though not so great as to squeeze the glue out. Shaving across the
edges, judicious pressing together, and final smoothing are of the
greatest importance in all leather patching and piecing, because
it depends on these to make the juncture imperceptible. Very few
persons--even shoemakers--are at all aware of the degree of perfection
to which mending rents in foot-covering can be carried by the use of
waterproof glue, such as is sold by many chemists. I have worn such a
patch for months, and it was hardly perceptible. But, like every art,
it requires some practice to apply such patches properly, and I cannot
promise to any lady that she can perfectly and neatly patch a boot by
simply daubing on a piece of leather at a first trial.
It may be noted that in such strap-joining as that which I have
described, the repair will be greatly strengthened by pasting very
thin bits of leather, or even of muslin, over the edges and pressing
them in. It is true that this cover will soon wear away, but meanwhile
the mended leather is all the while growing stronger and uniting more
perfectly. Even paper, glued and pressed on, materially aids to make
the exposed joint unite.
And here I may say that many a lady and youth would do well to take a
few practical lessons from any shoemaker in the noble art of cobbling;
that is to say, of heeling, soleing, and patching, all of which are as
easy to learn as steps in dancing, and are even more interesting or
amusing when once mastered. It is, moreover, an art which will be of
use through life. Those who can do this will probably, if ambitious
by nature, progress to making slippers, it may be shoes; and he who
can do this may be assured that he never need quite starve to death
while human beings go shod. It is not so difficult as many think, for
I have known shoemakers of very ordinary minds, and I also once knew
a mechanical artist who learned to make a fine pair of shoes in a few
weeks. In fact, there is a living in a great many things for those who
have once learned to use their fingers.
Few people are aware of the extraordinary durability of leather-work of
certain kinds. There are in the British Museum Roman sandals, probably
made of raw hide, but cut into pretty form, which were found in the
Thames, and which look as new as if recently made. I have seen within
a day as I write a gracefully formed pitcher of the early fifteenth
century of very solid black leather, like the old blackjacks once
common in England, which has probably passed through centuries of
use, and is as perfect as ever. Wood splits, earthenware breaks, and
metal rusts, but raw hide, or _cuir bouilli_, as set forth in the old
song of the “Leather Bottél,” seems to endure every trial. As the man
commemorated in “Æsop’s Fables” declared, “After all, there is nothing
like leather.” The reader who may be especially interested in this
easiest of all the minor arts may consult on this subject my _Manual of
Leather-Work_ (5s.); Whittaker & Co., 2 White Hart Street, Paternoster
Square, London, E.C.
Strips of raw hide are without equal for repairing broken vehicles,
wheels, saddles, and similar articles, because they shrink while
drying, drawing everything tight, and set so hard when once dry
that what is mended is often stronger than before. I have elsewhere
mentioned that the strongest trunks in the world are made in America
from it, as they had need to be, since there is no country in the world
where the “baggage-smasher,” figurative or literal, is so much to be
feared.
The reader who has occasion to repair anything in leather should study
the chapter of this book which treats of indiarubber and gutta-percha,
the subjects being in many respects the same.
A strong cement for leather is made by combining gutta-percha and
_Schwefelkohlenstoff_, or bisulphide of carbon, with petroleum to a
syrupy consistency. A very good cement specially adapted to joining
leather straps is as follows:--
Asphalt 12
Resin 10
Gutta-percha 40
Bisulphide of carbon 150
Petroleum 60
The materials, excepting the _Schwefelkohlenstoff_, are put together in
a bottle which stands in hot water for several hours; when the mass has
grown thick with the petroleum add the rest, and let the whole stand
for several days, shaking it very often. If the pieces of leather to be
united are first heated and then pressed very tightly together, the
adhesion will be increased. This cement is as well adapted for glass,
crockery, horn, ivory, wood, or metal as for leather. It is admirable
for mending trunks, whether made of leather, wood, or pasteboard.
When a trunk is made of any of these, and a hole is broken through
the side or top, take a newspaper and coat it with this cement,
applying another, till there are a dozen or more thicknesses. If, as
it gradually dries, this be pressed and hardened with a roller, or
even a round ruler, it will be much improved. Glue this into or upon
the fracture. In most cases with care it can be made as strong as
ever. Where a rib is broken it should be promptly replaced. (_Vide_
Metal-Work.) All trunks should be covered with waterproof glue or
varnish, as it effectually protects them from exposure to the rain.
