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Reddit mentions of Stepping Through Time: Archaeological Footwear from Prehistoric Times until 1800

Sentiment score: 2
Reddit mentions: 2

We found 2 Reddit mentions of Stepping Through Time: Archaeological Footwear from Prehistoric Times until 1800. Here are the top ones.

Stepping Through Time: Archaeological Footwear from Prehistoric Times until 1800
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Specs:
Height0.76 Inches
Length11.38 Inches
Number of items1
Weight3.41275581576 Pounds
Width9.01 Inches

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Found 2 comments on Stepping Through Time: Archaeological Footwear from Prehistoric Times until 1800:

u/WulftheRed ยท 9 pointsr/sca

I'm not SCA either, I'm an English early medieval re-enactor, but dodgy shoes seem to be a constant in all forms of recreational medievalism. I've been making shoes and other period leatherwork for about 15 years. A good shoemaker will always be popular, but personally I only make them for family and a couple of close friends, because they are about my least favourite bit of leatherwork to actually do. If you enjoy shoemaking, then even if you're "half-skilled" now, you'll get enough work that you'll soon be a master cobbler.

Please bear in mind that everything below is written from the perspective of someone who thinks history ended at about 2pm on 14 October 1066, Haroldus Rex interfectus est and everything after that is just modern :).

Be prepared to waste a lot of leather, especially when you're starting out. Remember that most people have slightly different sized feet, a left shoe is not simply a mirror image of a right shoe, especially in period shoes, always get measurements/patterns for both feet. A last is not a model of a foot, it is a model of the inside of a shoe. Learn to sew really well, I always use saddle stitch but it's not essential, and knot the thread every 4-5 stitches to minimise the risk of the shoe falling apart as soon as the thread wears through, which it will. Use the best quality waxed linen thread you can get, I'd compromise on quality of leather before buying cheap thread. The leather probably doesn't need to be as thick as you think, this may just be me, but the number of shoes I've made and then realised they would have been better, and easier to make, with slightly thinner leather. A shoe that is slightly too small for comfort can often be stretched to fit by putting it on and sitting with your foot in a bowl of water for a couple of hours.

Finally, a lot of people, especially the beer and bash brigade, will tell you medieval shoes don't have enough grip and want modern soles. Don't give in to them, wet grass on a steep slope can be challenging, but apart from that I've never had any real difficulty walking, running or fighting in authentic shoes. There are special cases, such as people with disabilities or people planning on walking a very long way on modern road surfaces, but in general medieval shoes are as comfortable and effective as modern shoes. If you really want to improve the grip, hobnails or strips of leather glued on to make a tread are reasonable compromises.

Resources:

The most comprehensive online resource: http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/shoe/SHOEHOME.HTM
I printed out the entire site several years ago, and still refer to it frequently.

Two pages with shoes good for novices to make:

A nice guide to making simple early medieval shoes:
http://dineidyn.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/a-beginners-guide-to-turnshoes.pdf

Very very simple, but authentic early medieval shoes (without hurrying I can knock out a shoe in 2 hours using this method), a bit wasteful of leather but the offcuts can used for toggles, etc:
http://www.vikingsonline.org.uk/resources/authenticity/basickit/basickit15.html#frontseam

From the same site, a guide to early medieval shoe fastenings:
http://www.vikingsonline.org.uk/resources/authenticity/basickit/annex11.html
(Ignore what it says about bone/horn/wood toggles, there is virtually no evidence for them in the archaeological record. Admittedly they wouldn't survive well in the ground, but their total absence, as compared to other small items of the same materials, suggests they weren't used. The leather toggles it shows are far more likely to be authentic.)

This looks like a possibly useful Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/periodshoes/?fref=ts
I only found it while I was writing this, but it looks promising.

If you're interested in early medieval shoes this Facebook group may be useful (both for research and selling):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/624164817603195/?fref=ts

A word of warning about Facebook groups - be wary of posting to groups that are not explicitly SCA-oriented. The SCA has a very different approach to authenticity to that of most European re-enactors, and SCAdians can be subjected to very unpleasant levels of mockery and vitriol.

Printed resources:

If you're seriously interested in historical shoes, this is just about essential:
http://www.amazon.com/Archaeological-Footwear-Development-Patterns-Prehistory/dp/9089321179/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421324590&sr=1-1
Vast selection of shoes, with (very small) cutting patterns.

This is also very good, has a different selection of shoes. I would strongly recommend both books but if you have to choose this would be my second choice:
http://www.amazon.com/Stepping-Through-Time-Archaeological-Prehistoric/dp/9089320024/ref=la_B001KCUT80_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421324595&sr=1-2

Much less comprehensive, and less useful for reconstructing, but well worth a read and half the price of the other two:
http://www.amazon.com/Shoes-Pattens-Medieval-Excavations-London/dp/1843832380/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421324583&sr=1-1

u/mrgrigson ยท 3 pointsr/Leathercraft

The book you're looking for is called Stepping Through Time. You'll likely need to do some scaling and adjusting, but it will definitely get you on the right path. Good luck!