Tutorial Tuesday - super easy slippers!

You know those sweaters that felted just a bit more than what you wanted for your project? This is the perfect project for them! I got this tutorial from the Martha Stewart website, and it's a good thing! These are super easy, and take a short time to make. Here's the original tutorial, with my slippers below it:

" Homemade slippers of thick wool felt make a heartwarming (and foot-warming) gift. Felt is the ideal fabric to work with, since it won't unravel when cut.

Felt Slippers How-To
1. Use our templates. Trace onto 1/8-inch-thick wool felt, and cut out (you will need 2 sole pieces and 2 upper pieces per slipper; remember to flip the soles over for the opposite foot). Stack the sole pieces.

2. Place the upper pieces together, then sew the heel and the instep with a straight stitch, 3/16 inch from edge. Open, and pin to the sole pieces, first at the heel and toe, then along the sides. Sew all the way around, through all layers, 3/16 inch from the edge.

3. Add a decorative stitch with embroidery floss, like the X pictured on the big red slipper opposite. To add custom fabric name tags, print them on iron-on tape using a label maker, and apply to top layer of sole before sewing slipper."

I made 2 pairs. I would have made many more, but I ran out of thread in colors that match what I have, so I have to get more thread today before we are snowed in. I made one pair for myself, and added cuffs (I can't seem to just make anything without tweaking it!). They were just the cuffs of the sweater that I just sewed on. It only adds 5 minutes to the slippers. For those slippers I used a thick felted blend I had on hand. It is 60% wool/40% nylon. People are always asking me, "Does it have to be 100% wool to felt?". As you can see, the answer is "nope!".


These I made for a friend who is getting over pneumonia (oh my gosh, I spelled it right on the first try!). She says she is feeling much better. I'm pretty sure it's because of my slippers ;). Anyway, I made them without tweaking them, but I modeled them in the picture inside out to show that you that you can wear them seams in too (unless they are really really felted) for a more "finished" look, if you prefer. I like them seams out.


FYI: I was not able to print the patterns from the MS website, and heard others had the same problem, so I just held a piece of paper up to my computer screen and traced it.

Elf slippers tutorial

I ran across this and just had to post it. I don't think I have the sewing skills to tackle these, but they are fantastic! I found these on Mayamade blog, and I highly recommend checking out her fabulous blog (i'm following it now!). The following is copied/pasted from her blog:

I've wanted a pair of elf slippers ever since I can remember. When I missed my window, I thought I would make some for my son. Missed that window, too! He says "no way" to elf feet at ten years old. Can't blame him. When I made my daughter's toadstool slippers last month, they seemed to fall into that gnome/fairy category... but not quite elf. Maybe I made them too small subconsciously? Not sure, but I couldn't wait to make my own pattern, this time. I wanted that quintessential curled up toe look.

We love them!

When you make your own patterns, it's always nice to do a trial run through with an inexpensive fabric... just to check your fit. With clothing, I've used muslin. For these slippers, I tried a scrap of cotton batting. It behaves exactly like felt and helped me make the perfect size and shape!!

I can't believe what a wonderful resource it is. I'm loving batting for all of its unexpected uses.
Here's a tutorial for making your own wool slippers from repurposed felted sweaters:

Creating the pattern is the first step. I'm not including a pdf, but will gladly make one if I get enough requests. Instead, I will give you the measurements for a 4-6 year old and instructions for how to make any size. That's right, I could still make myself a pair. You'll be the first to know if I do!

Pattern

Draw measurements onto an 8x11 sheet of paper. Use my numbers as guides. Make the sole by tracing your child's foot. If your child's foot is smaller, you'll need to reduce the length of the slipper sides by subtracting from the heel side. The opposite advice for a larger foot. The important thing to remember is that each side must ease around the sole and match evenly at the center of the toe and heel. You can check the sizing by sewing up a quick sample out of batting and trying it on. They should be a bit roomy because the actual slipper is made out of two layers of thick wool.

Materials

felted wool sweaters or blankets
cotton batting
thread
scissors
pins
paper
pencil
ruler

Make

- Cut out pattern
-Pin pattern to sweater and cut out pieces to get the most of your sweater. I tried different placements until I found just the right spots for cutting.

- You will need a total of 8 sides and 4 soles to make a pair of slippers. Try to cut with all pieces having the weave of the sweater going in the same direction.


-Pin all of your pieces together right side in, wrong side facing out. If you click on this next photo you'll see that the sweater pieces look inside out.

Assembling the slipper sounds far more complicated than it really is. It goes rather quickly, you'll be surprised. Use the numbers on the photo for reference and sew the outside and liner at the same time. They are identical with the exception of 3b. Use a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

1. sew up the top front seam.
2. sew up the toe seam.
3a. determine which side will be the outside and sew up the heel seam.
3b. sew up the heel of the liner keeping 1 1/2 inches unstitched in the center for "turning". See photo above.
4. Attach sole to slipper sides making sure that the front and back seams stay centered at toe and heel. I would recommend pinning at this stage, but it's not necessary if you're fairly brave and have measured accurately. Remember to keep all of the right sides facing in.

Now, it's starting to look like something!

-Sew together around the open top of the slipper. That's right, sew them closed! It should look like this:

-Now, all that's left is the turning of your slipper to the right side. Gently pull both slipper pieces through the opening in the heel. Poke the pointy toes out and into shape with a pencil eraser. Arrange the liner inside the slipper and sew up the opening with needle and thread.


I embellished these with little dots cut from a contrasting sweater. You can add your own touch with needle felting, embroidery, buttons, etc.

