14th/15th Century Poulaines

Sir William (aka Galvyn) Lockhart, Barony of Settmour Swamp

EK Wiki: https://wiki.eastkingdom.org/index.php?title=William_Lockhart

My project is based on late 14th century / 15th century footwear called poulaines. Poulaines are turnshoes with exaggeratedly long toes, which just seems fun. Nothing says I’m young & fashionable, by having your shoes show up a few minutes before you do! This was my first attempt at creating turn shoes. 

I used 2-3 oz veg-tan leather for the uppers and 6-7 oz veg-tan for the soles which I had left over from a couple of shield projects. The uppers are a two part construction. I sewed them together with a black waxed cord of unknown material. The sole is a single piece. I stitched it to the uppers with artificial sinew. Turn shoes are sewn together inside out, soaked in water to make them pliable, & then turned right side out. This led to the greatest problem I’ve encountered with this project, which was getting the last ½”-1” of the toe to turn right side out. I’m hoping that with the second shoe, leaving the last 2-3” of the toe unsewn before turning it right side out will fix this problem.

To create my pattern, I put on an old sock, created a cone for the elongated toe w/ paper, and taped it to my sock to create the look I was going for. Once I had the shape I was looking for, I wrapped the entire sock in duct tape, marked where I wanted my cut lines to be w/ a marker, & cut along the lines. Instant pattern!