73909 shoes&pattens9

49

Shoemaking and cobbling

the shoe. A third option, suggested by Richardson (1959, 105), is that such stitching may have been intended to anchor a woven lining in place. Wardrobe accounts throughout the medieval period refer to shoes that were lined, but few such linings survive in archaeological deposits and nonę from London. A shoe from Perth, however, has been recorded as containing the remains of what may possibly be a lining (Clare Thomas, pers. comm.).

Soles and rand

The sole was normally madę of thick cattle leather, placed flesh side up with a loosely-stitched edge/flesh margin around the edge. The soles varied from one to two pieces. Two-piece soles, which were common on large shoes, such as the late 14th-century ‘poulaines’ (Figs. 102-4), and may have facilitated repairs (see belo w, p. 89), consisted of a heel and forepart, and were joined at the waist with an edge/flesh butt seam.

The rand was a narrow strip of leather, tri-angular in section, sewn into the lasting-margin between the sole and upper to make the join morę watertight. It began by being cut in several short segments, c.4 mm in width, with stitches 1 mm

76 ‘Poulaine’ sole, showing how the sewing of the shoe had to be modified because of the unusually long narrow shape. It is possible to see on either side, close to the beginning of the ‘poulaine’ itself, that there are smali clusters of stitches as if the thread has been tied off; from this stage on the stitching is smaller and morę closely spaced, indicating that the finał stitching occured after the rest of the shoe had been sewn and turned right-side out.

across and at 7 mm centres, and sometimes seems not to have been used around the entire shoe: one of the 13th-century drawstring boots (Fig. 15), forexample, which was recovered abso-lutely intact from the excavations, has rands at the waist on each side but not around the toe or heel. Later, the rand evolved into longer continuous strips and generally was inserted around the entire circumference of the lasting-margin.

The fashion for long ‘poulaines’ in the mid and late 14th century posed difficulties for the worker making shoes with the tum-shoe method. Fig. 76 shows the compromise which was achieved for this type of footwear. The shoe was stitched by the normal method until just below the toe section and then stitched off (notę the smali cluster of stitches on either side). It was then turned right-side out and the sewing continued, possibly from side to side and perhaps using an edge/flesh stitch with a finer thread.

Cutting pattems of uppers

The side seams joining the shoe upper together were also sewn while the shoe was inside out. The shoemakers evidently preferred to use as few main seams, and indeed as few major shoe pieces, as possible. The basie cutting pattem of the early shoes was a one-piece ‘wrap-around’, with no additions or major modifications to accommodate the fastening, and one major seam at the side, usually the inner side, of the foot. Even when cutting pattems became slightly morę complicated with the introduction of the toggle fastening, shoes remained predominantly one-piece wrap-around constructions with inserts. As noted above (p. 43), these side joins were vulnerable, and they were closely and finely stitched using an edge/flesh butt seam (Fig. 77). As with the lasting-margin, two threads were probably used,

77 Edge/flesh butt seam, the most common seam on shoes in the present collection. Used primarily for the main side seams and for the attachment of inserts.