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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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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 |
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Woman’s leather utilitarian moccasins | Unknown | Native American; Osage | 84.290a-b | leather, sinew |
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Beaded leather moccasins with fringed toe and yellow pigment | Unknown | Native American; possibly Kiowa or Comanche | 84.358a-b | leather, glass, pigment |
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Quilled and beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs | Native American; Plains | 84.2608a-b | leather, glass, quills, sinew | |
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Mukluks made of fish skin and trimmed with cotton around the top | Inuit | 93.140a-b | fish skin, cotton, sinew | |
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Beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs | Native American; Sioux | 84.372a-b | leather, rawhide, glass, cotton cloth, cotton string | |
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Men’s leather moccasins with full beaded cuff | Unknown | Native American; Prairie | 84.277a-b | hide, glass, silk, cotton |
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Beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs | Native American; Blackfeet or Cree | 84.2184a-b | leather, glass, wool, cotton string | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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Beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs, fringe, and a commercial leather sole | Unknown | Native American; Kiowa | 84.316a-b | leather, glass, sinew |
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Child’s leather moccasins | Native American; Winnebago | 84.352a-b | leather | |
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Men’s beaded leather moccasins with geometric designs and fully beaded soles | Unknown | Native American; Plains | 84.392a-b | leather, glass, cotton |
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Woman's leather moccasins with beaded floral design | Unknown | Native American; Osage | 84.416a-b | rawhide, semi-tanned hide, glass, cotton |
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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 |
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Beaded leather high top moccasins with fringe around the cuff | Unknown | Native American; Kiowa | 84.439a-b | hide, glass, metal, pigment |
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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 | |
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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 | Native American; possibly Huron | 84.274a-b | leather, quills, cotton cloth, cotton string, natural dyes | |
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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 | |
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Beaded leather moccasins with fringe and German silver cones | Unknown | Native American; Comanche | 84.360a-b | leather, glass, German silver, cotton string |