Making Medieval Leather Shoes by Hand | Anglo-Saxon Early Medieval Turn Shoes скачать в хорошем качестве

Making Medieval Leather Shoes by Hand | Anglo-Saxon Early Medieval Turn Shoes

The Anglo-Saxons wore simple leather shoes, known as turnshoes due to their inside out construction. Many shoes have been found in excavations of archaeological sites such as Coppergate, at York. These shoes consist of a sole of cowhide, roughly 3mm thick and an upper of goatskin, roughly 1-2mm thick. The Anglo-Saxons used bark-tanned, alum-tawed, or rawhide leather, but tanned leather was most likely used for shoes. The sole is based on the outline of my foot, with extra room around the toes for a nice barefoot feel. The pattern for the uppers can be worked out by taking the circumference of the sole, along with measurements around the foot at various points. I used an upper from my previous pair of shoes as a pattern, making sure to give myself extra allowance on the upper and back sides to allow for 'tailoring' the fit at the end. The holes for sewing were pierced with an awl. The first three stitches of the upper seam are sewn first, to join the two upper pieces together at the the toe. The shoes are sewn with linen thread waxed with beeswax. Linen was relatively common in the Anglo-Saxon period, but leather thong or sinew may also have been used. The uppers are then sewn onto the sole with a saddle stitch. The shoe is sewn together 'inside out' and is later turned to leave the seam on the inside. This protects the seam and gives the name 'turn-shoe'. The two sides of the upper are each sewn onto the sole from toe to heel. This means that any mismatches in hole spacing can be sorted out at the heel where any puckering is less obvious. Saddle stitch uses two needles on the end of one piece of thread. When the thread runs out or frays, instead of tying off, the seam is backstitched with three knotted stitches, and a new thread started a little way back in the seam, to give a strong and neat finish, with no lumpy knots. One the uppers are sewn to the sole all the way round, the back seam is stitched up, again with a saddle-stitch. The shoes can now be turned the right way round; soaking them in water helps to turn them without too much trouble. Once turned right side out, the uppers can be 'tailored' to sit snugly on the foot, by placing the foot inside and pulling the uppers together at a point which feels right. This is then marked as the seam, any excess can be trimmed off and the upper seam at the front of the foot can be sewn up. Finally holes for lacing and any decoration can be punched. The Anglo-Saxons used various lacing and fastening styles, along with punched and embroidered decoration. These shoes are not based on any particular archaeological example, although they are similar to the second pair of shoes found at Sutton Hoo, with some Late Roman influence in the lacing and punched decoration. The pattern is mostly a product of my own experiments with shoe making to produce a pattern that is easy to sew, turn inside out, and can be cut oversized, then adjusted to fit my foot once the upper and sole are sewn together. I prefer this more organic approach to the more complicated process of taking exact measurements and producing a set pattern. Leather turn-shoes are comfortable and, provided they are given enough space at the toe, very similar to modern 'barefoot' shoes in terms of foot ergonomics. Being made of very thin, bark-tanned leather, they are not water-proof in anything more than damp grass. Your feet very quickly get soaked in wet conditions. The soles offer almost no grip, and a just little protection against thorns and stones. As is often seen in pictorial evidence, it may be the case that Medieval people often went barefoot, particularly when working in the fields and during the summer. With thanks to: Grzegorz Kulig, Silversmith, for making the pattern-welded knife. If you would like to support me further, you can become a patron here:   / gesithasgewissa   Join this channel to become a member:    / @gesithasgewissa   Or make a one-off donation: https://paypal.me/gesithasgewissa   / gesithasgewissa     / gesithasgewissa