Making Moccasins

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Posted on : 4:21 PM | By : Anonymous | In : ,

I always have a project going, more than one really.  Right now I just finished knitting a toque for myself using a very simple rib stitch, and I have materials and tools for making the girls some suede moccasins, and two empire-waist dresses cut out for them (using the pattern from Sensibility) and I need to make three more wool soakers for the bun in the oven.  But first things first.  We have a study coming up that we want to do on frontier-people (Mountain Men sounds a bit sexist, lol), and so we need moccasins of course.  Here's how I make them:



1. Put your foot on a piece of leather (heavy leather or buckskin if you want a hard-soled moccasin) and trace it. Cut out this shape, flip it over and make a reverse one and cut it out – they are the soles of your moccasins.
2. Get a piece of soft leather, and draw a pattern which is curved into a triangular shape with the tall point at the same spot your big toe will be. It should be 1 inch longer than the sole of the moccasin. Cut it out, flip it over and make a reverse one. 
3. Draw a T-shape in the center of the flat edge of the triangular soft leather and cut it out. Do the same for the other moccasin.
4. If you want to embroider or add beading to the top of the moccasin do so now.
5. Starting at the toe, stitch the sole to the upper soft leather until you get to the heel, then do the other side starting at the toe. Repeat for the other shoe.
6. Cut two little rectangles out of soft leather to be the tongues of the moccasins. Sew them into the T-shape, leaving the sides open.
7. Sew up the back of the moccasins.
8. Punch holes with an awl for lacing and use leather laces to tie them up.
9. When wearing the moccasins, sometimes the bottoms can get slippery in winter, but these moccasins don’t wear out as quickly as other styles do. Make sure to wear good socks with them.

I got an Awl for All lockstitch leather sewing tool the other day and I'm going to see how it works.  It has a bobbin of waxed thread, a needle and a wrench that can be stored in the wooden handle.  Normally you would have an awl, poke a hole and use a separate needle to make the stitch, but this tool makes that a single step.

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