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- Jan 18, 2013
Lets try it just by describing:
Remember: this tutorial just works with leather and suede. no textile. no patent leather.
1. let the toebox of the shoes soak in warm water (i.e. fill them with water and let them sit the toebox pointing downwards) for more than 30 minutes
2. pour out the water and stuff the toebox firmly. I use synthetic stuffing from an old pillow. I believe it has to be something synthetic as this doesn't absorb so much water, but on the other hand it has to keep stable at 100°C still.
3. take some cotton cloth and soak it in water. I use an old t-shirt for this. I think terry cloth is not useful - the cloth has to be smoth and even.
4. heat your electric iron to cotton level
5. put the soaked cloth without wrinkles doublelayered on the toebox covering the whole front of the shoe
6. press the iron first directly on the bulkiest part of the toebox and afterwards on the rest of it.
7. you have to iron the whole toebox to get a nice shape. Don't just press on the front.
8. try to keep away from the midsole. You can't avoid ironing a litle on the edges, too, but don't do this to often as the glue between gum and leather could loosen a bit.
9. dont let the cloth get dry! If so switch to a wet part again. It's very important that you have an eye on the wet cloth. If it would be dryed out, the temperature would get to high and ruin the leather underneath. Also I believe that it's the steam that changes the shape of the leather
10. take some small breaks between ironing and always switch the cloth to a wet part
11. do this over and over again and after 10 to 15 times you will achieve a toebox shape the way it actually had to be right after purchase. If it seems that nothing really changed after 10 times you have to press harder. But also have an eye on the leather of the mudguard. If it starts to wrinkle lightly at the seems you're not going to achieve more shaping
12. pull out the stuffing carefully and let the shoes dry in the shadow.
13. don't rush the drying process by putting them into the sun or using a hair dryer
14. don't put the shoes on your feet before they are totally dry
Would be nice if you let me know if this worked for you, too.
I'm happy with the process as it's actually pretty easy and keeps the shape the way I like it to be.
