Planning and cutting to fit (Reflecting as I go)

I started with planning on paper first, thinking if all goes well I will use the paper pattern to mark it on the fabric.

My feet are way too big to start working on, so I used the sketches to make a smaller pattern and use it as a maquette . As I went on, I realised I needed to change the wrapping piece a bit or it will fold and wrinkle as I go and will not leave enough space on the open top bit. I had to arrange it quite a lot to fit the design I had in mind.

The long piece is folded in half, marking the middle of the heal and ankle. There is no stitch at the back, making the design look "clean".

The paper design is ready. I had some problems putting it neatly together, I thought it had to do with the tape I was using and because I cannot make the paper behave like a material. As I went further with my design, I realised it was not due to the nature of the paper but had to do with my design. I had to change the front top a little to perfectly cover the toes the way I wanted. It took a lot of try and err to figure it out...

Finally I was ready to transform my chosen design onto the material:

This will be the inner material. I still need to cut the other one and sew them together, but first, let's make sure it actually work together:

Well obviously, the material behaves totally different than paper and I was happy to see it holds up nice. However, I am not very happy with the design. I know I am influenced by Japanese art, but this design reminds me more of  foot binding than the classic Japanese gentle shoes. Maybe it has to do with the material I am using, that looks a lot like bandage. It will all change when it is nicely painted!

Now let's copy it to the inner material and sew them together:

Clever. I forgot to flip the design and ended up with the wrong side. No worries, I will use it when I work on the other shoe.

Now it is cut on the right side. Let's sew them together!!!

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My sewing machine broke down and I will need to repair it. I will have to sew it by hand for now. I hope this will not give me too much grief.

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Reflecting on the process:

I knew what needed to be done and I didn't need too much time to plan the work. It did take some online digging to look at designs and figure out how it is done, plus learning how to design the pattern. I did look at lots of DIY websites and only found baby shoe designs and slippers. At first I was thinking of using the baby shoe designs and just make them bigger, but the outcome was not satisfying as it didn't really look like stylish shoes, so I used my initiative and combined few designs together.

I had to improvise a lot, especially when getting to design the wrapping strip. Unfortunately I never learned how to look at patterns, yet alone how to design them! Well, we live - we learn.

As for time management: Once knowing what I wanted to do, it was about an hour to put it together. Unfortunately my sewing machine broke down and I couldn't take it any further.

Future:

I will continue sewing the design by hand just to see if it actually work well together or if I should go back to the design table. I still need to sew it all to the sole (Designing the sole in different post) and that will take some time.