Fourth Time is the Dubitable Charm

[Mablung]

For whatever reason, I’ve had a terrible time making moccasins correctly. Theoretically, they should be easy. Practically, I have had a difficult time developing a pattern that works properly. I have Tony See’s pattern and need to make another go at using it, as I tried to get cute and cut a few corners the first time I used it (don’t do that). Anyway, I finally made a rather ugly, imperfectly-fitting pair out of some utility pull-up buffalo I bought for a steal at Tandy. Planning to revamp (no pun intended) the pattern a bit and make a second pair here soon. I put enough work into these that I wore them to church today even though they’re not especially attractive. (I don’t know how I managed to put that 90-degree kink in the left one—something to do with my stitching hole spacing, which left much to be desired.)

[DieselTech]

Better than I probably could do. Heck if you wanted, I bet you could make a wood form to fix/straighten out the pair you are wearing there. 

I think they look OK, that gives them character. 

I'll look I might have bought the tandy pattern pack for moccasins. I'll look. 

Edited September 22 by DieselTech

[Mablung]

13 minutes ago, DieselTech said:

Better than I probably could do. Heck if you wanted, I bet you could make a wood form to fix/straighten out the pair you are wearing there. 

I think they look OK, that gives them character. 

I'll look I might have bought the tandy pattern pack for moccasins. I'll look. 

Thanks! I found a good video on YouTube showing wooden last making; I’m planning to try my hand at making some plaster cast ones and eventually carving some wooden ones. My dad got me a jigsaw at an estate sale for an absolute steal, so I’ll be able to do at least some rough cutting.

I’ve got that pattern pack as well, actually. I find them too narrow for my preference (I don’t have über-wide feet, but I wear minimalist shoes with wide toe boxes and try to make my moccasins similarly). It’s a good pattern pack, though, especially for getting the hang of making them. I made some for my ex-wife with those patterns that turned out quite nicely. 

[DieselTech]

9 minutes ago, Mablung said:

Thanks! I found a good video on YouTube showing wooden last making; I’m planning to try my hand at making some plaster cast ones and eventually carving some wooden ones. My dad got me a jigsaw at an estate sale for an absolute steal, so I’ll be able to do at least some rough cutting.

I’ve got that pattern pack as well, actually. I find them too narrow for my preference (I don’t have über-wide feet, but I wear minimalist shoes with wide toe boxes and try to make my moccasins similarly). It’s a good pattern pack, though, especially for getting the hang of making them. I made some for my ex-wife with those patterns that turned out quite nicely. 

Thanks for your feedback on the tandy moccasin pattern pack. I'm glad it is a decent pattern & I got small feet. So it might be a good pattern for me. 

I just ordered a bunch of tandy pattern packs because they had them for 40% off last week. Lmao I am not sure what I all ordered. 

[toxo]

1 hour ago, Mablung said:

For whatever reason, I’ve had a terrible time making moccasins correctly. Theoretically, they should be easy. Practically, I have had a difficult time developing a pattern that works properly. I have Tony See’s pattern and need to make another go at using it, as I tried to get cute and cut a few corners the first time I used it (don’t do that). Anyway, I finally made a rather ugly, imperfectly-fitting pair out of some utility pull-up buffalo I bought for a steal at Tandy. Planning to revamp (no pun intended) the pattern a bit and make a second pair here soon. I put enough work into these that I wore them to church today even though they’re not especially attractive. (I don’t know how I managed to put that 90-degree kink in the left one—something to do with my stitching hole spacing, which left much to be desired.)

 

Was a normal pic until I scrolled down and saw the feet, then for some reason I started laughing. No clue as to why, just found it funny.

As for the shoes, I think a thicker leather on top would put some shape back into em.

[Mablung]

21 minutes ago, toxo said:

Was a normal pic until I scrolled down and saw the feet, then for some reason I started laughing. No clue as to why, just found it funny.

As for the shoes, I think a thicker leather on top would put some shape back into em.

Well, they do look rather ridiculous, lol. They’re starting to take a little shape after wearing them for a few hours earlier. I’m going to experiment with a few different leathers I’ve got to see what works best, after I dial in the pattern.

