Winter Moccasins - DIY Kit (Hide Uppers)

Get ready for the warmest, lightest, coziest pair of winter footwear you have ever worn. Handcrafted by you – there is simply no more satisfying way to travel in the winter than with a pair of moccasins you have made yourself!  Like all of our products, we have personally tested our moccasins on northern expeditions up to 40 days, and 250 km in length.

This hide upper moccasin kit will perform just as well as our Canvas Uppers Moccasin Kit, but be easier to sew (little or no sewing machine required), and will have a simpler, more traditional design.  Both are great options, choose the aesthetic style you prefer.

**Now offering finished moccasins or mittens!!** Please contact us for details.

Trim and sizing: Please select your decorative trim and determine your size using the sizing chart shown in the product details.

** Add a Sole: Adding our painted rubber sole to your moccasins will prolong the life of moccasins exponentially with yearly maintenance. See the "Video and Print instructions" tab for a full video of the soling process.

** Want to know more about our hides?

Check out our Instagram highlights with video showing our selection of 5oz hides  and 3oz hides. Also check out the Instagram highlight of winter moccasins made from our kits to see what is possible!

** Winter Moccasin - Virtual Workshop with Kie Marrone - Fall 2023 **

Click here to view the replays on YouTube 

NOTE: Ships in approximately 1-2 weeks

NOTE: Colour of hides may vary slightly from photos 

Included in the hide upper kits:

* Thick felted wool boot liners;
* Felted wool insoles;
* Enough deerskin for the moccasin lowers, plus extra scraps to make thimbles, and use as a repair kit (if you are new to leather work, we suggest the 3oz hide as it will be easier to work than the heavier weights).
* Hide uppers;
* Decorative ribbon used to reinforce bottom edge of uppers;
* Light cotton webbing for wrap-around ties (ends sealed with beeswax);
* Deer antler buttons;
* Artificial sinew;
* 2 x “Glovers” or “triangular” needles;
* Paper patterns;
* Full-colour, bound instructional booklet;

Moccasin Sizing

MEN: Go up one or one and a half sizes for added wiggle room and insulation. For example if you are a size 10 you will choose a size 11, and if you are a size 10.5 shoe you will choose size 12 for your kit;

WOMEN: Choose your regular shoe size for sizing. For example if you are a size 8 women`s then choose size 8 men`s. This will allow enough room for added insulation and wiggle room. If you are a half size, women will round down. For example a size 9.5W will choose a size 9M.

What’s the Difference? Canvas & Hide Uppers.

Our hide upper moccasins and canvas moccasins are different takes on the same product. Performance-wise both of these products will behave almost identically. The split-grain hide and cotton canvas are both: lightweight, durable, breathable, nearly wind-proof, quick drying. The choice comes down to one of aesthetics.

Hide: The split-skin moccasins are not sewn up the front – instead they are wrapped around your calf (with a generous overlap to seal out the snow), closed up with a deer antler button and then secured with the same wrap-around lace we use for the canvas. Split-skin hides comes in a wide variety of colours, from earth-tones to fun and funky. Inherently simpler than the canvas, and slightly easier to pull on, choose the hide uppers if you want a very simple style. The hide uppers do not require hemming the way woven canvas does. Hide upper moccasins were designed to be completed with minimal or no sewing machine use.

Canvas: Our canvas moccasins are sewn into a tube which you pull on over your calf (like a standard boot) and then secured with a wrap-around lace. Being a pre-formed tube, the canvas is a better medium for decorative ribbon and fur trim. The canvas can also be dyed any colour you wish. Canvas uppers, being a woven fabric that requires hemmed edges, really are best completed with a sewing machine.