The Trades as Practiced in the Homeland Part 1B
by Alfred Opp
Tailors and Shoemakers
The tailors and shoemakers were tradesmen whose work shifted with
the styles but whose methods changed little. The acquisition of
sewing machines did make life easier for them – the majority of
changes were on account of fashion. To get a new pair of shoes, the
customer had to be measured and then endure fitting after fitting
until the shoes were finally finished. Everyday footwear could be
purchased by the pair at the marketplace from a Russian or Bulgarian
merchant, but these were not a precise fit. In our town we had good
shoemakers who produced quality products – they specialized in
Shaft boots, Sunday shoes
and specialties such as wedding shoes. Poor folks and foreign
workers often wore Papuscha
– a shoe made of one piece of leather. The shoe was a wrap-around
style that had a pointed toe and was held together with a
drawstring. It looked as though the leather had been pressed over a
shoe mold to retain the shape. These came cheap in a few sizes that
served to fit most feet – almost “one size fits all.” Our people
didn’t use them that much. Mother said she did wear them sometimes
during the summer – they came in handy to save her better shoes and
were easy to wear. Dad had a pair of
Shaft boots but rarely
wore them. Grandpa wore his
Shaft boots more. Grandpa never wore socks in his boots, but
rather wore Fusslappen
(foot wraps) –
soft cloths that he wrapped
around his feet. In the army this was all that they used. The
Fusslappen kept their
feet warm and were easy to keep clean. There was a bit of an art as
to how to wrap them so that they stayed wrapped. In the army there
was not much choice as to shoe sizes – if your boots were too large
you filled in the gap with something. A sock would wear out in no
time, and who would mend it? When I was working for the Polish
farmer in 1945, I had no socks, either. I used an old shirt and made
Fusslappen.
I remember so well when Grandpa would take his
Shaft boots off. He would
sit down on a chair and ask Grandma to help him. Grandma would take
one boot between her legs with her back to Grandpa, who then used
his other foot to press against Grandma’s back. With Grandpa
pressing and Grandma pulling, the boot came off.
To save shoes from wearing out too fast, people had the shoemaker
install half-round plates on the heel and a plate on the toe. The
soles were spiked with cap nails to make them last longer. Ladies
wore no high heels. My aunt had a pair that she used rarely, and
only at a dance.
We had tailors of mixed nationality in town who did tailoring for
men: Golle – a Bulgar; a
Russian and some locals. Dressmakers for ladies were plentiful. They
varied both in price and in fashion orientation. Ready-made suits
were very rare and hard to find in our area. As ours was a country
village, our clothes had to be suited to our environment and usage.
Our people felt they were better off getting their clothing made
locally. Everyday clothes they either made themselves or found
someone who sewed clothing cheaply. Shirts and underwear were all
homemade. Sunday clothes were a different matter. Here people wanted
to be more fashionable and so went to a tailor of their choice.
Because winters in Teplitz were very cold, the use of sheepskin
pelts for warmth was very important. Sewing with pelts became a
specialty of the foreigners, and they were very good at it. The
pelts, used to line coats, had to be pieced together very neatly.
The stitching had to be done neatly and strongly so that the seams
did not show and the pelt lining held together. Pelts were also used
for collars and cuffs on men’s and women’s dress-coats, and for
sheep-skin caps. For these items a type of pelt called
Karakul was used. A
Karakul was a pelt from a
lamb that was forced into premature birth from its mother. These
Karakul pelts had shiny,
curly hair and were a pricey product. High quality pelts were used
on the ladies’ garments, with lesser quality used for men’s collars
and caps. These sheepskin caps were an age-old tradition in
south-east Europe and the Caucasus, and our ancestors adapted to
them quickly and wore them proudly.
Alfred Opp
Edited by Connie Dahlke
____________________
Alfred Opp is
the author of "Pawns on the World Stage" - the memoirs of his
childhood in Teplitz, Bessarabia and the experiences of his family
in war-torn Europe (Poland during 1941-1945 before they fled to East
Germany in 1945, then the reconstruction of West Germany 1945-1955)
- available from the NDSU website.