Post by spence on Jan 7, 2021 9:34:04 GMT -7
I've never quite understood what the old boys meant when they spoke of "shoepacks". Reading what Doddridge had to say about them, I may have seen a glimmer of light.
"Almost every family contained its own tailors and shoemakers. Those who could not make shoes, could make shoepacks. Those, like mocassons, were made of a single piece of leather with the exception of a tongue piece on the top of the foot. This was about two inches broad and circular at the lower end. To this the main piece of leather was sewed, with a gathering stitch. The seam behind was like that of a moccason . To the shoepack a sole was sometimes added."
So, just like a moccasin except not as center-seam or pucker-toe. Made of two pieces of leather instead of one, the second sewn in as what we call a vamp today. It dawned on me that I have some modern shearling moccasins which are made exactly like that.
The "tongue piece on top of the foot"...
"The seam behind was like that of a moccason"....
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Of course my modern ones have the flap cut short, folded over and sewn into a tube to function with a thong/lace as a drawstring around the ankle, whereas theirs would have been left long and wrapped around the ankle and lower leg, as Doddridge also described for moccasins,
"A pair of drawers or breeches and legging, were the dress of the thighs and legs; a pair of moccasons [sic] answered for the feet much better than shoes. These were made of dressed deer skin. They were mostly made of a single piece with a gathering seam along the top of the foot, and another from the bottom of the heel, without gathers as high as the ankle joint or a little higher. Flaps were left on each side to reach some distance up the legs. These were nicely adapted to the ankles, and, lower part of the leg by thongs of deer skin, so that no dust, gravel, or snow could get within the moccason."
Spence
"Almost every family contained its own tailors and shoemakers. Those who could not make shoes, could make shoepacks. Those, like mocassons, were made of a single piece of leather with the exception of a tongue piece on the top of the foot. This was about two inches broad and circular at the lower end. To this the main piece of leather was sewed, with a gathering stitch. The seam behind was like that of a moccason . To the shoepack a sole was sometimes added."
So, just like a moccasin except not as center-seam or pucker-toe. Made of two pieces of leather instead of one, the second sewn in as what we call a vamp today. It dawned on me that I have some modern shearling moccasins which are made exactly like that.
The "tongue piece on top of the foot"...
"The seam behind was like that of a moccason"....
Of course my modern ones have the flap cut short, folded over and sewn into a tube to function with a thong/lace as a drawstring around the ankle, whereas theirs would have been left long and wrapped around the ankle and lower leg, as Doddridge also described for moccasins,
"A pair of drawers or breeches and legging, were the dress of the thighs and legs; a pair of moccasons [sic] answered for the feet much better than shoes. These were made of dressed deer skin. They were mostly made of a single piece with a gathering seam along the top of the foot, and another from the bottom of the heel, without gathers as high as the ankle joint or a little higher. Flaps were left on each side to reach some distance up the legs. These were nicely adapted to the ankles, and, lower part of the leg by thongs of deer skin, so that no dust, gravel, or snow could get within the moccason."
Spence
