Moccasin making tutorial

Moccasin Making
Tutorial
PowerPoint Created by Squire Antoinette Finnrsdottir
January 2019
Transcribed From FWHP Tutorial
See Disclaimer

You Will Need…
• Paper bag or thin cardboard (cereal box) for making your pattern on
• Pencil or sharpie for tracing
• Ruler
• Leather- You are looking for leather that is naturally tanned so it sis washable
and soft
• Scissors (2)- 1 pair for cutting out your pattern and one very sharp pair for
cutting the leather

• Glover Needles – These are needles specific for working with leather, they
are extremally sharpe and have a 3 sided point that makes sewing leather
easier. I use a size 4.
• Sinew – real or artificial. Artificial is easier to find and to use in my opinion. I
was taught to cute many lengths that are between 33 and 36 inches long. You
will want to run them across the edge of a table, or book to flatten them out.
You will find that artificial sinew will split into 4 sections, this is good and
what you will want it to do.
• A round awl
• Needlenose pliers
• Scotchtape
• Wooden Spoon

Pattern Making
You may need a friend to help you with this section the first time
you do it.

Trace Your Feet
1. Stand on the paper or cardboard in your bare feet with your full weight.
2. Trace each of your feet
3. Make sure that the pencil is straight up and down and not slanted inwards
towards your foot. If it is slanted inwards your moccasin will be too small.
4. Make a pattern for each foot, and label left or right.
5. Cut out the outlines.

Next Steps
1. On another piece of paper that is at least twice as wide as your foot, line up
the bottom edges exactly and fold it in half with a sharp crease.
2. This crease will become the centre line.
3. Place the outline of your foot with the big toe by the centre line.
4. The widest part of your foot should be about ¼ inch from the centre fold-
line and the heel about ¼ inch from the bottom of the paper.
5. Make sure the outline is straight up and down or you will end up with
crooked moccasins.

And Then…
1. Draw a line ¼ inch from the outline, beginning at the toes and tracing down the
short side towards the centre fold (ie the inside of your foot).
2. Stop at the fold line
3. On the other side (ie the outside of your foot) make a mark that is ¼ inch wider
than the widest part of your foot.
4. Draw a line straight down from this point to the bottom of the paper, making sure
the line is exactly the same distance from the centre line all the way down.
5. This is the pattern for the Sole portion of your moccasins.

6. Cut out the Sole outline, starting at the bottom of the pattern and cutting
around the toes until you get to the centre line.
7. Now fold the pattern over at the centre line, and cut around the outline of
the sole.
8. When you open the paper you will have mirror images.
9. Your pattern will look like this, with a Sole or bottom side, and a Top side:

10. Take the Top part of your pattern and fold it in half lengthwise and again
widthwise.
11.Unfolded, the intersecting crease lines mark the centre of the Top, like
this:

12. Using your ruler, draw a line from the bottom up to the centre crease, as
shown in the first photo below.

13. Now centre a 2 inch line (1 inch on each side of the vertical crease line)
across the middle crease line, so you end up with a T, as in the photo:

Finished Boot Pattern
That's it for the boot part of your moccasin.
Your finished pattern should look like this:

Tongue Pattern
It needs to be 3
inches wide by 4 to 6
inches long.

OPTIONAL: UPPER PART
• This is the wrap around part that covers the leg. You do not have to have this
but if you are going to have it here are the instructions.

1. If you choose to make an upper, first decide on the height you want
(between ankle and knee height) and determine that height in inches.
2. The width of the upper needs to be at least 6 inches more than the total
width of your moccasin.
3. To determine the width, lay out your moccasin pattern and measure across
the widest part with a ruler and add 6 inches or more.
4. This ensures that you have enough width to wrap around your leg.
5. Uppers are typically trapezoid-shaped, with the widest part at the top of the
moccasin and the narrower part stitched to the moccasin boot.

Cutting Out the Leather
Before you start cutting you have to pick which side of the leather you
want to be the inside of your moccasin and which side you want to be
the inside.

Things to note about your leather…
• The "right side" refers to the side that will be seen on the outside of the moccasin.
• Lay out your hide on a large table or on the floor. Stretch it lengthwise, widthwise and
diagonally-notice the differences in the amount of stretch.
• There are differing thoughts regarding placement of pattern pieces and where you want the
stretch to be: widthwise or lengthwise.
• Do NOT place your pattern on the diagonal, and do NOT use the thin flank ("armpit")
leather or you will end up with sloppy ill-fitting footwear.
• Check your leather on both sides for thin spots, scrape marks and other holes or weak areas.
Try to avoid having those areas in places of strain or wear, like on the soles.

