Make Your Own Trainers

Join us for two fun days of leather work and stitching to make your own trainers that really reflect your style. Learn all the skills you need and assemble your choice of materials to make something that you really want to wear, and then actually walk home in them at the end of the day! Join Ben Jones for two fun filled days of sneaker making and create the shoes of your dreams, the only limitation will be your imagination and a small, very small, amount of restraint. You can go wild with your choice of leathers (vegan option available on request), colours, and maybe the odd accessory. The choice is entirely yours, if you prefer a more conservative appearance that works as well! You will learn how to use a pattern, cut leather and fabric, build your design from the ground up (pun intended) and then hand sew the uppers to the sole. Ben is an experienced leatherworker/cobbler and will be on hand throughout the course to help you realise your shoe based Nirvana.

The best part of these shoes is this, the uppers and the soles are connected only with the stitching. If you have worn them so much that the soles have worn out then you can remove the uppers and attach them to a new sole, less landfill! Once you have the hang of the sewing you could actually have a couple of different uppers to hand and swap them out, with minimal work you will have a different pair of shoes with the same comfy soles as before. The soles are made from 60% natural rubber so they are a bit kinder on the environment if you do have to dispose of them.

*Important!* We need to order soles three weeks in advance of this workshop, so please include your shoe size in the comments when you book, and your choice of sole – either Black, White or Natural Rubber. The sizes are all in EU but a size chart is in the gallery to help you. Bookings for this workshop will close on Monday 4 March to allow enough time to order materials.

• All tools are provided for use at the workshop and materials are included in the course cost.
• Tea and coffee are provided but participants should bring their own lunch and utensils
• All of our classes are suitable for over 16s, younger crafters may be accommodated if accompanied by a participating adult but please contact us before booking
• If the workshop you were looking at is fully booked drop us an email and we’ll add you to the waiting list. We will add extra dates to our most popular workshops too, join the mailing list to be the first to know
• All of our workshops are held at Craft Central, High Street, Dunblane, FK15 0EE
• If you need to cancel or reschedule your workshop we need at least three weeks notice. Please read our cancellation policy before booking