Colonial Revival

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries there was a revival of 18th century styles. Shoes were certainly not exempt from this. There are dozens of pairs out there clearly based in those earlier fashions. Some was just due to the mode of the time, others were created during a time when shoemakers were desperately trying to prove how much finer hand-work was than machines. They not only harkened back to the detail stitching, but the shape and style as well. While it's all wonderfully fascinating, it seems to have created a problem. I've seen many examples on auction sites and even in museums labelled as "18th century", while they're clearly of a much later origin. And sometimes, they sadly get sold for high prices to unknowing bidders.

So, here's a celebration of the distinct Colonial revival shoes as well as a description of how to tell the difference from the originals!

1870, Shoe Icons Museum

1775-85, Les Arts Decoratifs         1790, Shoe Icons Museum

1880s-90s, Shoe Icons Museum

1770, Nasjonalmuseet      1760s, Bata Shoe Museum

I chose the two pairs above as good examples since they have such close original sister shoes.

What you can't see in these images is the easiest way to spot a revival shoe (or a misdated one). Right/left lasting. Yes, straight shoes become right/left, but their soles will never look anything but symmetrical. If it's right/left, it's probably after 1860.

The slight toe spring seen in late 19th century shoes is also a good give away. Originals tend to have a straighter line going from the back of the heel to the toe and don't lift very far from the ground in front.

1886, Shoe Icons Museum

Sometimes it's matching up the fabric to the style. By the time buckles and straps fall from fashion, so does brocade fabric.

1885-99, Met Museum

Outside of the obvious buttoned strap, the tongue shape and embellishment is a good clue.

1900-1906, Shoe Icons Museum

Modern brocade fabric, seaming, lack of straps, and a very shallow heel (under the arch).

1911 Hellstern & Sons

1913-18 Pietro Yantorny


1914-19 Pietro Yantorny


1925-30 Pietro Yantorny


Late 19th/ early 20th century

Mens shoes, particularly red heeled "court shoes", are seemingly more subject to misdating than anything else I've seen.  You can't look to the fabric for clues, being always out of black leather. However, some of the previous notes will help. Right/left lasting is still valid. Oversized tongues and other artistic exaggerations (like these straps) are a huge giveaway. Those massive tongues are not accurate to the 17th or 18th centuries. They were large, but not that big!

And while this square toe shape is "period accurate", many court shoes from the 19th century have wider and less tall square toes with rounded corners. 

MACHINE STITCHING. It wasn't invented until 1846 for regular sewing.

If you can see the bottom of the soles, look for the attachment method. Pegging on the sole is done later, while stitching (often hidden in a cut channel) is earlier. Some of the exhibition shoes are stitched, however. Metal tacks on the heels or glued on soles are much the same.

1890-1900 Revival Shoes

1761 Court shoes in 1728 style, Powerhouse Museum

Stitched sole and pegged heel construction when you look underneath. Dog-legged seams and randed construction. Even the insect holes in the leather covered heel (apparently these moths are only found on Continental Europe and their larvae eat into the wood and leather). This is one of the only pairs of court shoes I feel confident pointing to the online images and saying 18th century. Many of the others have...issues...I'd like to address in person. The only pair I've handled so far ended up having a 19th century label and bottle green leather insole. Dead give aways you often can't see online.

Germany

In the Spring I met up with Gwendolyn in Berlin after she had spent two months there studying German. We took a week tour through the country by train and I could spend a few posts on every stop. I'll try to keep it short for the point of the blog, however. There is at least one great costume from the trip, though it was made earlier in the year.

Remnants of the Berlin wall.

Wandering can produce the best things- like a large cemetery dating back to the 18th c.

We attended a 1920s event one evening, complete with live music and burlesque show. First we took pictures in front of our epic hotels front door (if you stay in Berlin I highly recommend Art Hotel Connection).

It's a classic Robe de Style based on an original. I had the lace already and it needed a new gown to build around it. Finding a similar style lace on a gown for sale on Etsy, I thought it would be a perfect use.

Aside from the antique lace scallops, the rest of the gown is made up of silk chiffon and charmeuse with hand-dyed silk ribbon flowers. I also made up the necklace and a hairpiece to match.

The little panniers are extremely simple versions of 18th c. style made from the chiffon and German plastic boning.

Turns out the next day was a national holiday and the train ride home was just a little festive!

After a bit of train travel we visited Fussen and Neuschwanstein castle. Once it's cold enough to wear this new coat again I'll do a post about it. I found the fabric years ago and ear marked it to copy the coat Judy Garland wears in For Me and My Gal. I finally got to it!

Next stop of Rothenberg ob der Tauber. My mothers maiden name is Rothenberger and we've had a drawing of this corner in our house my whole life.

If you think it's going to be picturesque, you're only half-right.

Lastly, Heidelberg for one day. Our hotel room was Vienna themed (each room is a different city).

Summer and Steampunk

Wow, there's a lot to catch up on. This summer has turned out to be incredibly busy for me. I'm working on the First Oval Office Tent project re-creating George Washingtons original Office Marquis stitch for stitch. I won't say much about it here, since there's quite a bit out in the internet from Colonial Williamsburg and The Museum of the American Revolution. You can even watch us on a CW webcam during our work days!
With the left over time I've been working on shoes and starting up a Steampunk Couture business with Gwendolyn called House of Grey.
First, the shoes. I have another pair almost finished, but those will be their own post. This is a pair of slippers I made for working in the shop. Much better than wearing shoes inside all day. They are of turn shoe construction, the uppers of red moroccan leather trimmed in white silk grosgrain.

