shoes&pattens8

48

Shoes and Pattens

to have had their outer soles attached with grain/flesh stitches, in the manner of the bottom units of composite-soled pattens (see, for example, Thomas 1980, 8 and Fig. 2 No. 57/113/9, probably early 16th-century).

Stitching and seams

The most important seam was that of the lasting-margin, joining the sole to the upper parts (Figs. 72-3). The sole was attached to the lasted upper using an edge/flesh stitch (Figs. 72-3), which meant that there was no exposed stitching on the outer grain surface of the sole, subject to the most wear. Two threads were probably used. Holes would be madę with an awl (Fig 71b) and then the threads, whose ends seem to have been attached to a bristle as they are today, would be passed through from opposite sides and pulled tight (cf. Fig. 71c and a shoemaker’s will of the last quarter of the 15th century (Swann 1986, 5), which lists bristles as part of his kit). It has not been possible to identify the stitching materiał on the earlier shoes, but on the late 14th-century shoes it was found to be plied, waxed flax (F. Pritchard, pers. comm.). The waxing of the thread madę the join morę watertight, and also meant that the upper and sole held together, even if only briefly, when the stitching was wom through.

On the earlier shoes, such as those in Figs. 84-5, the upper was attached also using smali circular edge/flesh stitches 4 mm apart and 2 mm from the edge of the leather. The shallowness of the seam, coupled with the extreme closeness of the stitches, makes it unlikely that these seams contained a rand (see above). This type of seam occurs on only a few examples, and, sińce it occurs in the same groups as shoes with the morę conventional grain/flesh lasting-margin (cf. Fig. 83), should probably be regarded as transitional between the earlier thonged and the later sewn traditions. At this time a grain/flesh lasting-margin also tended to be on the shallow side - c.2.5 mm from the edge of the leather with smali circular stitches averaging 6 mm apart. A grain/flesh stitch on the upper meant that the seam could be deeper and the threads thicker, factors which also facilitated the inclusion of rands between the upper and the sole. In the 14th-century groups, examples were noted of stitch-holes 3 mm across and 8 mm apart.

The lasting-margin also served to anchor smaller reinforcement-pieces in place. Triangular pieces of leather were sewn into the heel section, particularly in the higher forms of footwear, to strengthen an area which was subject to great stress and wear. The size and shape of these stiffeners varied tremendously (contrast, for example, Figs. 93, 106 and 107). Whereas the lower edge of the triangle was sewn into the lasting-margin with grain/flesh stitches, the other two sides were anchored to the flesh side of the upper with a shallow binding-stitch which did not pene-trate the fuli thickness of the leather (Fig. 75). The use of this stitch on the heel-stiffener and other reinforcement-pieces, such as lace-hole reinforcements, is evident from the presence of a slightly scalloped edge where the thread has been pulled very tight. Lace-hole reinforcements are occasionally present on the earlier side-laced shoes (Figs. 89-90), and almost invariably on the later ones (Fig. 108). Again, the piece was first stitched into the lasting-margin and then stitched in place on the upper with binding-stitch along both long edges.

A fine, shallow edge/flesh binding-stitch is present on many shoes from the early/mid 12th century onwards along the top edge of the upper. In some cases this may simply have been to rein-force the edge (MacGregor 1982, 140), whereas in others it served to secure a narrow strip of leather or ‘topband’. These topbands, which were sometimes single-thickness (Fig. 97) but morę often of thin leather folded double (Figs. 89-90, 94), will have given a morę finished appearance to

75 Binding-stitch or overstitching, used to attach heel-stiffeners, lace-hole reinforcements, tongues and occasionally top-bands. The stitches do not penetrate the fuli thickness of the leather and so are invisible on the outside of the shoe.