Journal Entry for January 13, 2025
A warm home begins with a warm heart. A warm heart enjoys the good company of warm and trusting friends.
Surprising Facts
Fuzzy socks were introduced in the 1970's and became very popular in the 1980's thanks to new knitting techniques. Flashdance was filmed in late 1982 before being released in 1983.
The oldest known slippers, were found in a cave, are around 10,000 years old, made from woven fabric with a toe pocket and thong.
Ancient records from China show slippers were used as far back as 4700 BC. Early slippers featured symbols of dragons and were made with cotton and leather.
Ancient Egyptians wore sandals, precursors to modern slippers made from papyrus and palm leaves found in some early tombs.
Other ancient/early cultures wore woven fabric (rope rush, plant fibers like papyrus, palm, rice straw) before cotton, rawhide, and leather.
European slippers appeared around 1478. Early peasants wore clogs, evolving into aristocratic velvet slippers later.
Native American Indians made moccasins out of soft hides and decorative beadwork for indoor use. When I took Native American Potawatomi Indian Tribe history classes in Illinois, moccasins were handcrafted by the women from tanned deer hides. They punched holes and used animal tendon for thread to sew them inside out.
Something I had fun making during a three-day weekend Workshop in Wisconsin was a drum made from deer hide. Using an awl to punch holes was hard work! We worked in pairs to make the holes to thread and sew the drum together. Then, we were given beads if we wanted to decorate our drums sticks.
Do you have any old shoe or deer hide stories you want to share? Perhaps Nick Vandekar, 610-203-4543 has additional knowledge about slippers from his Antique Business.
Images were created for my blog using Gemini ai. Ai was not used to write my blog post.
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