Next is the really exciting part. Steampunk! Right now we have a good starting selection up on our Etsy site. We're planning quite a grand fashion line for the Fall, which we'll be debuting at Teslacon. In the mean time, here are some of the items I made. Almost everything includes antique or vintage pieces,  making each piece completely unique and will never be made again!

Red Velvet Mini Top Hat

Striped Tilt Hat

Most Top Hat

Silver Starburst Purse

Lace and Silk Reticule

Golden Gibson Girl Vest

Reversible Silk Bodice with Belt

Iced Plum Victorian Waist

Interestingly enough, the gown I'm wearing in most of the pictures I made last fall for the Halloween party at Disney World. It's inspired by the Bride in the Haunted Mansion. The shape is taken from Cut of Women's Clothes. It's mostly a very thin cotton lawn with piecing of antique lace. Loads of tiny pin-tucks on the bodice and skirt!

We sat around waiting for the parade to start, staring at people silently. We freaked out a few kids that way!

Steampunk Boots

My speed with shoes had been increasingly greatly when, for some silly reason, I decided I could manage to throw together a pair of Victorian style boots for Teslacon.  In two weeks.  Yes, I managed it, but boy was that stressful!

I had some left over satin coutil from my corset which I had dyed a raspberry tone.  I actually found a few original shoes from the late 19th century in similar tones, so it seemed appropriate and horrendously bright.  There's a pair in light purple leather from the 1890s at the Russian Shoe Museum that was the basis for the final design along with a canvas pair I purchased and used for some patterning.

The uppers are lined in unbleached linen.  The strips, toe, and heel are all whittaw leather.  Most of this was assembled by machine.  The back seam has a reinforcement strip down the exterior and the lacing holes have whittaw on both sides so I didn't have to stitch any eyelets.

The construction was done the same as my common shoes.  Last the upper to the insole and whip it down.

Stitch on the heel cover.

Paste in wood heel, then paste on outersole and stitch through all layers.

I laced up the fronts with silk cord.

You can see the grove where the big stitches go all the way to the inside.

Common Shoes

Next is a pair of common shoes worked off of images of an original pair at the Russian Shoe Museum.  There aren't very many examples of lower class womens shoes out there- they were, not surprisingly, worn to pieces.  These were the type of shoes given out by the church to the extremely poor.  There are some mentions of them being worn by "country people", but there are also mentions of silk being popular with both upper and lower class.  Almost all references to women's uppers mention wool, silk, or even tickens being a great detriment to the leather trade.  Looking at the original pair, it looks like the uppers might even have been originally for a man's shoe, just lasted to be a womans.

These are made up quite differently than anything I have made prior.  The uppers, being from calf skin, are thick enough that you work the seam stitching through their middle.  This way, there is a nice line of stitches on either side of the seam on the exterior, but nothing inside to rub.  There is also a heel stiffener whipped into the back, the stitches not coming through to the outside.

The actual construction technique is different as well.  The uppers are lasted over the insole and quickly whipped to it.  You do stitch the heel cover on as normal and paste in the heel.  Then, the outersole is heavily pasted on and a large awl is used to go all the way through the sole layers.  It's fast, but not easy to reach the bristles coming through in the toe area.  It unfortunately leaves an exposed line of stitches around the insole, which can be covered by a linen "sock" pasted in.  But...I don't have enough room yet.

All of the edges, stitching, and the heels are blackened.  I made a few cheats on these, though you can't see them.  One of the straps on each shoe is a good deal shorter and the tongue is pieced.  All for economy when cutting out from a hide.

Silk Brocade Shoes

I realized today that I have three pairs of shoes I haven't posted about and two more in progress.  I need to catch up!  So, in chronological order we go.  In October I finished my third pair of shoes- 1740s silk brocade with randed construction.

To begin, they aren't terribly different than turn shoes.  I stitched together an upper, this time lining it in linen.  There are many shoes lined in leather, many in linen, and a number with a combination.  I chose linen this time because I wanted to try something different and because it's much cheaper than whittaw in modern terms.  The inner sole is only different in having the hold fast around the front as well.  Because it's there, the heavy outer sole has only skiving around the edges for prep.

This way you start with the inner sole.

Last the uppers right side out.

Then, stitching through the inner soles hold fast, you go through the uppers and a narrow strip of whittaw.  This strip then gets folded over to the inside and lashed down.

The heel cover is sewn in the normal way.  Since the heel is going to be covered in fabric, I lined it with a light weight leather to help hold the stitches and stress.

Paste the heel in with lots of tugging and pulling to get the wrinkles out.

On the first shoe we stitched the outer sole to the rand before working with the heel.  It wasn't easy.  So, second time around the heel was pasted in first, then the sole was stitched on.

In order to keep the toes properly pointed, there is a small piece of whittaw in between the silk and linen that continues back along the last line to the ball of the foot.

Such big heels!  Shaping them was such a chore I went out and bought proper wood working tools.