Making footwear

[Sniper-T]

Inspired by Izzy's clothing post...

Once the stores close, and inventory is gone, what are your plans for footwear? Not just for you, but for everyone in your family/group. You may have 3 or 4 or more pairs of boots squirreled away, but what about when your BIL shows up in his penny loafers from the office? Or that Doctor and his family that you met on the road looking to find a group? You certainly cannot stock every size of every shoe available, so there will come a time that you may have to make your own footwear. Who's ready for that?

Do you have awls and punches for leather? do you know how to make leather? Do you have any instock?

Moccasins are quite easy to make, especially if you have a pattern, but if you don't some trial and error will suffice.

This is a fantastic place for all kinds of supplies, from tools to leather, to tanning liquids (smell better than brain tanning), and of course patterns.

http://www.tandyleatherfactory.ca/en...oresearch.aspx

I have a pattern for a size 9-11 moccasin, if anyone wants I can scan it in and share it. (if you have access to a decent photocopier, you can make copies at 90%, 80%, 70%, 110%, 120%, etc, and they will scale up or down to cover the whole size gambit.

I don't know how the natives did it, but I have always found maccasins to be very slippery on wet grass, or on snow. Something I've done a couple times, is to rip the sole off of an old pair of boots or shoes, and glue that on to the bottom. So if you have kids, you may want to keep an eye out at garage sales or garbage dumps, because that pair of shoes that appears to be falling apart, might just have a decent sole on it..

They sell a huge array of shoe glues, some of them quite expensive, but there is two things that you can get by with that are much cheaper and have many more uses. One is your standard contact cement, and the other is Shoe-Goo.

For other patterns, check places like 'Michaels' or any other craft shop near you. a pattern is a patter, whether you are making a silk dress, or a leather one. And... everything you have is a potential pattern in itself. rip out the stitches, lay the material flat, and trace around it. Voila! you just patterned your own clothing/shoes.

[eagle326]

Excellent post Sniper!! Have plenty of footwear but it'll all wear out in SHTF era. It'll be good to pick up some of the moccasin & boot patterns to have on hand to use along with some old soles if need be. It wouldn't hurt to get material and trying to make a pair just to see where your weak points are.

Thanks again big guy.

[izzyscout21]

Fan friggin tastic! Thanks for this post, Sniper

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who wants to make me a pair??? LOL

[Grumpy Old Man]

I've been making moccasins since boy scouts. Center seams are probably the easiest. Longaniers (sp?) are a bit more complex and Navajo style desert mocs are a true test of skill. Here are some links.

http://www.nativetech.org/clothing/m...n/moctext.html

This is kind of different. Maybe Sniper can try this.

http://wildwoodsurvival.com/survival...oes/index.html

And a pattern book.

https://www.leathercraftlibrary.com/...ne-noland.aspx

[Sniper-T]

I've never made the birchbark ones, but have made similar out of cattails (the plant, not the animal part, although....)

Unless you are on smooth fairly forgiving ground, they do not hold up well. They will do in a pinch, but do not expect a 15 mile trek down the road. Although, if you had a sole from a shoe, and were able to glue it on, they could quite possible last very well.

Another method that I did when I was young, is I made a pair of moccasins out of the hide from moose legs. I cut the hide off above and below the knee so I had a tube, like a sock. The bend of the knee creates a natural heel spot. then I trimmed the front to length and stitched it straight across. I should have overlapped the top down and put the seam in the hollow under the toes (hindsight). Then I sheared the hair down to about a 1/4" lg, and turned them inside out. The fur was quiet soft, created a nice insulating layer, and they were stupid easy to make with minimal sewing.

Unfortunately, I didn't scrape the hide well enough, nor tan it well enough, and they started to smell, and my mom pitched them before I could rework them. Yep, I was about 8. lol