This is very rarely done, however, the result being an immense amount
of loss to all travellers. In any town where there is a chemist’s shop,
and where a bit of indiarubber is to be had, even at the stationer’s, a
waterproof cement can be at once manufactured. The easiest of these to
prepare is the following:--
Gutta-percha 100
Pine resin 200
The resin is first melted in a pan, the gutta-percha, in very small
bits, being gradually stirred in till all is amalgamated. When used it
must be warmed again. This cement can be used for as many different
articles as the preceding.
It may here be noted that vast quantities of waste leather from
shoemakers and bookbinders, which sell for a mere trifle, can be
utilised to make admirable waterproof carpets and wall-covers. The
leather is first soaked till soft, then smoothed out and mixed with
waterproof cement, and rolled into one flat piece. This makes a very
cheap sub-carpet for winter--better than oil-cloth, being softer. For
walls it can be pressed in moulds, gilded, or painted. If varnished
there is no unpleasant smell from it. The harder it is compressed
or rolled the more will all smell disappear. Even with rolling by
hand with a bread-roller almost all substances--for instance, paper,
cloth-rags, sawdust, leather, clay, wool, cotton-wool, when combined
with any fit adhesive or cement--can be made very hard or tough; and it
is remarkable, considering the cheapness of the materials, how little
this principle is as yet applied.
It may be remarked that there are many people who do not know what
to do when the sole of a boot splits off or wears away and there is
no shoemaker at hand. If the heel is lost and no leather can be had,
a very good substitute can be cut from wood and cemented on. A few
tacks will make it last as long almost as leather. If a piece of sole
leather can be got, even from another old shoe, one or two layers
can be cemented on to make a sole. A short screw or nail through
three-quarters of the heel greatly aids in making the layers adhere.
This may also be done with a vice.
In the town of Bagni di Lucca, where I now am, a pair of leather shoes
with wooden soles, such as are commonly worn by women and children,
cost only fivepence. They are, of course, rough, but still far better
than none. The sole is rudely and very easily cut, with a high heel,
from white pine or larch wood. The upper is a single piece of leather,
which only covers the front half of the foot. It is moistened and bent
into shape, and then tacked or glued on. Many people simply buy the
soles, then the leather, and make the shoes for themselves, in which
case the expense does not amount to more than twopence. In Florence
there is often added to this the back, or heel-piece, which costs
twopence more, and makes an almost perfect shoe. This art would be
worth knowing in a wild country.
[Illustration: _Italian (Lucchese) Peasant Shoe, costing from 5d. to
8d. per pair, undecorated._]
LEHNER (_vide_ Indiarubber and Gutta-percha) specially commends for
mending soles the composition of--Gutta-percha, 10; benzine, 100;
linseed-oil varnish, 100. It is extremely elastic and tough, and
therefore suitable to soles. Mixed with black dye, or made with japan,
it forms patent leather or polished leather. It should for this purpose
be applied with a broad brush in _thin_ successive coats, and well
dried before applying a new one. This is far superior to ordinary
blacking; it is more easily applied, and does not injure the leather so
much, because the latter is often made with vitriol, which, while it
promptly gives a shine, eats away the fibre. Boots and shoes will, in
fact, wear much longer with this coating than without it.
This is even more applicable to a great deal of harness, saddle, and
bridle mending, and restoring sheet leather in every form; as, for
instance, waggon curtains, when worn and dry. First soften the leather,
then restore its quality, if required, with tannin or indiarubber in
solution. If very dry and exhausted, it may first be treated with
neat’s-foot oil for several days. Then sew it up, if a seam, or mend by
applying leather and the cement. If all persons who own much harness
would carefully study this subject, they would be astonished to find
what economy could be effected by judicious mending.
It may happen that the reader may have occasion to wish to renew black,
glazed leather-work, or to make a brilliant black pattern on a brown
ground in stamped leather. I have often executed it with success. In
such a case it suffices to simply blacken the leather with ink or dye,
and then coat it with any flexible varnish; that is, one into which
glycerine or gutta-percha has been infused. Any one who can draw can
in this manner execute very beautiful work for covering walls, panels,
chests, or doors. Or flexible black varnish can be directly applied.
