Simple 14th C Turnshoes (Photo Heavy)

[Don Jorge]

From looking at your pattern, could I actually just make the top piece from one piece of leather and avoid the saddle stitch? or is there a reason for a two piece construction of the top?

[Ian]

You could do it from one

[Don Jorge]

Perfect!

[Ian]

To get a good idea of historical patterns based on real finds I recommend the following books:

1. Leather and Leatherworking in Anglo-Scandinavian and Medieval York
 (Free PDF!)

2. Shoes and Pattens: Medieval Finds from Excavations in London

3. Stepping Through Time - this one is kind of the definitive standard on historical footwear, but good luck finding it for an affordable price

If you're going to go to the trouble of making turnshoes, I caution you from copying other people's reproduction patterns, go to the source!

[Sir Douglas]

I saw Stepping Through Time on Amazon once for about 80 bucks, which I thought was a lot of money. Had I known the price was going to jump to $999.00, I probably would have grabbed it.

[Don Jorge]

Wow that PDF is awesome...I know what I am doing for easter weekend...

[Don Jorge]

I saw Stepping Through Time on Amazon once for about 80 bucks, which I thought was a lot of money. Had I known the price was going to jump to $999.00, I probably would have grabbed it.

http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/stepping-through-time.html

35 british pounds...

http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Stepping-Through-Time/Olaf-Goubitz/9789089320025

$75

http://www.oxbowbooks.com/pdfs/books/purses%20amerika.pdf

freee

[Ian]

The Books a Million link is much like Amazon 'shipping in 2-4 weeks' but they never actually get them back in stock to ship.  May have to try that import version.

[scott2978]

Hey Ian I know this is kinda thread necro, but would you mind telling us if there is any difference between your shoes for civil wear and your shoes for wearing under armor? Are the laces the same and everything?

[Ian]

All the lacing on my shoes are just leather. My arming shoes have an additional set of points at the toe and are side lacing . Every other style of shoe I've made use different types of enclosures and designs, but one pair of my civil shoes are very similar to my arming shoes . I've done about 4 different shoe styles with different pattern variations and enclosures to completion and a couple others I wasn't happy with. 

I just prefer side lacing for arming shoes because it keeps the laces out of the way of my sabatons. For civil turnshoes any documented design will do.

[jkoelker]

Hi Ian,

New member, but I've followed your work on your YouTube page, which I love. I was about to jump into a turnshoe project using another tutorial, but I much prefer the look of yours (and it is closer to my period/persona).

I just wanted to ask, how did you go about defining the patterns for your bottom and uppers? It seems like a bit of a trick to ensure the length of the upper aligns with the edge of the soles. I'd like to avoid ruining any leather as I attempt this, so I figured I'd ask for your insights as you took those first steps. The rest I don't think will be a problem for me with my current experience with leather working, but drawing the patterns accurately is not a skill I have developed yet!

Thanks,
Josh

[Ian]

Hi Josh,

This was just my first pair and I've learned a lot since then. It was a copy of another pair of shoes I had laying around so I already had a pattern that fit me properly.  Ideally you need a last (a wooden or plastic foot form, but they can be made from duct tape).  Then the upper will get stretched over the last to marry up to the sole.  The upper will generally stretch a little bit beyond the edges of the sole, they don't need to line up perfectly, because the excess will get cut off after the upper is stitched on.  For patterns I generally use the first three books listed here (http://knyghterrant.com/index.php/recommendations/books/leatherworking-and-leather-goods-books/)  and I will try to tweak them to my own foot or to a last.  I've made a mock up of a pattern in fabric before just to get an idea of coverage.  One day I will write up a much better tutorial and post it on the website.  In the mean time, check out those books.  "Shoes and Pattens" is probably the least expensive and easiest to get a hold of.  There's also this free pdf that has a lot of information about construction and includes patterns (http://www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/AY17-16-Leather-and-leatherworking.pdf)

-Ian

[jkoelker]

Thanks so much for the tips, Ian. I took a crack at creating a pair this past weekend, and I'm rather pleased with the result. Using your guide as well as another guide I found online I had little difficulty putting these together. Creating the pattern was really the most challenging part, but now that I have one saved I should be able to make future pairs with much more ease.

I'll be dying these a light brown today and call them done. I'm curious, did you find that they stiffen up too much when you dyed them? From past experience I've found that leather tends to become more rigid and brittle when dyed. Also, what type of leather treatment did you use to preserve the shoe afterwards?

Thanks again!

[Ian]

I'm curious, did you find that they stiffen up too much when you dyed them? From past experience I've found that leather tends to become more rigid and brittle when dyed. Also, what type of leather treatment did you use to preserve the shoe afterwards?

Yes, until you treat them with something, then the soften right back up.  I use pure neatsfoot oil on most of my medieval leather projects.  It restores the suppleness to the leather and offers some moisture protection.  You can always use an oil / beeswax mixture to add more of a water 'proofing' to the leather, and some people just use modern leather conditioners or water proofing solutions.  My shoes almost always tend to get wet at events.  I just make sure they're not in a crushed state as they dry out, then I will wipe them clean and apply more oil as necessary.    I've also found (for the future) that dying before assembly sometimes results in a nicer finished product just because it prevents you from having to try and get dye into the turned seam without getting it all over the soles (which I leave plain).

[jkoelker]

Thanks for the advice. I thought about pre-dying, but I wasn't sure how it'd react being in water so much for the soaking process. It's funny, I also found that, although both shoes were cut from the exact same patterns, one ended up being slightly bigger after drying. I might re-soak it and let it dry again and see if that works.