Conservation around the Millennium (Hungarian National Museum, 2001)
Pages - 89
7. French Dragoniers. 2. Buckled gaiters from 1720, 3. Laced gaiters from 1750. the kneecaps sewed on first then the two pieces were stitched together tightly following the shape of the leg. The outer side of the upper has a few centimeter long cut from the top down and this is where ten small leather loops were attached and a long piece of leather with buttonholes on the other side. On the inner side of the strap a supporting string was sewn in order to prevent the enlargement or ripping of the buttonholes. The loops were reeved through each other and the top one was fastened with a leather button. The under-strap was sewn onto the inner side of the upper with just a few stitches and on the outer side the lowest flap was tucked in. We found stitch traces on the bottom of the gaiters, which showed that a 2- 2.5 cm wide and 4.5-5 cm long leather strap must have been sewn there to strengthen the piece, but these pieces were not recovered. We found strap fragments all around the bottom of the gaiters. As far as assembling is concerned, the kneecaps were first stitched to the upper with running stitches, and seams running downward were sewn with the stitches shown in figure 8. b. We found this surprising as these kinds of stitches are a lot weaker than the kinds usually applied for footwear. (Picture 8.) We got the idea that these weaker kinds of stitches may have been used, because the gaiters were made specifically for the burial. However, this idea was not supported by the fact that the gaiters were obviously worn, as it was easy to distinguish between traces of wear and stains originating from decay. 8. Types of seam discovered on the gaiters: a, b. The types of seam used most frequently on footwear: c, d. 89
