Tag Archives: stitching

Cowboy Boots, Featured Bootshops

Tex Robin Boots (Now)

This trip to Texas I retraced some very special steps.

When Tex Robin moved his shop a couple of years ago, I admit I got all sappy and nostalgic over him leaving that old brick building in Coleman.

…but I’ve come to my senses. Welcome to Abilene! Gone are the fire hazards and all the pesky walk-in-and-out traffic. And look! …the walls go straight up and down, and there is my favorite display case…and look over there, there’s even a working electrical socket dedicated to Tex Robin’s guitar and amp.

Tex is doing some beautiful bootmaking. Killer inlays or one-row stitch patterns… doesn’t matter, all good…really good. But be warned, ordering boots from Tex is not for the thin-skinned or the faint of heart. By appointment only. Long wait… and if Tex doesn’t like your design, he’s gonna tell you so. That’ll never change.

Cowboy Boots, Design & Materials

Cowboy Boot Glossary: Variegated Thread

When I was working on my book, I struggled a bit defining the word “variegated” as in variegated thread. I wrote…

“Variegated Thread: Thread that has been dyed with patches of multiple colors or with different shades of a single color.“

I wrote this as if the reader would picture the thread on the spool or running through a sewing machine, just like I do.

Recently, I happened upon a fashion blog, called “The Coveted.” In her post, stylish Jennine writes about a pair of pink cowboy boots with “rainbow” stitching.

Rainbow! Rainbow really is the perfect word, because these boots are colorful… they have a kinda light-hearted airy quality.

Variegated thread around a butterfly inlay gives the design a kind of flutter …stitched row upon row gives the thread gives the look of broad brush strokes. At a distance, some stitch patterns look a little like watercolors.

Try this…flip through my book and look only at the thread colors used on each boot. Isn’t it interesting? I’ve used the comment section below to note the pages where I found variegated rainbow thread. Did I miss any pairs?

(EXTRA: How does a bootmaker line up the colors? …it’s a trade secret.)

Photos by Marty Snortum. This boot made by Paul Bond is one of the many many swell boots left on the “cutting room floor” while making my book.

Cowboy Boots, Tools of the Trade

Video: Lucky Stitch (1:33min)

Click here to view a video of Martin Chávez stitching a cowboy boot top at Rocketbuster Boots in El Paso, Texas USA. The speed at which Mr. Chávez is sewing is genuine…the video is not sped-up or altered.

Read my essay about cowboy boot stitchwork.

This is my first “videoblog” entry. I filmed the video clips last year using my digital still camera, so there is no sound.

I found some free online video hosting, so hopefully they’ll be more vlogging to come. I’m planning to buy a new camera (one that captures sound) …before I leave for Texas this October.