My armor light Kit

[Sir Patrick]

I forgot to ask what gauge are those rings your sabatons are made of?

[Sir Brian]

@ Red Knight:
I would say they are 16g but at 8mm ID they retained their original shape quite well.
I have no concerns that the links will separate very easily with frequent use. 

@ Sir Gerard:
That is probably one of the primary reasons I have avoided period footwear because of the
lack of adequate soles and a decent heel with a sufficient arch to allow the spur straps. Be that as it may,
I would concur with your idea and attach rings or eyelets onto a couple of straps under the flat soft soles.
You could either run them straight across or use a crisscross method. I've staged a rough example in the pictures. 

[SirNathanQ]

Sir Ed, I had the same problem with my cheater chausses, as even with lacing my ankle is far too big.

The solution I used was to only lace the top half, and use ties for the bottom half.

And for the lacing to the sole, I would take basically a long tie and lace them to the bottom. No Idea as to a permanent set up though 
My answer to period hecklers who pose questions of this type is "Squires"

[Sir Edward]

... would be interested in seeing solutions to the problem of wearing maile sabatons over "authentic" footware. I am considering a couple of straps accross the underside of the sole, from the outside to the inside of the foot, one at the ball and one just in front of the heel of the foot.

That's similar to what I did with my period footwear (until the soles fell off). I ran a lace in a crisscross pattern under the shoe to hold the mail down. I still do it this way, but I'm using less period shoes now (fantasy medieval perhaps? They're ankle-boots from Sandlar).

[SirNathanQ]

My Revivals are still holding up rather well