These are so soft and warm, but slippery too. I plan on putting some anti-skid dots on the bottom. I might try some recycled suede. If you want to make them more secure on wild dancing feet, simply slit holes through both layers around the ankle and weave a ribbon through for a tie... like these. Felted wool won't fray, so this is easy. Please, let me know if you have any questions. I'd also love to see yours, if you make a pair.
[Please direct any questions to Mayamade. I have only copied/pasted this tutorial]

Tutorial Tuesday - make your slippers non-skid the recycled way!

Ok, this is more of a concept than a tutorial, since i'm not showing you the steps, but I bet you can figure it out ;) When I was in my slipper making hay days last year, we had discussed non-skid options, and several things came up... puff paint, Jiffy grip, etc. I ended up making a trip to the craft store, and using puff paint on my grandma's slippers, and it worked fine, but I couldn't help but want a natural or recycled option. In my stash this week, I had a thickly felted alpaca scarf, and a thick merino, so I decided to make myself slippers. They are SO soft & comfy, but again the issue of non-skid came up in my mind. Finally the light bulb went off! I rummaged through the rag bag and found several pair of my son's outgrown socks with holes in the heels and cut off the non-skid words and sewed them to the bottom of my slippers! They work great (my whole house is hardwood and tile, so I know!), you can put as many on as you want, and I actually think it looks cute like that! If you don't have grippy socks in your rag stash, I see them all the time at my thrift store for pennies, or ask on Freecycle.

It's What I've Been Working on Wednesday!

Remember these slippers by any chance? I made these last year from some thick merino, and some alpaca... heaven to my feet (link to slippers tutorial here)! To combat our slippery hardwood floors, I had added some pieces from the bottoms of my son's outgrown & holey non-skid socks (read more about that here).



Little did I know, those slippers were going to be my favorites, and I would wear them every single day for hours at a time. I didn't think of the inevitable... wearing them out! :(



Once holes appeared I knew I had to put something more than wool on the bottom, if I wanted to wear them every day. I found this sweater, and knew that the suede pockets would be perfect!



I seam ripped the pockets & elbow patches off of it, and hand sewed them to the bottoms of the slippers... much better!



Now they should last a while!

So, what have you been working on?

Grandma's slippers & random stuff

Sorry i've been mia for a couple of days, but I was making my Grandma slippers for her birthday, and getting ready for fiber fairs. Here are the slippers I made for her. I had extra of that sweater, so I made another pair to sell at the fairs, plus started on a child size pair. I stuck a glove in each of my grandma's slippers, so they wouldn't look so wonky for the picture.

I officially sent in my forms yesterday, so it looks like i'll be at the Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair July 16-18, and Fiber in the Park September 18th! I'm so excited!

Super easy slippers part 2

I made more slippers, and wanted to show some variations. I decided to see what would happen if I felted a pair of slippers more after they were sewn. Here they are before I gave them another hot bath (FYI, you can click on the pictures to see them larger):


Here they are after:


They are a smidge smaller, as expected, but I love the way the seams came out... kinda fuzzy and undefined. Of course I had to mess with them more, and added cuffs.... I really like the addition of the cuffs. I like the look of the sweaters cuffs better, but they felted too small on this particular sweater, so I just used a scrap piece & folded it over to create the cuff. It takes such a short amount of time & they look better to me with cuffs. What do you think? Cuffs or no cuffs?


I then decided to make a pair of child sized ones. I used the size women's 5 template, since that was the smallest one provided on the tutorial. I used this funky patterned wool blend, but because of the odd texture, I added a layer of soft lambswool on the insole for added comfort. I again added cuffs. I tried these on my son for a size reference, and while they were too big, they weren't grossly oversized on him. He wears a size 10 toddler for reference. Another reason I like the cuffs is that they help them stay on... especially for children's slippers that may start out a bit big to grow into.

Woolybaby slippers

Check out these gorgeous slippers! Looking for the perfect baby shower gift? There ya go! You can find them in Josie's Etsy shop, Woolbaby. While you are there, make sure to read her slipper's fun descriptions, like this one:

"When I was a kid, my mom threw some pumpkin scraps over a cliff near our house. Pumpkin vines grew at the bottom and up the side of the cliff and the cliff was forever known as “pumpkin town”. We kids loved playing in Pumpkin Town; scaling the roots that were sticking out and building roads up the side. I don’t remember any actual pumpkins growing there, but if there were, they would have been about the color of these slippers."

4pippi

Speaking of adorable slippers... have you seen 4pippi's Etsy shop? If you haven't, you should. I bought a pair of slippers from her last year, and we love them! They are affordable, very well made, and last a long time. Though my son has gone up 2 shoe sizes since last year, the slippers still fit, and he likes to wear them (that's saying a lot these days)! These would make a fantastic present for any little ones on your Christmas list! Aren't they cute?

Cute little slippers & shoes!

One of my favorite things made of recycled wool are children's slipper shoes. They are so cute that it's hard to believe that they were once a sad sweater that didn't have a closet to call home! The striped pair are made by the talented Kaboogie. More of her work can be found in her Etsy shop:

Kaboogie Shoes
www.kaboogie.etsy.com




Now these truly deserve the term 'upcycled', because I don't care how lovely the sweater... these are much better off in their second life as Polliwogs slippers. I don't consider Olivia just a wahm or crafter, but an artist. Don't take my word for it... check out these slippers! For more of her work, go to:

Polliwogs
www.hyenacart.com/polliwogs