10C-Embrd-TS-art - 5/1/20
"10thCentury Embroidered Turnshoes & Ice Skates - Part 1" by Lord Robert of Ferness.
A project in two parts: 1) turnshoes and 2) bone skates. This is part 1.
NOTE: See also the files: Bon-Ice-Skates-art, wintr-sports-lnks, bone-msg, horn-msg, shoemaking-msg, shoes-msg, boots-msg, 2Shod-a-Shire-art.
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NOTICE -
This article was added to this set of files, called Stefan's Florilegium, with the permission of the author.
These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org
Copyright to the contents of this file remains with the author or translator.
While the author will likely give permission for this work to be reprinted in SCA type publications, please check with the author first or check for any permissions granted at the end of this file.
Thank you,
Mark S. Harris...AKA:..Stefan li Rous
stefan at florilegium.org
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You can find more work by this author on his website at:
ShoesByRobert.com
10thCentury Embroidered Turnshoes & Ice Skates -
A project in two parts: 1) turnshoes and 2) bone skates
This is part 1.
by Lord Robert of Ferness
Cordwainer to Their Majesties Gareth & Juliana and Sven & Siobhán
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Notice
This document was created for and entered into the SCA Kingdom of Æthelmearc Arts & Sciences Championship on October 13, A.S.53 / 2018. As it turned out, the project it describes achieved the high score that day.
Numerous leather turnshoes survive from the 10th century in various European contexts. The style chosen for this project come from the Netherlands (Volken, 2014). Elements defining this style include the outside buttstitched uppers; the double flap closure; the rolled toggle fastenings; the buttstitched topband along the entire outside edge of the top opening and the flaps. Many shoes from this period also sport decorative embroidery on the front upper part, which is a major component of this project.
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After Volken (2014: 373). As in the listed characteristics, the shoes displayed have bands on the top edge and flaps, rolled buttons, uppers' seams on the outside of the foot, and a pointed heel sole, which stands up to wear better than a rounded sole.
Note: having made a number of pairs of turnshoes and detailed my processes elsewhere, this documentation does not cover the methodology used to make a pattern, nor the kinds of stitches used, nor the steps followed when assembling and turning shoes. Please see my web site at ShoesByRobert.com (or printouts from there accompanying this document) for those details as well as related subjects.
After Goubitz (2007: 149): reconstruction drawings.
Pattern cut out and embroidered. Buttstitching the upper's lateral side seam.
Nearly 50% of northern European turnshoes have been found decorated with embroidery, at least in some archaeological contexts, with anything from a single stripe on the upper front part to elaborate sets of runes that spell out phrases from Virgil's Latin texts (Larsen: pl. 1; Hansen: 95; Coatsworth and OwenCrocker: 364).
After Grew and de Neergaard (1986: 80): three embroidered vamp stripes.
Such embroidery does not pass into and out of the shoe. Rather, it lays within the thickness of the leather (Pedersen, 9496), as can be seen and examined in the sample displayed with this project and in the photos below.
In order to help align the embroidery and open the leather for the needle, incisions are made in the leather along the path of the needlework. Common stitches include simple whip and a raised fishbone.
Most shoe embroidery thread is silk, but some is linen (Swann: 59). Both red and yellow has been excavated (Hansen: 87). My next shoe embroidery project will use silk thread rather than linen because it frayed more than I hoped it would, especially further along each stripe.
Incisions made on upper. Bending the leather to show the incisions.
Beginning embroidery of the middle stripe. Continuing along the middle stripe.
Working along the second stripe. And progress on the third stripe.
Two interior views showing impressions of completed embroidery but no thread.
The Topband
Adding a proper topband (Goubitz: 69) takes significantly more time than simply and incorrectly whipstitching around a thin foldedover piece of leather, as I have done in the past. Further, I have now learned firsthand that such whipstitching is subject to wear and breakage.
It will be interesting to compare how well this type of topband stands up to usage. Adding this type of topband will also be achieved much faster if it's added to the upper before the sole is attached.
Adding the topband via edgetoedge stitching. Topband wrapped around the first flap.
After Goubitz (2007: 69): showing various types of period topbands. This project used the one shown on the top left
Steps in making a tailed toggle (illustrations above proceed from left to right):
1) Cut a rectangle of leather suitable to the length needed and trim off the outside two thirds of the tail and bring it to a point; remove the corners between the toggle and the tail; cut two slits in the toggle part. The length of the upper part and placement of the slits will depend on the thickness of the leather, how tightly you can roll it, and how bulky you prefer the toggle.
2) Roll the toggle tightly with the grain side of the leather on the inside of the roll.
3) Bring the pointed tail around the toggle and guide it through both slits.
