I based these shoes on two pairs from the mid to late 1700's.
I started off by casting a last in plaster from a good fitting shoe with the same heel height by slipping a stocking on my foot, then wrapping it in plastic wrap. I then slipped my foot out of the shoe leaving the plastic. I then filled the wrap with Plaster of Paris and let it dry. Afterwords I sanded the last down and formed it up with paper mache' until it was balanced with no signifance towards the left or right. I only cast a single one as I was not making a left or right shoe.
After studying some images and some trial work of shoes I came to a pattern for the body of the shoe. I made a few mockups of the shoe with scrap material and a cardboard sole to access the fit and when I was happy with the fit I then cut the body of the shoe from brocade, an olive lining material, a starched interlining and buckram. With the buckram I only cut the aera around the heel and the edged of the shoe as the buckram was not needed over the arch aera of the foot.
