POLYCHROME V5
The biggest thing that needed to change between V4 and V5 was the last shape. V4's last fit the sole, but the shape was too bulky in the toe, and the toe box was much too tall. I worked with Springline to get a last that fit the sole well, and had a sleek shape that worked with my design vision.
With the last all set, I could work on refining the pattern and tweaking the design to get it to look nice on this new last. Some of the things I changed were:
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Make a more complex eyestay
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Change the angles of the decorative stitching
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Do a blind seam on the mudguard
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The tongue shape and size
Other than that, the basic design didn't change much, but the different last shape had such a profound effect on the overall look of the shoe. Much cleaner, in my opinion. Here you can see the tape up and final master pattern.
The upper making process followed the same steps as V4 for the most part, aside from the more complex seams. One minor change I made that might typically go unnoticed was the switch to a denser, more comfortable collar foam. This open cell, high density polyurethane foam is slightly thicker than the old foam, and makes a huge different on foot when it comes to comfort.
I always find lasting shoes that have a mudgaurd as a fun little challenge, since you need to line up that mudguard perfectly with the lines on the last. This time went smoothly, not every time does.
As I was making the V5 sample, I had a videographer capture the whole process, from cutting the pattern pieces, to final product. In the video you can see all the frustrations and celebrations that come with making a pair of shoes by hand.
With this pair complete, I could finally weartest them myself and see what needed to change. This was a big leap forward for sure, but I still wasn't quite happy enough with it to offer it for sale. More development work needed to be done.
