Turn shoes and welted shoes

[Talbot]

I've had a couple of people ask me about the shoe terminology and when turnshoes were used so here it goes.

Speaking from a western European perspective, turn shoes ran (at least) from the fall of Rome through the end of the 16th century. By the end of the 16th century welted construction had began to replace turn shoes and had pretty much done so by 1650-1700.

Turn shoes are shoes sewn inside out, usually stretched wet over a wooden form called a last. When dired the shoes held the form of the last and could be turned right side out. Welted shoes are sewn with a small flap stitched into the seam between the shoe upprers (Vamp and quarters) and the insole. To this small flap was sewn a heavy sole. This is essentially the methos used to create modern cowboy and engineer type boots. This eliminare the necessity of turning and allowed very thick leather to be used for soles. The obvious difference is that welted shoes have "runningboard soles" which stick out from the edges of the bottom of the shoes. Turnshoes have their edges sewn directly butting up against the uppers.


Most turn shoes were sewn with edge/flesh and grain/flesh stitch where the needle passes though the thickness of the leather and the pieces are butted not overlapped. It makes for a cleaner look with no double thickness areas.

Good explanations of turn shoes can be found in Shoes and Pattens and nice info on welted shoes is found in Artifacts from shipwrecks (I think I got that title wrong but my copy has been on loan for months .)


------------------
Doug Strong
Sir William Talbot, OL
(The artist formerly know as Talbot Mac Taggart)


http://antiquities.cloud-9.net

[Gaston]

Thanks, Master Talbot.

I was superficially aware of the construction differences, but unsure of when the styles changed.

What is the difference between welted shoes and clump-soled shoes?

[Richard Blackmoore]

Doug, you have no idea how glad I am to see you as a contributor to the archive. I have always enjoyed your products and I miss your booth at Pennsic (I have not been able to go for a few years).

I still have your shoemaking booklet and several shoes and boots Alastair made for me back when he had first started merchanting.

Welcome to the archive.

Sir Richard Blackmoore, East Kingdom, OTC, DT, QOC.

[white mountain armoury]

thanks for the info, good stuff, sir richard, what part of the east kingdom do you live in ?

AB/WMA

[Richard Blackmoore]

I live on Long Island in Suffolk County. The town is Bay Shore. I can get to Fire Island's Robert Moses Park (Atlantic Ocean) in about 10 to 15 minutes if traffic is not bad.

The local SCA Barony is AN Dubhaigeainn, it is adjacent to the Barony of Ostgardr where I spent a lot of time since my knight lived there.

[cheval]

Gaston asks about the difference between a 'welted' shoe and a clump sole.

Clump soles are attached flesh-to-face to the sole of turn shoe, normally by way of a tunnel stitch.

A welted shoe normally has a rand (thin strip of leather) sewn with the facing edge to the vamp (upper), to which the sole is then sewn to the rand's overhang (take a look at a modern pair of good leather shoes and you should get a pretty good idea of what I mean).

Hope this helps... -c-

[Gaston]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by cheval:
Hope this helps... -c-<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes, indeed. Thank you!