Tallukkaat - the Finnish traditional home-made shoes

[chirel]

I got a chance to be on a workshop on how to make these traditional Finnish homemade shoes (n. tallukas pl. tallukkaat). I've been wanting to learn how to make them for more than ten years and I'm so happy now
Here http://www.kotiposti.net/narvasoft/museo/vkm/museo703.htm you can see the traditional versions (pictures 3,4 and 6), but of course I had to do something completely different. The others ended up calling my shoes Robin Hood Boots, I can kind of understand why...





The traditional shoes have been made on a relatively small area in central Finland from circa 19th century. The traditional materials were anything that could be recycled and would be warm, so old woollen socks, sweaters, felt, flannel was used for different parts of these shoes. They even used parts of old shoes to make new ones. These were especially popular during the world wars, because of lack of material of any kind.

For my shoes I used mostly new materials, mainly because I happened to have suitable new materials instead of recycled materials. Theres three layers in the shoe. The outer and inner fabrics are wool fabric and the middle layer is knitted wool. The soles also have several layers. The inner sole is made of three layers of fabric then theres a thick wool sole and a rubber sole. Inside the shoe theres also a removable liner that I made using a regular cardboar liner on witch I stitched some felt I had lying around.

I machine stitched the fabrics together, I didn't want to follow any of the traditional designs so I just winged the design and then copied it to the other shoe. Almost everything else is hand stitched. Traditionally there's holes for laces, but I don't like using those metal things (because I'm not good at it), so I had to do something else, hence the green cords.

I have walked with my shoes today. It's about -20 Celsius degrees and my feet were completely warm, but it's funny how I can feel the ground through the soles. These shoes might be a bit too large for me, but I hope a thick pair of woollen socks will fix that problem. Other than that they are very comfortable and definitely warm.

I'm happy to answer any questions, but I won't be writing a tutorial and unfortunately I only have pictures of the finished shoes.

[Midnight Sun]

I LOVE those boots!!!  You did a most excellent job 

[minikin pin]

wow, these are amazing! how did you attach the sole to the rest?

[chirel]

Thank you for the compliments

About the soles: I had the shoe on a wooden shoe form. The inner sole was attached to the shoe form with small nails. Then the edges of the shoe fabric were glued to the sole. Then the sides of the shoe fabric were stitched together so that the thread passed over the sole. (Sorry, this bit is difficult to explain.) Then the felt sole was glued to the shoe and hand stitched around the edge with thick waxed thread using a curved needle. Last the rubber sole was glued to the shoe.

[rottenlittleboys]

Unreal, great shoes and thanks for the pictures of the older ones too.

I have an older pair of short boots that I want to recover but I really, really want to get into making shoes. It just looks so fascinating and then maybe I could have shoes that fit me. 

[craftylittlemonkey]

They look great! And I am SO jealous! I want to learn how to make my own shoes. I like the idea of being able to do everything for myself even if I don't actually need to. Shoes are a toughy, they have to fit and be comfortable and durable. I don't even know where to start.

[minikin pin]

About the soles: I had the shoe on a wooden shoe form. The inner sole was attached to the shoe form with small nails. Then the edges of the shoe fabric were glued to the sole. Then the sides of the shoe fabric were stitched together so that the thread passed over the sole. (Sorry, this bit is difficult to explain.) Then the felt sole was glued to the shoe and hand stitched around the edge with thick waxed thread using a curved needle. Last the rubber sole was glued to the shoe.

thanks for the explanation! it sounds a bit complicated and difficult to do...

[chirel]

Thank you all for the nice compliments

thanks for the explanation! it sounds a bit complicated and difficult to do...

It isn't really, it's just difficult to explain. The only thing is that you need strong fingers, as it can be tough to push the needle through all the layers and still have even stitches.

[chirel]

I want to learn how to make my own shoes. I like the idea of being able to do everything for myself even if I don't actually need to.

I'm the same. Now I think I'm there at least in theory. Socks are still difficult for me, though, because I don't really like knitting with several needles.

[Taramor]

Great shoes, and interesting background story. And I love you made 'Robin Hood shoes'