[SUP]

Earthing moccasins on Etsy has patterns for wide and narrow feet but she is expensive. Dieselpunk.ro has different sizes as well. If you get his, he might give some pointers on how to widen the shoes to your requirements and his patterns are much more reasonable.

Edited September 22 by SUP

[Mablung]

15 minutes ago, SUP said:

Earthing moccasins on Etsy has patterns for wide and narrow feet but she is expensive. Dieselpunk.ro has different sizes as well. If you get his, he might give some pointers on how to widen the shoes to your requirements and his patterns are much more reasonable.

Yeah, I looked at the Earthing Moccasins patterns—really expensive for nothing so unique I couldn’t eventually make it myself. I used the “wide” plugs in the Dieselpunk.ro pattern; I guess I just like “really really wide,” lol. 

[Aven]

On 9/22/2024 at 10:36 AM, Mablung said:

For whatever reason, I’ve had a terrible time making moccasins correctly. Theoretically, they should be easy. Practically, I have had a difficult time developing a pattern that works properly. I have Tony See’s pattern and need to make another go at using it, as I tried to get cute and cut a few corners the first time I used it (don’t do that). Anyway, I finally made a rather ugly, imperfectly-fitting pair out of some utility pull-up buffalo I bought for a steal at Tandy. Planning to revamp (no pun intended) the pattern a bit and make a second pair here soon. I put enough work into these that I wore them to church today even though they’re not especially attractive. (I don’t know how I managed to put that 90-degree kink in the left one—something to do with my stitching hole spacing, which left much to be desired.)

If those are based off of Tony's pattern, I would agree that you may have goofed the stitching.  I did that the first time I made his pattern.  Had to take the entire shoe apart.  The first time I did like you did and used dark, matching the leather thread.  That seriously makes it hard to see when you muck up.  And as Tony says, trust the pattern.  There will be moments during the construction that you think it won't work out.  It does if you follow the pattern.

Is your left foot the same size as your right?  If you do a tracing on paper of each and hold them up to a light source, do they match?  If they do, cool beans.  You only need one pattern.  It they don't, well you are going to have to make adjustments in one of them.

Looking at the picture, it appears that the left top pattern piece might have slipped when you drew it.  If it didn't, then your left foot isn't as wide as your right and you might try undoing the stitching and using the regular toe piece pattern.    

[Mablung]

2 hours ago, Aven said:

If those are based off of Tony's pattern, I would agree that you may have goofed the stitching.  I did that the first time I made his pattern.  Had to take the entire shoe apart.  The first time I did like you did and used dark, matching the leather thread.  That seriously makes it hard to see when you muck up.  And as Tony says, trust the pattern.  There will be moments during the construction that you think it won't work out.  It does if you follow the pattern.

Is your left foot the same size as your right?  If you do a tracing on paper of each and hold them up to a light source, do they match?  If they do, cool beans.  You only need one pattern.  It they don't, well you are going to have to make adjustments in one of them.

Looking at the picture, it appears that the left top pattern piece might have slipped when you drew it.  If it didn't, then your left foot isn't as wide as your right and you might try undoing the stitching and using the regular toe piece pattern.    

No, this is me trying to do my own pattern from my foot tracing.  When I used Tony's pattern, I think I screwed it up by trying to be fancy/cut some time by using my stitching chisels, instead of punching along his hole punch marks.  Shoulda taken the extra time, lol.  (That and some of the lines didn't align because I think that piece of leather wasn't properly flattened on my cutting surface.)  I think you may be right about the pattern slipping on this pair.  My feet are slightly different, but not by much, at least in length.  I need to compare the overall shape, dimensions, and proportions to really be sure, but I think they're close enough to use the same pattern.  I trimmed the left vamp a bit but didn't trim the right as much (adjusting for lopsided patterning---actually worked pretty well on the left one), which, I think, is why the right one twisted more.

[Mablung]

Made another pair of moccasins the other night, when I couldn’t sleep. Frontier Bison from Tandy. I’m a big fan. I still need to adjust the toe profile to turn in less abruptly at the big toe, but it’s getting there. Same for getting the sides of the vamp to come up a bit higher and tighter—I just need to adjust the angle of the pattern and the taper of the heel pieces, I think. I’m much more pleased with these than with my other efforts.