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PATTENS
Sculptures from the 12th century suggest that wooden
pattens were also worn in conjunction with leather shoes in
order to protect the thin leather soles and to provide better
traction in difficult or dirty conditions. The first pattens made
with leather-covered cork soles appear in the early 15th
century and appear in the St Veronica altar piece painted by
the Flemish Master Robert Campion in 1415, while both
wood types are shown in the Arnolfini wedding painting of
1434. The wood pattens symbolise the husband’s work
outside while the wife’s leather pattens represent her life
inside the home.
These leather-covered pattens followed a new method of
construction in which the cork sole is used as a sewing
support while stitching the insole to the side covers and
straps
(Figure 1 A–E)
. After the insole seam is stitched, the
cork insole is removed and placed on the inside of the insole
and side covers
(Figure 1 F)
. The edges of the side covers are
braced with a thread and the outsole sewn on with a tunnel
stitch
(Figure 1 G)
. This innovative construction was at first
used only for leather-covered pattens and was probably
protected by the patten maker’s guild.
MULES
By the late fifteenth century, the technique of a cork
insole was also applied to mules. In this instance, the thick,
stiff cork sole was not used as a support when sewing the
insole seam. Nor was the upper sewn with a turn shoe
construction but temporarily attached to a last and the
insole, upper and side cover stitched together with single
seam
(Figure 2 A–C)
. The cork insole was then put in place
and the outsole sewn on with a tunnel stitch
(Figure 2 E–F)
.
The stiff outsole now used meant that the upper had to have
the back open in order to remove the solid wood last, hence
the ‘mule’ type of upper design.
The oldest archaeological examples of mules come from
the Netherlands and date from between 1460 and 1550, while
the mule maker’s guild itself was first mentioned in 1486. The
first mule to appear in paintings of the period was in ‘The
birth of Mary’ by the Oberrheinische Master and dated as
1460-1465. Other early images indicate they were used in the
same way as leather-covered cork pattens to show women’s
role in the home. Then, suddenly, at the end of the 15th
century, the shape and use of the cork-filled mule changed,
as can be seen in contemporary paintings showing young
men and mercenaries wearing round, bulbous toed mules
together with a kind of light leather knee stocking. The thick-
soled mule now becomes a symbol of the military man.
WELTED
The techniques used for stitching the insoles of leather
covered cork pattens and mules were broadly the same as
those needed for the welted construction
(Figure 3)
and
something shoemakers must have been aware of. So, why
did they not employ them to produce the much more robust
welted type of shoe for another hundred years? It can only
be a matter of speculation but was most probably linked to
guild protectionism and the rigidity of 15th century thinking
SHOEMAKING’S ‘BIG BANG’
Fig1 – Pattens.
Fig 2 – Mules.
CREDIT: MARQUITA VOLKEN
Partially hand sewn welt.
CREDIT: JOHN LOBB, LONDON
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SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2012 | www.footwearbiz.com