4) Pull the tail tight.
5) Split the tail, if the shoe design will have them tied inside; otherwise leave as one piece and stitch it to the upper or use it as appropriate with the shoe according to its fastening components.
6) Challenges and Lessons Learned
This pair of shoes involved three "firsts" for me:
1) Using a boar's bristle to apply embroidery;
2) Embroidering with linen thread;
3) Adding a topband via edgetoedge stitching.
Applying embroidery thread with a boar's bristle works well. It was as easy to attach this colored linen thread to the bristle as it was the linen stitching thread, and it was just as easy to pull it through awl holes within the leather. However, it did take significantly longer because of the need to first make an awl hole and then pull the bristle through. Using a metal glover's needle requires just one action so less time switching between tools.
The linen thread worked, but it became ever fuzzier along each stripe as it was passed through the leather an increasing number of times. My next project will use silk instead, as a comparison to look and feel on the shoe as well as its characteristics of wear during application.
As for the topband, I admit to being sceptical that an edgebound band would stay in place. Pulling it tight against the upper, though, seems to keep it properly positioned, at least as far as it has been handled so far and worn for a test session with the skates. Time will tell how well it holds up when worn regularly.
Soles: 910 oz., vegetabletanned cow leather from Tandy. The 910 oz. thickness is about the maximum that can be turned. It's my understanding that modern vegtanning processes likely differ from period ones. This material is as close as I can get at the moment for a reasonable cost.
Uppers: 45 oz. "oiltanned" cow leather from Tandy. Definitely not period but nice to work with and maintenancefree.
Stitching: 3ply handbeeswaxed linen "bookbinding" thread, which is as strong as I've been able to acquire so far. Applied with boar bristles (waxed ends).
Embroidery: colored linen from White Wolf and the Phoenix (yellow is 16/2, red is 10/2). It seems that silk was used more often in period, but linen is documented (Swann: 59). Red and yellow colors are documented (Hansen: 87), not necessarily on linen but in terms of color choice.
Topband: 5mm, vegtanned, topgrain leather lace from Tandy. Toggles: scrap leather on hand.
Laces for attaching skates: 4mm, "Deertan" cow leather from Tandy.
Ceynowa, B. and E. Trawicka, eds., 2016. Every Step Leaves a Trace: Historic Footwear from the Collection of the Archaeological Museum in Gdańsk. Gdańsk Archaeological Museum.
Coatsworth, E., and G. OwenCrocker. 2018. Clothing the Past: Surviving Garments From Early Medieval to Early Modern Western Europe. (Brill, Leiden).
Goubitz, O., 2007. Stepping Through Time: Archaeological Footwear from Prehistoric Times until 1800. (SPA Uitgevers).
Grew, F. and M. de Neergaard, 2006. Shoes and Pattens (Medieval Finds from Excavations in London), rev. ed. Boydell Press.
Hansen, G. 2015. "Luxury for Everyone? Embroideries on Leather Shoes and the Consumption of Silk Yarn in 11th13th Century Northern Europe" in Textiles and the Medieval Economy, Huang, A. and C. Jahnke, eds. (Oxbow Books, Oxford).
Larsen, A. 1992. The Bryggen Papers, Main Series, Vol. 4: Footwear from the Gullskoen Area of Bryggen. Scandinavian University Press, Oslo).
Mould, Q., 2004. Craft, Industry and Everyday Life: Leather and Leatherworking in AngloScandinavian and Medieval York (The Small Finds). Council for British Archaeology.
NorskaGulkoa, M. 1964. Early Mediaeval Embroideries on 10th13th Centuries Leather Objects from Ostrówek in Opole, Bulletin Archéologique Polonais, 30, Warsaw.
Pedersen, I. 1992. "Appendix: Technical Analysis of the Embroidery" in Larsen, 1992.
Swann, J., 2001. History of Footwear in Norway, Sweden and Finland: Prehistory to 1950. (Kungl. Vitterhets Och Antikvitets Akademien, Stockholm).
Volken, M., 2014. Archaeological Footwear: Development of Shoe Patterns and Styles from Prehistory til the 1600's. (SPA Uitgevers).
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Copyright 2018 by Ken Stuart. <kps1 at cornell.edu>. Permission is granted to copy, repost, print out, and/or redistribute this document for noncommercial purposes so long as no modification is made to it; no cost is charged beyond a reasonable copying fee; reproductions are in fullcolor; this notice stays attached. Any other usage must be expressly granted by the author.
If this article is reprinted in a publication, please place a notice in the publication that you found this article in the Florilegium. I would also appreciate an email to myself, so that I can track which articles are being reprinted. Thanks. -Stefan.
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