This pattern comes from Weldon’s Practical Knitter, Number 60, Fifteenth Series (1890). It is also published in Weldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume 5, Interweave Press, 2001.

“These shoes, which are made exactly in the shape of a bag, are inteded to draw over a kid boot for extra warmth when traveling. The Americans wear them over their boots for walking in frosty weather…They are also useful as bedroom slippers.”

The original pattern calls for “Scotch fingering, or single Berlin wool, and a pair of No. 12 steel knitting needles (modern equivalent 2.25mm/US 2.) Some ribbon for a bow or rosette on each overshoe is also suggested. The finished knitting is folded double and the selvedges sewn together “to form the front of the shoe.”

As with most 19th century patterns, there is no gauge/tension stated in the pattern. There are also no stated finished dimensions. The pattern is written entirely in text and there are no charts. There are, however, two illustrations.