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Moccasin Making Tutorial

In this browse you will see many different moccasin styles that represent different tribes in the United States. Moccasins are made of leather and can also be decorated with other materials like beads, porcupine quills, and cones. Moccasins were and still are worn by the Indigenous people of the United States. Each tribe makes a different type of moccasin based on the material available in their region and the weather conditions where they live. Indigenous people in Alaska are going to make and wear a much warmer and protective moccasin than the Cherokee, who are originally from the Southeastern part of the United States.

In the Maker Moment about moccasins, Gilcrease Museum's former Education & Program Specialist, Danielle Culp, shows how to make puckertoe moccasins. Puckertoe moccasins are a center-seam moccasin that is puckered at the toe and is characteristic of the tribes that come from the Southeast. Please take a moment to browse these moccasins. You will find other center-seam moccasins as well as moccasins from other tribes across the United States.

Find all four tutorial videos and step-by-step instructions here.

Image Title Creator Culture Accession # Materials/Techniques
Leather moccasins with brown velvet cuffs trimmed with green silk and beaded in a geometric pattern Unknown Native American; possibly Miami or Delaware 84.285a-b leather, glass, velvet, silk, cotton
Woman’s leather utilitarian moccasins Unknown Native American; Osage 84.290a-b leather, sinew
Beaded leather moccasins with fringed toe and yellow pigment Unknown Native American; possibly Kiowa or Comanche 84.358a-b leather, glass, pigment
Quilled and beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs Native American; Plains 84.2608a-b leather, glass, quills, sinew
Mukluks made of fish skin and trimmed with cotton around the top Inuit 93.140a-b fish skin, cotton, sinew
Beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs Native American; Sioux 84.372a-b leather, rawhide, glass, cotton cloth, cotton string
Men’s leather moccasins with full beaded cuff Unknown Native American; Prairie 84.277a-b hide, glass, silk, cotton
Beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs Native American; Blackfeet or Cree 84.2184a-b leather, glass, wool, cotton string
Soft soled leather moccasins with velvet and floral beadwork on the vamp and cuff Native American; Chippewa 84.275a-b leather, glass, velvet, silk, cotton string
Soft soled leather moccasins with spot stitching and a beaded floral design located on the vamp Native American; possibly Shoshone 84.278a-b leather, glass, cotton string
Beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs, fringe, and a commercial leather sole Unknown Native American; Kiowa 84.316a-b leather, glass, sinew
Child’s leather moccasins Native American; Winnebago 84.352a-b leather
Men’s beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs and fully beaded soles Unknown Native American; Plains 84.392a-b leather, glass, cotton
Woman's leather moccasins with beaded floral design Unknown Native American; Osage 84.416a-b rawhide, semi-tanned hide, glass, cotton
Soft soled leather moccasins with beaded geometric designs on the vamp and silk trimmed cuffs Unknown Native American; Delaware 84.272a-b hide, glass, silk, cotton
Beaded leather high top moccasins with fringe around the cuff Unknown, Tyrone Stewart Native American; Kiowa 84.439a-b hide, glass, metal, pigment
Soft soled beaded leather moccasins with floral patterns and images of birds on the cuff Native American; Chippewa 84.271a-b leather, glass, cotton fabric, wool yarn, cotton string
Soft soled leather moccasins with quill work in a floral and geometric pattern on the cuff and vamp of the shoe Native American; possibly Huron 84.274a-b leather, quills, cotton cloth, cotton string, natural dyes
Men's quilled leather moccasins with split tongue and metal cone tassels Native American; Oglala Sioux 84.378a-b leather, quills, metal, feathers, cotton cloth, cotton string, hide
Beaded leather moccasins with fringe and German silver cones Unknown Native American; Comanche 84.360a-b leather, glass, German silver, cotton string