LEHNER gives a recipe for attaching leather to metal, which may also be
applied to any other substance:--Cover the leather with a thin and very
hot coating of glue, press it on the metal, and then wet the other
side with a strong solution of gall-apples or tannin (_Lohe_, extract
of oak-bark) till it is thoroughly-penetrated. The tannin combines with
the glue, and attaches the leather with extreme tenacity to the metal,
&c. It is advisable to roughen the metallic surface to facilitate
adhesion.
By combining glue (and many other adhesives) directly with the tannin
or gall nut astringent we obtain _a waterproof cement_ of great
strength, which is very useful for shoes. It is, in fact, not at
all a difficult matter, where other appliances are wanting, to make
from leather, without sewing, a soled shoe when tannin and glue are
obtainable. The same can be done with canvas.
During the great wars in America thousands of soldiers often went
barefoot in winter-time, with abundance of horses or cattle killed
all round them, because they did not know that a strong moccasin can
be made by cutting out a piece of raw hide, piercing holes in it, and
drawing it up like a bag round the ankles, as is so commonly done
here in the mountain districts in Italy. I once astonished a soldier
in the war by suggesting this, and he declared he must try it. It
is remarkable how rarely man in an uneducated state ever _invents_
anything, be it a myth, a tale, or a practical invention.
If the upper leather of a slipper or shoe be cut out, it can, if wet,
be easily made to assume the form of a foot by drying it on a last, or
even on another shoe. Let the seam of the back jut or flap over the
edge, and allow full selvage for the rest to turn under the sole. The
latter may be of sole leather. If there is none, glue two or three
pieces of the leather together with the tannin cement, and roll them
over strongly. Then glue the back and the under-lap with great care.
With a little practice a fairly good shoe can be thus made. Canvas
can be used in the same way. To dwellers in the wilderness this may
be valuable information. But very pretty ornamental slippers can be
made by young ladies out of scraps of gaily coloured leather. They can
buy a pair of soles, and get the leather at a leather-dealer’s. This
is all simply substituting glueing for sewing, and strong tannin-glue
holds _quite_ as strongly as a great deal of the sewing of cheap,
machine-made shoes. It would, indeed, not be a very difficult or
expensive thing to shoe or clothe all mankind comfortably, were it not
for the fashions followed by the wealthy.
These very cheap shoes, made with either wooden or leather soles,
and that so easily that a child can learn to manufacture them in an
hour, can be easily ornamented so as to be really attractive. Take the
leather, moisten it with a sponge, and then with a tracer, which is
like the end of a screw-driver--_i.e._--
[Illustration]
draw a pattern in the damp, soft leather. When it dries the pattern
will remain. Then with a point or stamp, dot or roughen the ground.
Finally, when dry, paint the pattern black, and then varnish it.
Anybody with the least knowledge of drawing can make and sell such
ornamented shoes for a good profit, as they are as yet hardly known
to anybody. Other colours may be substituted for black, or gilding
applied.
I have in another place shown (_vide_ Papier-Mâché) how good artificial
leather can be made by combining paper--best in pulp--with indiarubber
and benzole fluid solution. Also how soles can be made by steeping
pasteboard in the same, and how these, which are very easily and
cheaply made, can be glued on to the leather so as to protect the
latter from wearing out, for ever, if renewed. A bottle of this cement,
combined with Diamond or Turkish Cement, will in like manner repair
boots when the sole begins to split or part; and if applied when it
begins to gape, it will be closed for a long time. This is such a
practical, cheap, and easy method of making boots and shoes last,
that my wonder is that every man who goes shod, and especially every
traveller, has not a bottle of it by him. Observe that the two edges
should be well pinched or screwed together (a six-penny vice will
answer for this), and the leather first heated, though all this is not
a _sine quâ non_, but only an improvement.
Leather thus attached by a very strong cement is quite as durable
and much pleasanter to wear than “copper toes” or iron heels, which
assimilate their wearers to horses. And it takes no longer to make and
attach a heel or a sole in this manner than to black a pair of boots,
as I have myself verified within a few hours.
