You won’t be surprised to hear I intend to spoil Lavinia rotten – which immediately posed a problem. She was wearing a lovely pair of antique boots when I bought her, but research into the 1840’s quickly forced me to face the fact that their style (buttoned down the side) just wasn’t worn before the very late 1850’s, and possibly not until the 1860’s. It took even less time to understand one rarely finds doll shoes from the 1840’s in wearable condition.
My options were limited: leave her barefooted, allow her to wear “incorrect” boots, or dig out my small collection of kid glove leather and learn to make shoes.
Well.
I’ve learned many things in the last three weeks but number one on the list is the fact that people who make reproduction doll shoes for a living are, at best, vastly underpaid – and quite possibly angels disguised as humans.
The experience of cobbling shoes is similar to walking barefoot across hot cobble stones. With every painful step you wonder—what was I thinking?
To start with, shoes of the 1840’s and 1850’s were laced up the side. Which means setting tiny eyelets. And we all know how quickly that process can go sideways (sometimes literally!) Sadly, by the time the eyelets get set, you’ve already invested HOURS in crafting the shoes.
Sigh. . .
All headaches aside, I was determined to create at least three pair, inspired by these:
My first attempt was black leather, which I figured would be a good basic:
Considering the number of summer gowns I intend her to have my next pair were made with light colors in mind:
And, since one color will probably appear often in her wardrobe, I braved a final pair:
None of these are anywhere near perfect, but given they took a minimum of thirty hours to finish, and the fact that Lavinia’s skirts will completely cover them, I’m happy to move on to other things.
Meanwhile, as part of my research I came across an interesting article about 1840’s footwear, which you can find a link to over HERE.
To follow along with the rest of Lavinia’s Underpinnings project, click right HERE.
And to see all of her costuming projects as I add things, pop over HERE.