Medieval Shoes

Medieval styles
Making shoes
Caring 4 your shoes
Research & sources
Shoe diary - black poulaine

I really like making shoes. You are not really in costume at an event unless you have appropriate footwear. Unfortunately shoes are often left unnoticed when people are putting together their outfits. Below are some of the shoes that I have made for myself and Sigurd.

Black Poulaines

The first pair

Tudor shoesTudor shoes

These shoes are a simple pair of tudor style shoes to wear with my elizabethan and german outfits. The leather is green and a bit too shiny. I have 'dagged' the edge across my foot for a renaissance effect.

Middleberg ShoesMiddleberg Shoes

I entered these shoes in Caid Pentathlon a few years ago. They are based on a pair of 8th Century shoes from Middelberg in the Netherlands documented in Primitive Shoes by Margrethe Hald.

Documentation for these shoes (as a pdf)

Viking boots of soft brown leatherSigurd's Viking Boots

These are the first shoes I ever made for anyone else. I have since made this style of boot for several people and helped others make them too. The uppers are made of a single peice of leather which forms the vamp (front part) of the shoe and then wraps around the back of the foot to re-join itself at the inner side.

Dark burgundy coloured poulaineDark burgundy coloured poulaine

These were my all about event shoes. They have been replaced by the black ones made in the shoe diary which are pretty much the same pattern.

Dark purple suede poulaineDark purple suede poulaine

These have very soft soles and need to be worn with pattens or only inside. They are unlined

Red Suede BootsRed Suede Boots

These are one of my favourite pairs of shoes and actually one of the first that I ever made (after the 14th Century ones below).

They are based on a pair in Shoes and Pattens by Grew and de Neergaard and are very comfy - I can even fit my arch-supports in them.

14th Century Shoes

These are the first (leather) shoes that I ever made. They are lined with sheepskin which helps support my feet when I'm working at an event. They were really comfortable and easy to wear but they wore out several years ago and I don't wear them any more.

First shoes: 14th century