Lightweight shoe coverage

[Glaukos the Athenian]

My search for affordable period shoes for fighting that would fit my very wide feet is going nowhere.

Apparently most commercially available period shoes are built on very narrow lasts. Lady Oren's custom made shoes are affordable and perdiodish enough for garb use, but I seriously doubt that they are sturdy enough for fighting and they are hard to lace snugly.

Custom shoes of the quality needed are surely not inexpensive, so I need another solution.

If I need to cover modern shoes the options are some form of sabaton or a soft leather wrap of some form . Does anyone know who makes either lightweight sabatons, or some decent looking form of shoe cover to mask modern shoes and yet attach firmly to them?

Thanks,

Rowan of Needwood

[Ingvarr]

You might be interested in this thread

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=75693

[Kilkenny]

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/ ... hp?t=75922

Ingvarr pointed you to the discussion of making shoe covers, I'll point you to Mad Matt's thread on sabatons.

[Glaukos the Athenian]

Thank you both!!!!


Rowan of Needwood

[blackbow]

Half chaps from any western store. Cheap and effective.

JB

[Oswyn_de_Wulferton]

Talbot's Shoe Patterns. Will run you about $10-15 (depending on the # of supplements you want). If you have any decent leatherworking experience, you can do these. I personally skip the nailed construction and sew the sole on, but that is because I don't have the tools or room for lasted construction.

[Blaine de Navarre]

I also have wide feet (EEEE), but I find my Revival shoes with an added insole quite comfy.

On the other hand, I don't fight in them; for fighting I wear Timberland boots with cover-ups. Maybe this weekend I'll take a little time to scrape Estrella off 'em and post a pic.

[Alex Baird]

I wear knee-high "spats" over my biker boots. Not "close up" period, but looks okay from casual distance, and I retain the arch and ankle support I require for my aging legs.

For non-fighting, those shoe conversions on another thread look cool!

[Charles the Brown]

Canvas boat shoes covered in leather. The shoes can come in wide widths and look good while giving traction. Also cheap and easy to make! These are ones i made last summer and they are holding up great.

[Trevor]

Making shoes isn't hard, either.

If you put studs on your leather uppers prior to stiching the soles on, they're super-easy to make.

[Glaukos the Athenian]

Milord Trevor,

I have ruined much leather trying to make stuff I don't know how to make but I tried anyway....

By George I can carve rattan to make it fit your hand, leather is beyond my skills....


Rowan of Needwood

[Oswyn_de_Wulferton]

Lots and lots of felt. That is what we did, before attempting shoes. You can waste 10-15 pieces of craft felt from Wally world, and it still only costs you a couple of dollars. Functions enough like leather to get the pattern almost there.