Thursday, January 20, 2011

Felted Slippers

I took a great workshop last month on making felted slippers. We began the day drafting patterns of our feet and ended it wearing our slippers.

We used dyed Merino wool roving. I added a little gray curl of Cotswold wool from my own sheep on each of my slippers; you can just see it near the cuff in the first picture.

This footwear is seamless. We applied and felted wool on both sides of the pattern, creating both slippers simultaneously. When the felt was firm enough, we cut apart the two slippers and pulled the pattern out of each.

Then, one shoe at a time, we worked the felt inside and out, shrinking and hardening the fabric. When they were almost to size, we put on our slippers, and a helper finished felting them on our feet. They are really comfortable.

1 comment:

ICQB said...

Oh my gosh, those look so comfy and wonderful! I've only made felted slippers from a knitted slipper before, but I'd love to make them the way you've described. I'll have to scour my area for a workshop like that.