-Tools & Supplies
Base shoe
Upper textiles
1/2" foam & headliner foam
Sewing machine
T70 bonded nylon thread
Embroidery Floss
Rotary hole punch pliers
Hand sewing punch
Scissors
Seam ripper
Hand sewing awl
Flathead screwdriver
Dremel
Pen
Q-tips
2M Super 77 spray adhesive
Contact cement
Super glue gel & liquid
Dritz fray check
3" masking tape
Acetone
Angelus leather paint
Liner brush
Good videos or music
-Unstitch the swooshes and tongues
-Mask, trace, and cut your panels-note the direction of the carbon weave
-Seam the toe once or twice to compensate for the curve
-Cut an extra 1/2" or so for the inner panels
-For Dunk Lows I do the machine stitching first
-Stitch up the lace panels
-If the material is to thin use some freezer paper to stabilize it
-Working from the front to back, align the panels on the shoe. Use a real thin bead of super glue gel to bond the panels
-Stitch everything together to form the skin
-Trace and punch the toebox holes
-Trim the inner panels and pull the stitches from the upper lace panels
-Before bonding the skin to the upper you have to prep the base
-Unstitch the liner and midsole stitching-leave a few stitches at the end of the liner to keep it in place
-Make sure to keep the original foam attached to the liner
-Carefully shave the upper along the edge of the midsole-don't hit any stitches yet
-Saturate the raw leather with acetone
-Working carefully, separate the sides of the midsole from the upper-you need a clean separation
-Hit all the upper stitches with the super glue liquid. If this can hold a shoe that's skated together, it's enough to keep it together here too
-Shave the whole upper and smooth the seams as much as possible
-To bond the new skin to the upper-brush an even layer of contact cement on both surfaces
-The key to a strong bond is to press everything together while the cement is still tacky
-Tuck the edges into the midsole
-While the cement cures, break down the tongues
-Use the top layer as a stencil for the lace stay and tongue tag and layer the materials with Super 77
-Chances are the layers of the tongue will be a tight fit in the machine, use some tracing paper if things get stuck
-From here on in it's all about the hand stitching-tedious but effective
-Everything has to go through the factory stitch holes for a proper fit
-Either use pins or punched masking tape as a guide
-Stitch the piping to the new tongues-make sure the stitches are even in the front and back
-Once the cement has cured overnight, pin the swooshes through the stock holes and stitch them in
-Embroider your heel pieces
-Pay attention to the dimensions of your text in the embroidery software-I thought I came correct but apparently not(even a few mm is a noticeable difference)
-Glue the heel piece to the factory heel and stitch it in(hit the edges with fray check to make your life easier)
-Stitch the liner back together-it'll be super tight but it's doable
-Stitch the midsole with the embroidery floss
-Stitch the upper lace panels back together
-Punch the lace holes
-Stitch the tongues back to the shoe
-Stitch the vertical stitches of the liner
-The last thing to do is paint the edges of the original lace panels to match
-It's a wrap!
