliers, you stretch the glue-edged upper across the last to form the curved shape of the shoe, hammer it into place on the sole and then begin blasting again with the heat gun. Easier said than done.

Much later, with several botched attempts behind me and extremely sore fingers from not being very handy with a hammer, I covered the heels with my black and gold silk, secured the rubber heel with a couple of well-positioned nails and attached it to the sole. By now, my shoes were really taking shape.

All that remained was to glue and fit the leather sole and slide and smooth the inner-sole into place. Et Voila, my very own pair of hand-made shoes.

They may not be perfect, the stitching may be a little uneven, the silk may be a little frayed from where I'd cut too close, but they're mine and I love them anyway. Melissa and Kirsty took their snapshot, and perhaps one day future shoe students will get their ideas from my work.

It's not every day that you make a pair of mules so sexy they'd give even the dedicated shoe fetishist a run for her money. I can't wait to wear them out on the town and one thing's for sure - I'll never look at a pair of Jimmy Choos the same way again.

May 2000