To Cutting…
• Use scotch tape or something heavy like a coffee mug to hold the pattern in place.
• Cut carefully and accurately. It is easiest to cut straight across the big toe area
between the Sole and Top, and then cut out the "V" shape between them later.
• After both feet are cut out, label them right and left.
• Mark the "T" from the Top part of each moccasin pattern by making holes with the
awl through the paper and the leather, along the "T". Then trace the T-shape on the
inside of each piece with a pencil.

• Make sure (!!) before you mark the T on each moccasin that you do
not end up with two moccasins for the same foot.
• Don't cut out the Ts yet (they are easier to sew this way).

In addition to the feet, tongues and uppers, you need leather strings or thongs
to wrap around your legs to hold the uppers in place. Thongs are ¼ to 3/8 inch
wide, depending on the thickness of your leather. (Note: Do not use leather
that is too thin or it will stretch and soon break.) The height of your uppers,
the width of your calves, together with personal preference all determine the
length of thongs you will require. You can take some string and play around
with what you think would work best for you.

• I normally use four 48 inch long thongs. I normally cut 10 feet of lacing.

Sewing
For this I used mostly a whip stitch, you can fine more info about
whip stitches here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAykcosWod4

Sole and Top:
1. With right sides together, whipstitch from the big toe down the short side
to the centre fold line.
2. Make your stitches about 1/8 inch apart and about 1/8 inch from the edge.
3. Neat, evenly spaced stitches will show in your finished work and are worth
the effort.
4. Pulling each stitch snugly helps the sinew "disappear" into the leather.
5. Cut off the sinew at the fold line

• Begin stitching again at the big toe and whipstitch down the long side all the
way to the bottom.
• Keep checking to make sure the leather stays lined up at the bottom; it's easy
for it to creep out of place.

Heel and Tab
• Fold your moccasin in half and whipstitch the back of the moccasin until
you are ¾ inch from the bottom, as noted by the line drawn at the back of
the moccasin on the next slide.

Now take your
scissors and make a
cut ¾ inch long,
straight across, on
that line:

Stand the moccasin
up and it will look
like this. Note the
tab you've created.

Now push the
tab all the way
through to the
other side:

Whipstitch the
back of the heel
to the sole, from
the inside:

• Now at last you can turn your moccasin right-side out.
• Run a wooden spoon firmly along the seams on the inside of the moc to
smooth and flatten the seams.
• Put your moccasin on and pull the tab up the back of your heel until it is a
smooth fit and mark that spot on the heel. (You might need a friend to help
with this)
• Remove the moc and trim the corners of the tab to make it round.

• Line up the middle of the tab with the mark you just made
• whipstitch it beginning at the top and down each side, making sure it stays
centered on the back seam. When finished it will look like this:

Tongue
• With your moccasin still right-side out, centre the tongue right-side down
across the T in the top of the moccasin
• Whipstitch the tongue and the top of the T together.
• There will be a ½ inch overlap at each corner.

• At each of the corners, put the tongue underneath the ankle part and stitch 3
or 4 reinforcing overlapped stitches to help prevent tears and stretching.
• This completes the boot part of your moccasin.

Stop Here if You are not adding
Uppers
If you are not adding uppers you are finished and should skip to
adding lacing (Slide # 45)

Adding Uppers
• Sewing directions from this point depend upon the type of upper you chose.
• For regular trapezoid shaped uppers the widest part is at the top and the
narrower part is sewn to the boot of the moccasin.
• The inside of the upper wraps over the outside.
• Specifically, on your right foot the upper wraps in a clockwise direction (from
inside to outside, ie left over right), while on the left foot it wraps in a
counter-clockwise direction (ie right over left).

• Whipstitch the upper to the boot with right sides together, beginning with
the short side on the outside of the moccasin.
• You can see how this was done in the photos below:

• Insert the awl through both the moccasin and the tongue as shown.

• Align the holes and insert the end of a thong and tie a knot in it.
• You can add some stitches here for extra strength if you want I always do.

Disclaimer
This was the way I was taught. I transcribed this tutorial from a paper version I
have from working/volunteering at Fort William Historical Park. I scanned in
all of the photos from the original PowerPoint hand out I was given.
If this tutorial exists elsewhere on the internet it was by no means an intent to
steal anyone's work as my own. I have used this process many times and have
added notes where I saw fit, and that helped me in my learning process.

Moccasin making tutorial

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