Cozy slippers for a rainy day

It’s raining in San Diego. It’s been raining all week, and we’ve had hail several times. This means that Ada and I have been trapped in the house for days now, and we’re running low on new things to do that don’t involve making a huge mess. This probably means that tomorrow, we’ll be making  a huge mess. Here’s hoping the skies clear up soon!

In the meantime, we’ve been trying to stay warm, cozy, and dry. Work is progressing nicely on the afghan (Ravelry), and I’ve been spending many of my evenings hunkered under it and a finished blanket. I’ve also been wearing the soles out of my favorite house slippers:

They’re not heavy on the padding, and they attract cat hair like crazy (which may be a bonus, depending on how lazy you are about your cleaning), but they’re pretty cute, just warm enough for the weather, and give me a nice dose of color on a grey day.

Here’s how to make a pair of your own!

These slippers are a modified version of the Branch Slippers on MarthaStewart.com. I thought her version was a cool idea, but the execution was a little matronly for me, so I changed it up a little bit for mine. Go check out her version, then follow the sizing chart to figure out what size to print the pattern.

For this tutorial, I’ll be using red felt for the outside of the slippers, blue felt for the inside, and I’ll add another layer of fabric to the inside soles to fancy things up a bit (and increase their durability a bit).

On the upper pattern piece, measure 1 1/4 inches from the inner edge at the toe, and make a mark.

Then, fold that piece in half like so:

Draw a line from that dot to the side, marking the new shape of the pattern.

Cut along the line you drew, then unfold your pattern piece.

Prep your felt. I used HeatnBond to stick my pieces together. This stuff is great, cheap, and available at Joann Fabrics.

Adhere it to the felt you plan to use for the outer layer of the slippers. Leave the paper backing on the adhesive for now.

If you’re going to add fabric to the inside soles of your slippers, then you’ll need to stick some HeatnBond to the felt you’ll be using as your slipper sole inner layer.  Let it cool, then peel the backing off.

Adhere your fabric to that felt, then cut out the following pattern pieces:

2 uppers of the outer felt (with adhesive)

2 uppers of the inner felt

2 soles of the outer felt (with adhesive)

2 soles of the inner felt (with or without decorative fabric bonded to it)

Get out the sharpest, tiniest scissors you’ve got.

Use them to cut out a silhouette in the top of each slipper.

Adhere the outer felt uppers to the inner felt uppers.

Get your sewing machine ready:

You’ll want to use a heavy-duty needle for this, as you’ll be sewing through several layers of felt at once. I used a 110/18, which is probably a little stronger than necessary, but I really, really hate broken needles. Wind a bobbin with the color of the inner felt, and thread the machine with the color of the outer felt. Set your stitch to zigzag, your tension low, and your stitch length to zero to start the heel with a bar tack:

Position the heel of your upper as shown in the photo below.

Start the heel with a bar tack, then adjust your stitch length to 2, zigzag back and forth across the heel, pressing the pieces together as you go, and finish with another bar tack.

When you’re done, the heel should have a nice curve to it:

Stitch up both heels.

Now we attach the uppers to the soles. This part can get a bit fiddly, but I’ve found that if you tack the center of the heel in place, then the center of the toe and work your way back along either side, you end up with a pretty good result.

Doesn’t look like much yet, I know. Stitch the upper to the sole, with a 1/4″ seam allowance.

And voila! You have some cute little slippers!

At this point, you could add a non-slip texture to the bottoms of them with some puff paint (though that means no sliding through the house Risky Business style), or you can just put ‘em on and go show off your crafty skills!

I think I’m going to play around some with the idea of adding more padding to the soles on these with the next version (I’ve got a lot of polar fleece scraps to use up), but for now, I’m loving these just the way they are!