Tag Archives: shoes

18th Century Mens Shoes – a la Garsault

In preparation for an amazing trip (of which you will hear more about soon), I worked up a new pair of 18th century shoes. Similar to the ones I worked up a while back, these ones were actually for me! The basic pattern was similar, but I must note that as it had been over two years since I worked on that past pair, I made some rather newbie-type mistakes. I must also preface it by saying that I visited several museums just weeks after finishing this pair, and as is always the case, one discovers so many things that were done incorrectly. Refer to the original source material in all things! In any event, they look decent enough, though I can’t wait to get my hands on a couple of weeks to make another pair for myself, an even better pair.

One thing about this piece is that I attempted it in a manner consistent with what is described in Garsault’s 1767 work, the Art of the Shoemaker, translated and annotated by the master cordwainer Al Saguto at Williamsburg (available here).

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More strapping and binding…

A new pair of bound shoes. On these, I made the insole smaller about 3/16″ all the way around so as to draw the stitching in a little. It worked a bit, but was not significantly different from other attempts. On the next pair, I’ll definitely go to 1/4″ and give it a shot. Also, I must apologize for the poor picture – from this point on, you have my word that I’m going to take better pictures and not simply slack off with a cell phone picture.

Costume College and 1580s Shoes

I’ve been attending Costume College (held in Southern California) for a number of years now, and in the past few years, I brought along my shoemaker’s bench and did some work in the hallways to teach people informally about historical footwear. Although I do teach some formal classes, I can reach a larger audience as people come in and out of the classrooms. I normally bring a pair of shoes to finish, and, in fact, you can see me cutting out the woolen insock to be pasted in the strapped shoe that has just been completed. Forgive the modern last, again, my very impressed photo-mate is Amanda S., and the image is courtesy of Breanna M.

Apologies for not getting to take a close-up of the finished pair, but they’re very similar to these. I was able to get them a lovely forest green which was not my original intention, but I’m very pleased with the color. Thing is, I didn’t get to take any close-ups, because there were so many other things going on!
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15th C. Poulaines Redux, with period lasts!

I earlier made a pair of Poulaines on a set of modern lasts, and the results were not bad – in fact, I thought they were rather pretty. Of course, we all know that the fit has to be perfect, otherwise they can be as pretty as they like, and they won’t be suitable. As a result, I decided to carve a last based on historical reproductions. First, the finished results, and I apologize for the fuzzy image.

The lasts that I received were appropriate for a mid 15th century shoe, so my task was to scale the last up to suit a larger foot.
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