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DIY Wool Moccasins

My moccasins had finally fallen apart. Made of deer skin, with the prettiest beaded flower motif, they were a gift from my friend up north. In the future I plan on reusing their parts to make new leather moccasins. In the meantime (and on the current budget), I have created some indoor wool  moccasins as a practice run. 

References/ walk throughs used:

Making Moccasins with Veronica Dokis

How to make moccasins (Sarah Peters) parts 1-3


Supplies:

  • felted/ preshrunk wool fabric 
  • fusible webbing - in order to glue both sides together
  • upholstery thread
  • leather lacing
  • large pieces of paper
  • string if it helps with measuring
Optional:
  • faux leather
  • eyelets 
Tools:
  • sewing needle
  • pins
  • scissors
  • pen or pencil


 




1) first thing is to trace your foot on to a piece of paper. Then you will mark out 1" - 2" larger footprint. Sizes are as follows:

Men: 1.5" - 2"

Women: 1" - 1.5"

Child: 0.5" - 1"


2) from the "B) shoe sole" pattern diagram below:

 I'm no Cinderella so I added 1.5" all around my footprint. Next draw a straight line down on both sides from the widest part in your foot (B). Connect the base of the pattern with a straight line. Now with the pattern be sure to make a heel tab is slightly longer than the rest of the base, about 1" thick and about 0.5" longer than the rest of the pattern


3) from the "A) strip for laces" diagram:

Take your string and from the thickest part of your foot on one side, wrap the string around you ankle (keeping it level), and up to the thickest part of your foot on the other side. The total when I did this  was around 11.5". So my pattern for the lacing strips was 11.5" long and 2" wide. It's best if these pieces are slightly longer than what you will need.


4) the tongue is as wide as the largest part of my foot (!) and the length of 5" seems pretty common (so I used that and it worked


5) cut out all you fabric pieces:
  • revers the sole and tongue pieces for the left foot
  • for wool  moccasins: cut out 2 pieces for both left and right sides

6) cut fusible webbing slightly smaller than your sole and tongue pieces for L and R sides. Follow the instructions of your iron, and iron corresponding pieces together.

7) placing the Right and Left soles on the floor, trim off a centimeter or 1/4" to allow of ease of sewing (you can leave the heel tab as is) Below is the Right foot, the trimmed wool will be on the inside to the moccasin. 
8) take you tongue and place it on the sole so the center top portion of the sole and the center of the top of the tongue are aligned. 
9) start sewing from the center, down the left side, stopping at basically where your toes attach to your foot (about 1.5" down each side). I used my index finger as a guide to space these first stiches.
10) once you've done a pass of the toes, go back and do a round of stitches BETWEEN your initial stiches (unfortunately with wool this was the easiest way to do it).
11) continue to attach the tongue. 
12) now put your foot into the shoe, and take the side and wrap them snugly around your heel (don't include the tab, let that hang down). Pin in place the back of the moccasin. Try and make sure the sides are as even as possible (with my weird feet one side always was shorter).

13) sew the back up, Now use the heel tab on the outside to cover up the stitching at the back.
14) take the strip for the laces (adjust the length as needed) Pin to the inside of the moccasin as shown below on the left.
15) Once you have sewn the strip to the inside of the shoe, flip the strip out and pin to the outside of the moccasin, folding as needed to cover raw edges. Be sure and lace your leather lacing before sewing the outside to the strip closed (as in sew with your leather lacing already in place).
16) I took some faux leather 3.5" wide (same as the largest part of my foot) and cut some fringe and added eyelets for the the lacing for a more preppy look
17)  after threading the lacing through the eyelets, I created "tassels" out of leather pieces to finish off the ends of the lacing.
18) done!
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