A pair of Winter Fur Lined Boots

I recently finished these nampeh (shoes in Shoshoni). Unknown to most people, each tribe has a word for what are known as Moccasins. When settlers first 'arrived' here in the US, they adopted the east coast Algonquian word for shoes, and never seemed to grasp that there were/are many native languages here.

These days, they are just called winter high tops...though some people want to call them Mukluks, but again, that word comes from the Yupik word maklak, and they usually are made from seal skin because it is waterproof.

Anyways, for simplicity, we will call them Winter Boots here.

I made these with Deerskin, a 7 layer pressed sole with an oil tan outsole...the footbed is fully lined with 1 inch shearling, and the upper fully lined with rabbit. They are a custom fitted pair, which means she traced her foot and took measurements for me, and then I created her pattern and made the nampeh.

They began as a sketch...

Then laying out the pattern, cutting, finding the right furs (each upper takes 2 full rabbit skins)

I use the thickest part of the shearling so they will hold up to years of wear.

and then stitching, stitching, stitching...and hand cutting fringe

She asked me to add feathers and turquoise, so I did...

Now they are in their new home, and she has very happy feet :)