spring flowers and good food

[chuck123wapati]

I can now make a moccasin. I tried to make my own pattern a couple of years ago and failed miserably, as you can see, they worked but not much more lol. So this time  I used a pattern pack from Tandy, "Mountain Man Moccasin Patterns by Gene Noland". I used pattern number three, decided to make it exactly as the pattern, and it was a failure, too. The leather tore out, and the stitching holes were so far apart they looked like crap. The heel and toe had wrinkles that I hate. 

But the problem I think, was my leather mostly, these moc patterns are made for lighter, more flexible leather than I used, so I had to make a form for the soles, learned that from the first pair. Veg tan won't mold to your foot with time. I used heavy holster leather for both insole and outsole, so the sole is as hard as a decent sandal. I used some 2mm for the vamps, but I still had to oil them before sewing them up, learned that from #2. A good coat of nfo gives the leather enough stretch so you can pull the stitching tight as you go.

 3# came together, I think, got the form right, so i dont have puckers , made the vamp three pieces so they dont tear out and fit correctly. Skived the edges of the sole down and moved the stitching up closer and more tidy , took a hammer and pounded out the puckers in the toe and heel. Oh, and changed the top a bit . These i could wear downtown. I used crap leather as these were experiments, but now maybe I'll buy some good bison for the vamps, I kinda like the harder soles now that i can make them repeatable. funny thing the leather I used had been left out in the sun, and part had tanned darker, so now I have a light moc and a darker one lol I guess ones going into the car window for a week or so.

[toxo]

23 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

I can now make a moccasin. I tried to make my own pattern a couple of years ago and failed miserably, as you can see, they worked but not much more lol. So this time  I used a pattern pack from Tandy, "Mountain Man Moccasin Patterns by Gene Noland". I used pattern number three, decided to make it exactly as the pattern, and it was a failure, too. The leather tore out, and the stitching holes were so far apart they looked like crap. The heel and toe had wrinkles that I hate. 

But the problem I think, was my leather mostly, these moc patterns are made for lighter, more flexible leather than I used, so I had to make a form for the soles, learned that from the first pair. Veg tan won't mold to your foot with time. I used heavy holster leather for both insole and outsole, so the sole is as hard as a decent sandal. I used some 2mm for the vamps, but I still had to oil them before sewing them up, learned that from #2. A good coat of nfo gives the leather enough stretch so you can pull the stitching tight as you go.

 3# came together, I think, got the form right, so i dont have puckers , made the vamp three pieces so they dont tear out and fit correctly. Skived the edges of the sole down and moved the stitching up closer and more tidy , took a hammer and pounded out the puckers in the toe and heel. Oh, and changed the top a bit . These i could wear downtown. I used crap leather as these were experiments, but now maybe I'll buy some good bison for the vamps, I kinda like the harder soles now that i can make them repeatable. funny thing the leather I used had been left out in the sun, and part had tanned darker, so now I have a light moc and a darker one lol I guess ones going into the car window for a week or so.

Good job Chuck, I did much the same thing. Got half way through and got fed up trying to work things out so bought a pattern. Easy enough to do and I had a piece of sheepskin. I ran out of sheepskin so used a bit if something else. I have lots of real fur that's just sitting there cos many over here are squeamish about real fur. Turns out I don't like the open back so will prolly put a back on.

I'm not keen on the boot type but they look good. I do like the blue ones for something you can go out in in fact, when I bought the slipper pattern I bought this one also which is closer to what I was trying to do in the first place.