OMG Shoes! 18th Century shoes!

[alex_beecroft]

I have finally installed my buckles on my 18th Century shoes.  Or rather, I’ve finally chased my husband down long enough to get him to do it.  It’s all but impossible to do yourself, since you need the shoes to be on your feet while you do it, to get the fit right.

Here is a picture of the buckle and the shoe:

You can’t see very well, but the buckle has two sets of tines – the spiky ones underneath which you can see in this picture, and the long ones in the middle which are hard to see since they’re poking straight out at the camera.  The shoes have two sets of latchets, and the aim of the process is to get holes punched in the latchets so that the bottom spikes go in one side, the top spikes go in the other, and the buckle ends up centrally placed on the shoe.  (As you can see, this was taken after the job was done.)

This may seem like a complete performance, and it is.  But it has two advantages – 1. the shoe ends up fastening at exactly the right custom made tightness for your foot, because it’s adjusted to fit while you’re wearing the shoe, and 2. the buckle is easily removable, so you can have a plain buckle on your shoe for day wear and a fancy buckle for evening wear and not have to buy two different sets of shoes.

Nevertheless, getting the buckle on the shoe is a complete performance.  Fortunately there are instructional videos that teach you how to do it:

Here is the end result

Not quite as centred as I might have liked on that left one, perhaps, but hey, it shows they’re handmade

Bonus dragon:

Thank you Wulfila, he’s lovely!  I wonder what is says about me in Dragon of Pern terms that I have a red dragon?  Probably just a reflection of the part of the family that comes from Wales

The pile of books you can see behind him on the hearth is destined for book mooch as soon as I can get them entered onto the system.

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Comments

[darkemeralds]

Those shoes! They're GORGEOUS. Wow, you don't see handmade shoes very often. Splendid!

[alex_beecroft]

Hee! Thank you! Yes, one of the nice things about reenactment is that it shows you the level of craftsmanship even ordinary people are capable of. Have a look at Sarah Juniper's shoes
http://www.sarahjuniper.co.uk/18c.html
I have to admit I still covet a pair of the green brocade shoes, even though I'm very happy with what I've got :)

[darkemeralds]

Wow!

I just spent several minutes drooling over her Napoleonic era designs. What elegance and style! How I covet a pair of gentlemen's Morocco shoes! What a treasure.

[alex_beecroft]

She's one of our Mannered Mob members. They're an intimidatingly talented crew, to be honest :)