TECHNOLOGY has relieved people of many chores: scrubbing shirts on a washboard, making butter in a churn, stitching clothing by hand. But on a Saturday morning in May, seven students gathered around a workbench at 3rd Ward, a craft education work space in Brooklyn, to learn how to sew moccasins.

“You have to remember: a shoe is transportation,” said the instructor, Kat Roberts, as she tugged at a scrap of brown suede a student had chosen to construct a pair of shoes. “You don’t just want it to look good.”

Fabian Grateroles, 30, a freelance art director, traced a silhouette of his right foot onto a swath of oatmeal-colored muslin, the pattern based on a Florsheim design by Duckie Brown. It was his second sewing class in a year, this one spurred because he could not find Duckie Browns comfortable enough for his size 7 foot.

“I’m not going to pay $400 for a shoe that doesn’t fit,” Mr. Grateroles said with a sniff as he stitched together the muslin mock-up with a needle and black thread. Besides, he was having fun. “I usually spend my whole day in front of a computer,” he said cheerfully.