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For those who wear Freed pointe shoes


munchkin16

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There is a great film somewhere which shows the physicality required to be a Freed maker. It featured the fabulous (sadly now ex, as he's left) Keymaker at work. His hands were like builders' hands - large, immensely strong, battered, and the speed and force with which he made shoes was immense. Certainly not a job I could do, even able-bodied!

 

I'll try to find a link to the film as watching him work was amazing.

 

Edited to add Can't find it right this second but it was a Scottish short film called "The Perfect Fit".

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Thanks S&P I seem to remember that or a similar film and biceps were big!

As an aside, my non DD (15) has been going to the gym for about 6 months and I commented she must be really strong now...then I foolishly challenged her to an arm wrestle lol. Oh my goodness I couldn't even shift her hand a millimetre!! Think I may suggest a career path for her in pointe shoes!

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There is a great film somewhere which shows the physicality required to be a Freed maker. It featured the fabulous (sadly now ex, as he's left) Keymaker at work. His hands were like builders' hands - large, immensely strong, battered, and the speed and force with which he made shoes was immense. Certainly not a job I could do, even able-bodied!

 

I'll try to find a link to the film as watching him work was amazing.

 

Edited to add Can't find it right this second but it was a Scottish short film called "The Perfect Fit".

 

I don't think this is the one you mean but it's still interesting!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1xgzGLCvw4

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Hi this enquiry is more to do with the pointe shoes rather than the making of but DD bought some Freeds recently (very expensive out here) and she says one of them the sole is "bending the wrong way" ie. out away from her foot rather than lying along the sole of her foot making a "bulge" if you see what I mean. Has anybody else had this problem and if so how did you fix it? DD has very high, highly arched feet so she is a bit upset because she is worried it is ruining the line of her leg/foot. I'm worried about the cost!

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Dramascientist- from what you describe, my dd had same problem with her last pair of freed ( studios I think) one shoe would twist and the insole was always twisted and unaligned and was hard to shift back due to the glue. Gave up on the shoes after a few hours and a black toenail.  Of course, could have been that it simply was not the right shoe for her ( as clearly many people have success with freed) but we had had proper fitting and someone else told me their daughter had the same issue with her freeds.

Dd also has a high arch/ high instep/flexible feet. My dd is tall too and I wonder whether it does put more strain on the shoes..we have taken the plunge and forked out on Gaynors though she has not put them to the test yet..

Hope your dd's shoes work out!  the cost is crippling.

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Dramascientist- from what you describe, my dd had same problem with her last pair of freed ( studios I think) one shoe would twist and the insole was always twisted and unaligned and was hard to shift back due to the glue. Gave up on the shoes after a few hours and a black toenail.  Of course, could have been that it simply was not the right shoe for her ( as clearly many people have success with freed) but we had had proper fitting and someone else told me their daughter had the same issue with her freeds.

Dd also has a high arch/ high instep/flexible feet. My dd is tall too and I wonder whether it does put more strain on the shoes..we have taken the plunge and forked out on Gaynors though she has not put them to the test yet..

Hope your dd's shoes work out!  the cost is crippling.

 

 

I feel you Chaperone - I have very very high arches/instep - sitting on the floor with minimum stretching of my feet my toes touch the floor!  I am tall too (and a slight sway back on my legs)

I KILL pointe shoes

way back when I got my first (years ago) I got Freeds (wonderful pointes) but even 3o odd years ago they didn't last long for me

My latest pair - Grisko have been a bit more hardwearing but they don't have much more life in them - so its off to find more

 

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I don't think being tall puts more strain on the shoes other than that taller people are usually heavier because they carry weight in their height.

 

I'm tall but was never particularly hard on pointe shoes, probably because my insteps are not particularly high. I think that feet with higher arches are the ones that break shoes more quickly!

 

Every time I read about Freeds I always think they sound as if they would work well for me but after 2 pairs of Gamba I discovered Sansha and loved them so never looked back! Maybe I'll give them a go out of curiosity.

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Hi this enquiry is more to do with the pointe shoes rather than the making of but DD bought some Freeds recently (very expensive out here) and she says one of them the sole is "bending the wrong way" ie. out away from her foot rather than lying along the sole of her foot making a "bulge" if you see what I mean. Has anybody else had this problem and if so how did you fix it? DD has very high, highly arched feet so she is a bit upset because she is worried it is ruining the line of her leg/foot. I'm worried about the cost!

Maybe this is a problem with hard shanks...

 

My dd has had exactly the same thing happen (although not Freeds) and she also has really high arches & short toes. We always used to break the shanks in where told to - ie: fairly high up under the arch, but have now started to break them in much lower down as well (almost by the ball of the foot at demi-pointe) so they are 'broken-in' in two places.. Not only has this helped with the unattractive 'bulging' problem, the shoes now last longer since previously they used to die when the shank became loose and detached from the box underneath the balls of her feet.

 

Hope this makes sense!

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  • 5 weeks later...

Hi Dramascientist,  I don't know if you've already fixed the problem/ bought new shoes, but just in case :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX-PNqJr9z4

 

I had a similar problem with my first pair of Freed's - although my feet are really not that flexible/arched, but they are strong- and when I brought them into the store to have them looked at (to see if there was a quick fix), the manager and my teacher said the make was probably too soft, which kind is your dd wearing?

 

The kind that I wear now have mostly been near-perfect (classics, wine glass maker xxx shank) but occasionally what happened to your DD happens, the breaking in method in the link above normally fixes it.

 

Hope this helps  :) .

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There is a great film somewhere which shows the physicality required to be a Freed maker. It featured the fabulous (sadly now ex, as he's left) Keymaker at work. His hands were like builders' hands - large, immensely strong, battered, and the speed and force with which he made shoes was immense. Certainly not a job I could do, even able-bodied!

 

I'll try to find a link to the film as watching him work was amazing.

 

Edited to add Can't find it right this second but it was a Scottish short film called "The Perfect Fit".

Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKBTtVTT3qA

 

I just came across it while searching for something else. It's really fascinating! I'd never seen it before :-)

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