moccasin hell!

[Pip]

ok, so i am a little of dramatic but following a pattern fr my first pair of moccasins, I am eityher completely stupid or the *&$^%& pattern is missing a step.

I hav e so far, cut out pattern and measured as per instructions stitched on the hard sole a la apache moccasins, with succes and ~I am pleased with stitching..... triumph... yes but short lived..

I have come to fit the tongue and top the pattern does not specify length of top and tongue, says it should be between 6 and 9cm wide etc etc across its widest point and it should be symetrical I have cut four so far and the end product is only fit to bin... No mention of glue, just 9 sets of 3 holes stitch on front through 1st and 3rd in each set pull tight which produces the shape of the toes.... lovely

Then the central holes in the sets of three are supposed to be laced overstitch to the top/tongue but then says over stitch (but not where from) and seems to suggest starting at the toes and working back to the tongue, the overstitch turns to saddle stitch for the last bit, I only have one thread!!

the whole thing looks like, i made it blindfolded everytime i put it together, its neither balanced nor straight with big gaping holes everwhere. grrrrrr!

to make matters worse I took it apart to try again and then thought, i should have taken a photo first......d'oh

I am just about ready to bin the whole project, and stick to something less stressful, does anyone have a sane pattern for a pair of Apache moccasin that says about the top/tongue, or can you set me straight. I am calling it a day, and will look for your wisdoms after sleep, Please any help any comments welcome.... within reason.

(I have read the pattern twelve times.... so far. I must be missing something, but wot, I just don't know.)

[ferret]

Dunno if this will be of any help but it's worth a look

[Pip]

thanks for your help ferret, It looks like a great pattern idea but not really wot i need for this one thanks anyways.

Happy birthday bud...

Edited March 7, 2008 by Pip

[Oscar B]

http://jumaka.com/moccasins/MakingMoccasin...nstructions.htm

http://www.btinternet.com/~kingsmerecrafts/Contents.html

I hope one of these helps.

[TracyMoss]

I feel your frustration. I am attempting a pair of moccaisons with my chap scrap. Driving me nuts.

[Pip]

thanks for your help guys, it really is driving me nuts, I can't seem to get the tongue to balance /sit straight hmm,Oscarb the second website is the pattern that I'm following, bt reworded a little I am now on tongue number 8, solved the size problem though, thanks. My partner has told me to put it in a bag and come back to it when I am less frustrated.... they are for her for easter, though she doesn't know it yet. oh well.

[DG Leather]

Maybe a little late but I found this with instructions fo rthe tongue on it.

http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/topic/14813/t/Moccasins-101-How-to-make-one-piece-moccasins.html

[whinewine]

I feel your frustration. I am attempting a pair of moccaisons with my chap scrap. Driving me nuts.

thanks for your help guys, it really is driving me nuts, I can't seem to get the tongue to balance /sit straight hmm,Oscarb the second website is the pattern that I'm following, bt reworded a little I am now on tongue number 8, solved the size problem though, thanks. My partner has told me to put it in a bag and come back to it when I am less frustrated.... they are for her for easter, though she doesn't know it yet. oh well.

I know what you're going through. I have a pair of Tandy's Plainsman Boot Pattern mocs that I started about 4 years ago & I've not been able to fit the bottoms to the tops successfully yet. I thought it was just me. One of these days I'll try again, now that I know others have the same problem...

[wildrose]

Whinewine, I've done that same kit, and I'd have to say it's alot harder than it looks. I finally got a pair together, only to find they never stay up, but are constantly falling around my ankles.

[Jim]

One thing I can tell you about some of the patterns out there is they were made up by folks looking to make a fast buck rather than a good fitting pair of mocs. I bought Tandy's Apache Boot patterns back in 91 and after looking them over I said to myself, "Self, there ain't nobody got a foot that long and skinny." So, after some modifications I came up with a decent pair of boots. They got better with more modifications.

The patterns are generic and not made to fit the different shaped feet that are walking around out there. If you stick with the pattern as is, you usually wind up with more toe space than your foot will fill or an overly tight fit due to a wider foot. . . . with extra toe space.

As for the length of the boot tops; they don't account for different leg lengths which causes the boot top to fall down around the ankle. Therefore, one must measure and modify the pattern to get the boot top to fit over the calf.

So, it will take a little time but you can figure what changes are needed by what goes wrong as the moc goes together. Sometimes all you need to do is start sewing the vamp to the sole at one hole further up or further back to get the thing to line up properly when finished. This is due to the fact that not all feet are created equally. I learned this from making countless pairs of mocs and boots.

My 2 cents