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.
Leather moccasins with brown velvet cuffs trimmed with green silk and beaded in a geometric pattern
Leather moccasins with brown velvet cuffs trimmed with green silk and beaded in a geometric pattern. The vamp is also beaded in a geometric pattern. The inside of the cuff is lined with a red silk ribbon.
The moccasins include spot stitching.
Beaded leather moccasins with fringed toe and yellow pigment
Beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs. Partially beaded moccasins, hard sole, red bands of beadwork, yellow pigment over entire moccasin. Matching design on toe, simple split fringe on toe. Peko (picot) edged.
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Quilled and beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs
Beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs.
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Mukluks made of fish skin and trimmed with cotton around the top
Mukluks made of fish skin and trimmed with cotton around the top.
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Beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs
Beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs.
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Men’s leather moccasins with full beaded cuff
Men’s leather moccasins with full beaded cuff. The cuffs are beaded with a floral pattern on the outside cuff of the shoe and a geometric pattern on the inside cuff of the shoe. The cuffs are bordered with red silk ribbon. Furthermore, the beads were completed with a spot stitch.
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Beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs
Beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs.
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Soft soled leather moccasins with velvet and floral beadwork on the vamp and cuff
Soft soled leather moccasins with velvet and beadwork on the vamp and cuff. The cuff and the tounge of the shoe are boardered by a red silk ribbon. The beadwork is a floral design and uses a spot stitch.
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Soft soled leather moccasins with spot stitching and a beaded floral design located on the vamp
Soft soled leather moccasins with spot stitching and a beaded floral design located on the vamp. The cuff is absent of any design.
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Beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs, fringe, and a commercial leather sole
Beaded leather moccasin with geometric designs.
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Men’s beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs and fully beaded soles
Men’s beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs.
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Woman's leather moccasins with beaded floral design
These woman's moccasins are composed of semi-tanned leather with rawhide soles. Beadwork flower on the vamps is of a red center with a green edge and then a white outline. The cuffs are decorated with red and white picot beading. The cuffs and body of the moccasin are all one piece with a seam up the back of the heel. Cotton thread was used for beading and moccasin construction.
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Soft soled leather moccasins with beaded geometric designs on the vamp and silk trimmed cuffs
Soft soled leather moccasins with beaded, geometric designs on the vamp. The cuff is bordered by red silk and beads, while the rest of the cuff was, at one time, lined in blue silk with yellow beading. The bead work is done with a spot stitch.
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Beaded leather high top moccasins with fringe around the cuff
Beaded leather boot leggings with fringe around the cuff.
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Soft soled beaded leather moccasins with floral patterns and images of birds on the cuff
Soft soled beaded leather moccasins with floral patterns and images of birds on the cuff. Cotton has been included on the interior and around the cuff . The bead work is completed with a spot stitch rather than a lazy stitch, allowing the beads to remain in a firmer position.
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Soft soled leather moccasins with quill work in a floral and geometric pattern on the cuff and vamp of the shoe
Soft soled leather moccasins with quill work in a floral and geometric pattern on the cuff and vamp of the shoe. The cuff is bordered with red cotton cloth.
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Men's quilled leather moccasins with split tongue and metal cone tassels
Quilled leather moccasins. Perimeter and vamp are quilled with red and white quills. Tongue is quilled to the tips and ends with metal cones and dyed pink feathers. Beige cotton cloth sewn along the top of the cuff.
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Beaded leather moccasins with fringe and German silver cones
Beaded leather moccasin with geometric designs. 'Double lanes on toes in Comanche strip net technique. Small German silver spot at center of rosette. Fine rolled fringe at heel seam, no welt. Comanche pointed toe, Comanche-style tongue, square ear flaps - integrated - small German silver spots cones, Comanche-type peko (picot) with extra bead added around tongue (3 missing).' (Okla. U.)
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