$10 latchet shoes

Yes, period-oid passable 16th century shoes for $10 (or less!).

So, in case you haven't noticed, in the SCA I tend to hang with the late-period folks. Some of them are particular sticklers for HA (historical accuracy)*. One of them is a stickler for shoes. I knew he was a shoe guy before I really got to know him, because that's what he was laureled for. (In the SCA a Laurel is a person who has done tremendous work in the arts and sciences of medieval studies. It's an equivalent learning/study/teaching level to being a Knight. In the modern world, have you ever heard the phrase "rest on one's laurels"? Yeah, some people have put in near PhD level work on their medieval studies so they're really good and knowledgeable on this stuff...bu I'm digressing from my point about the shoes).

I know that a particular peeve for many reenactors can be the wrong shoes. This doesn't just hold to SCA folks. It can be the CivWar folks, the living history museums, lots of folks really. But I'm not a leather worker and I don't have gobs of cash to spend on accurate footwear made by someone else. This also makes me sad because who wouldn't like to have gobs of cash to spend on fabulous shoes. Have you seen my shoes in real life? I'm not a purse gal, I'm a shoe gal. But I also have to be practical when it comes to buying shoes. I wear mine to work. I have to get MILEAGE out of them. (funfact - my first year of teaching I was voted "teacher with the best shoes")

The patent leather candy corn heels. Because...candy corn. 

Last May, I decided I needed to make something more appropriate. Here's some examples:

From a Holbein sketch.

Cows Mouth shoe and last from https://northamptonmuseums.wordpress.com/category/shoes/shoe-history/

a sketch by Lucas de Heere

 

The "Virginia" shoe available for purchase at American Duchess

Actually, American Duchess has a gorgeous raised heel shoe that is de rigeur in footwear for 16th century reenactors. I don't have the $200 to drop on a shoe I will only wear to a few occasions each year. I know the designer. I have seen the prototype in person. But alas, it just wasn't meant to be last May (or right now for that matter). So I got crafty.

See the photo journey after the jump...

I did some online research. There was one blog about how you can make a passable man's latchet shoe out of Goodwill oxfords. They would be cheap and if you totally wreck them (either in wear or in the refurbishment) you don't beat yourself up over it.

Except that you can't really find that kind of shoe for women at thrift stores. But the lines in a man's dress shoe resemble the lines in an old favorite - the tennis shoe. 

Supplies: 

- black "keds style" tennis shoe with the black sole edge (It's important to get the black edge because otherwise you get white or that gum-rubber color which would just point out that your shoes are not period (and cause pointing and laughing by the HA crew)* 

- tailors/dress makers chalk

-scissors

-seam ripper 

Step 1) use chalk to draw a decent strap that uses one of the eyelets on each side. The strap should head toward the stitching near the arch of the foot and then follow the top of the shoe along the stitching of the upper.

Step 2) use your scissors to cut into the edge-binding at your chalk line and right where the eyelets meet the tongue area at the top of the toe box. Just cut the binding. Then switch to seam rippers as you'll get a lot more "up close" with your canvas shoe and won't be as likely to cut through the stitching. Leave as much of that upper stitching as possible otherwise your seams fall apart and your period-oid shoe is useless. (I cut too much on the original shoe and they started to split on that seam after about 4 months)

Step 2B) cut 2 vertical parallel lines, approximately 1 cm long, in the tongue about where the lace would cross from the eyelet. This is to help the tongue stay in place while on your foot as you're removing most of the part of the shoe that stabilizes the tongue (and will remove some of the tongue itself). You will put the lace through the tongue first, then through the eyelets, then tie them.

Step 3) Try on shoes and realize that the tongue under the laces was hella wider than you expected (yes I just used the word hella, I grew up in Sacramento, get over it). Take shoe off and trim the edges of the tongue to give a bigger "window" on the side of the shoe.

Step 4) tie your shoes with a pretty ribbon that you had lying around the sewing/crafting room.

Step 5) post pics of your $10/10 minute latchet shoes on Facebook and have one of those particular sticklers for HA* comment that you really need a better ribbon. Explain that you used what you had.

Step 6) go to mailbox about a week later and find that your ribbons were offensive enough that you're the recipient of a lovely pair of silk ribbons with handmade aiglets in a color that makes your heart flutter.

Step 7) wear those shoes whenever it's appropriate because the great things about these is they're also decent about arch support or you can hide an insole in them, they're rubber soled so you can wear them outdoors or in (I love dancing in these), and frankly long hemlines mean nobody really sees much of them anyway, but you know you won't be offending the majority with ugly modern shoes because DAMMIT - YOU TRIED!

. . . 

And then I wore them out over the course of a year and the side stitch started to come apart so I made another pair yesterday for only $6 this time. Of course, my beautiful laces have also seen a fair share of wear and I've chosen to retire them. 

No pretty ribbons for these yet. Also, adorbz over the knee length socks from Sock Dreams.

Unabashedly stolen from Francis's Facebook post in which he waxed poetic about finally meeting an old friend face to face and of course he meant this shoe. Who can blame him really? It's a damned beautiful shoe. And the rakish grin doesn't hurt either. Oh, and the shoe is housed at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England. 

* - by the way, while I know many many people who prefer the SCA to attempt historical accuracy, I've never once actually seen anyone pointed at or laughed at for not being 100% accurate. In fact, I'm rather upset when I hear about these myths of terrible horrible snobs because I am focused on costuming and would NEVER belittle someone's attempt at historical clothing and trying to recreate a medieval look. If asked, I would offer guidance and a learning experience for both the enquirer and myself. This is also the experience I've had in asking about clothing. But I'm also still terrified (3 years in) of having someone more knowledgeable than me think I'm just a travesty in linen and so I joke here about the terrible HA snobbery because I'm still secretly afraid of making too many faux pas and offending.