How To Make Shoes

1
Decide what kind of shoe you would like to make. If you're planning on making a shoe, it's undoubtedly important you have some idea what kind of shoe you would like to make. Shoes are incredibly diverse, and there are plenty of types you can make, not limited to loafers, sneakers, sandals, boots and high heels. Try to imagine what kind of shoe style would suit your individual style the most.

It may be helpful to sketch out a few ideas. Manifesting your ideas with an illustration can come a long way towards planning out your shoe.
If you're new to shoe making, it's probably best to stick to something simple. A basic laced shoe goes without some of the finesse of more complicated types, and you can still add plenty of flair to a basic formula.

2
Design, find or purchase a blueprint for your shoe. Before you think about making your shoe, it's important you have an accurate and well-detailed set of plans to work on. After all, you don't want to be making design decisions on the go; shoemaking is a very precise business, and the slightest mishap could keep the shoe from turning out well.

Basic shoe templates are available on the internet. Do a search and look up some 'recipes'. If nothing else, it might give you inspiration for your own design.
Online art outlets like www.etsy.com may have more elaborate shoe templates for sale.
Designing your own is only recommended if you've made a shoe before. If that's what you're ultimately looking to do, try stitching together something basic with a free template, and put that experience towards making your own the second time around.

3
Harvest parts from old shoes. You can save yourself a lot of time and give your shoes a more professional look if you harvest parts from other shoes you don't use anymore. In particular, shoe soles are good as they'll give you a reference for the rest of your stitching. Provided they're in good enough shape, you should salvage the parts you think might work in your new shoe, taking care to remove them slowly and carefully with a scalpel knife.
4
Get the rest of your materials from a hardware store or speciality outlet. While specific lists of ingredients will depend on the certain type of shoe you're looking to make, it generally goes without saying that you'll want a few sheets of good leather and a firm fabric.

If you don't have a sewing and stitching kit, you'll need to buy or borrow one to make your shoes.
Rubber, leather and fabrics are all good for the chassis of the shoes.
While its recommended that shoe soles be taken from old shoes or bought as pre-fabricated supplies, you can make a functional and waterproof sole using a few sheets of cork. Each sheet need not be more than 1/8 inches thick.
Remember to get at least twice as much as you think, so you'll have enough to make a pair!