Where seams _rip out_, the best repairing is by sewing as shoemakers
do, which is not hard to learn, and I advise all young people to learn
it. But where sewing cannot be resorted to, the cement, well applied
and compressed till dry, will hold almost any break for a long time.
I urge ladies of all classes and conditions to carefully consider this
chapter. They are more accustomed to repairing than men, and will take
to it more intelligently. As their _chaussures_ are made of thinner
leather than ours, they need repair oftener, but are, on the other
hand, so much the easier to repair. Every mother of a family will at
least profit by studying this book.
Shoemakers’ paste, much used for shoes, belongs properly to
leather-work. It is made by boiling crushed barley to a thick mess, the
water being kept extremely hot. It is then set aside till fermentation
begins, which announces itself by an extremely offensive smell. Thence
it passes to a stage in which it is a brownish syrupy mass, possessing
great power as an adhesive. It is now taken from the fire and a little
carbolic acid added to arrest fermentation. This can be used by itself
for an adhesive; it also combines well with _indifferent_ substances,
such as powdered lime, or chalk, white zinc, ochre, clay, or umber. It
may be as well used for binding books.
I have already given a very good recipe for reuniting broken leather
straps. I here add another from LEHNER. It is very good, but hardly
worth the very considerable extra trouble and expense as compared to
the former:--
Gilders’ glue 250
Sturgeon’s bladder 60
Gum-arabic 60
Reduce to bits and boil in water to a solution, to which add:--
Venice turpentine 5
Oil of turpentine 6
Spirits of wine 10
The strap-ends, or pieces of leather, having been thoroughly cleaned,
are now covered with the adhesive and pressed together between hot
plates, where the work must remain till cold.
A very good artificial leather, perfectly waterproof, may be made by
covering a strip of strong paper, or, better still, one of glazed
muslin, with the gutta-percha cement. Add to this fresh layers of
cement and paper, till the requisite thickness is obtained. This is
useful for mending soles. Where the gutta-percha or indiarubber cement
is not to be had, substitute copal varnish and glycerine, or thick
turpentine varnish and a little glycerine.
TO MEND HATS, BLANKETS, AND SIMILAR FABRICS BY FELTING
Wool, as is well known, if put into a pair of shoes, will pack or
settle into a solid felt sole if the shoes are worn. This felt is like
cloth. The same can be done by rolling it like dough on a board with
a roller. Lay the cloth or hat to be mended so that the felt to be
made can be worked into it. Then take fine wool and clean and roll it
thoroughly, working it into the edges. It may happen many a time to a
man without a needle to succeed in mending garments in this manner.
Waterproof glue or adhesive, such as is fully described in the chapter
on Indiarubber, may be added to facilitate the adhesion of the felt to
the cloth or felt ground. There is a peculiar art or knack of working
moistened felt into the edges of cloth, and of ironing or pressing
them down so as not to show, which can, however, be soon acquired.
In this way cloth may be glued upon cloth with very good effect. The
extraordinary tenacity and fineness of the adhesives now made, be it
specially observed, renders mending of this kind (which was impossible
a generation ago) now perfectly possible. I advise those who doubt
this to get a piece of cloth and experiment for themselves. The patch
may not be invisible, but it will look better than if botched with a
needle. Felt, however, can easily be repaired to perfection.
Large pieces of stuff can be made by rolling slightly gummed wool,
which fact many men do not know, even when living in the wilderness,
where wool or hair may be abundant. Nothing is so common as to see
shepherds in utter raggedness where the very shreds of wool left by
their sheep on the thorns would clothe them, with a little industry.
The quality, durability, and fineness of felt depend on the quality of
the wool, and the care and skill of the operator. Many of the cheap
cloths known as shoddy are really felts.
Felt is easily formed, because under certain conditions it seems
to have a strange tendency to form itself. The reader knows that a
string in the pocket, subjected to our every movement, will inevitably
tangle and knot itself up in the most mysterious manner; and so the
fibres of wool, if rubbed together, twine and bind themselves into
most intimate union. I earnestly advise all who expect to live where
sheep are plenty, and tailors or seamstresses few and far between, to
experiment in felt-making, and, if possible, learn from a hatmaker how
it is done. There was at one time in New York a factory where strong,
serviceable suits of felt cloth were made, and these, consisting of
coat, waistcoat, and trousers, were sold at retail for five dollars, or
one pound--I myself having seen them.
