Back to IRCC stuff: Slippers

In the past I've made a variety of leather (and faux leather) slippers to go with my dresses. I did a parti-colored set in rust and blue to go with my Lucretia patchwork dress, the 'strawberry toes in red trimmed with green for the IRCC I dress, and the teal vinyl I for IRCC II. While the shapes aren't too bad, the materials are definitely not standard for Eleonora's wardrobe. According to Roberta Orsi Landini in (your favorite and mine,) Moda a Firenze 1540-1580: Lo stile di Eleonora di toledo e la sua influenza, Eleonora had few shoes and lots of slippers with the majority made up in velvet of various colors. Inventories hold thirty-two pairs of red, ten yellow, ten green, five brown, three pairs in grey, two in white, and one in black. Landini suggests the slippers normally matched the dress since there was a letter dated April 16, 1550 requesting white velvet slippers to wear with the white velvet dress Eleonora wore to Don Garcia's baptism but there were also ten green pairs of slippers and green was not a very common color in her wardrobe.

Eleonora's burial slippers don't survive. They, as well as the hairnet have disappeared since the original examination of the grave. There is, however, a lovely pair of surviving velvet slippers in the Rijkmuseum dated around 1550.  The shape is what I used to pattern the teal pair, so I should have a pattern around here. I just need to locate it. Although, with the state of my sewing room, drafting a new one might be easier. I have black, gold, brown, grey, and red cotton velvets but don't have white. while white might be the better choice to match the dress, even with a chopine or other overshoe, i can't imagine white staying clean for more than 10 seconds, so I am drifting towards a darker color. I have a charcoal grey as well as a silver grey and am leaning towards that, since it nods to the white but should stay a bit cleaner. On the other hand, the gold/yellow was more frequent in her wardrobe. Only one pair of black, but it is hard to argue that they would stay cleaner. I may test out stitching some buttonholes to see which one looks nicer in the treatment and see if that helps with decision making.

Via

Maybe they're pianelles?

I have hearts on my toes!

There are a few things I can already tell I want to fix in the next incarnation, but they fit and they're fun. A little wider that I would prefer,the lining didn't work, and the openings are a little bit lower on my (total lack of) arch than they could be, but on the whole I'm happy for a first try. You can't really see the smaller cuts, but the center is actually an angular heart pattern taken from Ostaus' Perfection in Design. The vinyl just doesn't want to play nice. I'm sure it will look much cleared in leather. On the plus side the issues with the cuts and pinks spreading I was worried about don't seem to really be an issue, which makes me think the weight of leather I used for my previous pairs of slippers has been too light. I'm also considering a weld so the edge turns better. It would bring me closer to real turnshoe construction. I'm hoping to eventually step up to lasted type construction, when I've got a bit of cash to throw at it,  but that will be awhile. For now I'm moderately happy with making soft slippers to match my different gowns.

I put some scrap linen in to the shoes to take a picture and it convinced me the plain white stockings I had cut will have to wait while I make some light orange ones. Much more exciting. They should also work with both my blue drawers and the red and orange petticoat and tie all my color whimsy together.

And I only broke 4 needles!

My darling Colin once again decided to wake up at 4 AM and refused to go back to sleep. After 2 cups of juice, a fried egg, banana bits and 2 clean diapers, along with a lot of cuddles, I gave up trying to get him back to sleep. I certainly wasn't going to get any more rest, so I started on today's projects. I'd already cut the leather for the slippers so just had to cut lining, applique, and trim.

Since the dress is patchwork I thought parti-color shoes would be fun. Davey gave me a scrap of deep blue leather he'd had kicking around and a couple of leather cushion covers that he had left from buying a giant stack of them to re-purpose. He refers to the sandy orange as "Hastings' colored" and made me a set of lightweight cuffs that I wore with my bellydance kit when I danced with Shawaza. You can't see them in the shot, but there I am in the back row right. Wearing blue and orange. It really is my favorite color combo. I'm using the same colors for my heavy fighting armor that Davey and I are working on right now. So now I have dainty slippers to batch my bazubands and lamellar klibanion (breast plate.) The thought makes me giggle rather a lot. The applique on the shoes are actually leather pieces that I had cut for embellishing the elbows of my bazubands. The soles are leather scraps from armor making. I also used some brass findings that I got to mount on the armor as parts of my girdle for the dress, so there's quite a bit of snitching of supplies going on.

Documentation on this is more than a little iffy, so I guess I really just get to say they're not obviously out of period. The shape is similar to a shoe found in the Mary Rose shipwreck. Its the pair of shoes to the far right.

The 1540's shipwreck is perfect timewise and the shape isn't too far off, but my construction methods are not correct by any stretch of the imagination. They're the skills I learned making leather and felt baby "soft shoes" rather than a period correct type of manufacture. They're sewn quickly on my sewing machine and then just turned right side out. Real shoes of this type would have a welt and an exterior sole. The weight of the leather I've used is off, being much lighter. The dual color and applique are pure fantasy. But, I have pretty,matchy slippers and they are fun to wear. One of these days I will get around to learning how to make real shoes. Its on the to-do list but my husband gets a little nervous about me adding even more new hobbies and the accompanying equipment and tools.

Strawberry slippers

I didn't quite imagine how green edging on a red pigskin slipper with pinks that showed the gold brocade lining would turn out.  According to my 7 year old I have "strawberry toes."  Mostly I was just trying to put a little more oomph into the slippers and I'd found a remnant at the leather store earlier today and though it would match the green I just lined my zimarra with.  Strawberry toes are fun though, right?  Especially with chopines and bright green stockings?  I added a square of the same lace that's in my handkerchief since I wanted something more decorative than just the pinking but wasn't up for cutting the leather that finely.  With the time constraints, these are sewn on my sewing machine with a leather needle, but I hope to tweak the pattern a bit more and make another nicer pair by hand later.  I certainly have enough oodles of the leather hide left.

Back to finishing other stuff.  I took a break for most of the day and played, having my hair cut and going out to lunch, so I'll have to hustle to get back on schedule and get you those pictures I promised of sleeves.  they're SO close to being done.