When a piece of cloth is thus adjusted or applied to fill a hole or
mend a rent, the edges may be either simply gummed and adjusted, or
they may be treated with a mixture of felt or cloth-dust and gum. In
this case, before the adhesive is _quite_ hard, yet after it has ceased
to be soft, lay over the patch a piece of cloth of exactly the same
kind, and press it with a warm flat-iron. (_Vide_ Invisible Mending of
Garments, Laces, or Embroideries.)
In most cases a torn woollen garment may be very well restored by
carefully sewing a piece into the hole, or by uniting the edges with
long stitches. Then make a paste of felt or dust, or short, fine
threads of the same cloth, with indiarubber cement, and work it over
the surface. With practice this can be done so neatly as to quite
conceal the mending. Pass an iron over the whole. When indiarubber
cement cannot be obtained, glue mixed with one-fourth glycerine can be
used.
Ammonia combined with wool forms a solvent which is also a cement. I
have not experimented with it.
INVISIBLE MENDING OF GARMENTS, LACES, OR EMBROIDERIES
Most people are aware that there are tailors or others who are such
artists in mending that they can sew up a rent “in almost anything”
so skilfully that the tear cannot be perceived. I have myself seen
this done so admirably in fine black cloth that not only was there no
sign of a tear perceptible, but none was manifest after long wearing
the garment. This nicety is partly due to skill, but there is also a
method in it. Such mending is specially shown in Italy by Jewesses in
repairing valuable old laces, embroideries, and the like. As a very
large proportion of those who buy and sell such goods are Jews, it is
but natural that their wives and female friends should be specially
employed in mending. The process which they employ is as follows:--
[Illustration]
“Thread a needle with one of your own hairs, then draw the edge of the
rent or tear together in this manner, darning it, as it were, very
finely and carefully, for it is in this that the whole art consists.
“After this take a piece of cloth as near like to the stuff you wish
to mend as you can obtain. Lay this piece on the rent so as to cover
it, then damp it slightly, and press it down with a hot iron until the
surface looks quite even.”
It may here be observed that, firstly, the _thinner_ the thread used,
so that it be only strong enough to hold, the less probability is there
that the repair will show. For this purpose, for extremely delicate
mending a human hair is almost invisible; for most work silk thread
will answer. It is, however, more likely to cut through the edge than a
hair, because the hair is more elastic.
Secondly, it may be observed that the so-called darning is really a
kind of invisible weaving, and not a sewing together or a stitching
close of edges, which latter, as it always puckers up or rises, must
show the line of repair. The darning has its strength of attachment
afar off, not close to the edges; it makes, as it were, a kind of
network or a weaving together of the cloth--that is, the cloth is
woven again into one piece by an invisible thread which hides itself
in the thicker fabric. The laying down of a cloth of _precisely the
same texture_ as that mended, and then ironing it, is very ingenious,
because one of a different kind would produce a different impression.
The friend from whom I received the above, Miss ROMA LISTER, adds
that the Jewesses do this kind of work very well, but ask a franc or
twenty-five sous for mending the smallest rent. However, when the torn
shawl is once finished you cannot see where the hole has been.
Somewhat allied to this is the patient German method of mending
stockings by reknitting; also that of spreading strong flexible glue
on a patch of chamois. This is laid under the rent, the edges being
carefully reunited over it. I would here suggest that if the tear be
first carefully darned, even with human hair or finest silk, and the
gummed leather then applied to the reverse, the mending would endure
for a much longer time.
There is a stitch known in Germany as _Kettenstich_, or
chain-stitch--though it is _not_ that which is generally known among
us as the “German chain-stitch.” It is peculiarly long and strong,
and will hold together the edges of even soft leather, for which
reason it is generally used in Turkey and Russia to sew together the
many-coloured pieces of leather such as we see in Kasan work--slippers
and boots--and cushions from Constantinople. This is a valuable stitch
for close, invisible mending. It is allied to the lock-stitch of the
sewing-machine.