Experimental slipper-shoes…

So, I’ve made a few pairs of slippers now, and they seemed to go quite well. I thought I would attempt the next stage in the experiment towards being able to make my own shoes.

In the left hand photo, the slippers have completely finished uppers. At this point I would normally attach a felt sole, and that would be it! I decided to try a cork sole (made from an old floor tile!), so you can see it laid on top of the slipper.

I tried to sew the cork directly to the upper, which did work, but it left me with several rather painful holes in my fingers from pushing the needle through the cork! Eventually I reasoned that if I could sew through cork by hand, surely my sewing machine would make a better job of it. I sewed the cork sole to a piece of drill, and used heavy thread to turn over the edges.

This gave me a strong sole which could then be sewn by hand directly on to the upper. I removed the plain cork sole, and made them both this way.

The soles are now black, having been covered with a coating of liquid latex. This makes them non-slip, and also fairly waterproof. Several more coats will be needed if they’re going to be suitable for walking around outside – and of course the uppers aren’t waterproof at all, being brocade!

There turned out to be quite a few problems with this pair, although now I’ve identified the difficulties I should hopefully be able to avoid them next time:

• The slippers are too small.
  I hadn’t allowed for the fact that so many layers would take up quite a lot of space. I also hadn’t allowed enough depth in the pattern for my toes. I can easily amend this for the next pair, by adding extra allowance into the pattern, particularly at the heel and toe.
• The slippers are uncomfortable at the heel and toe.
  In the first picture, you can see where the seam allowances from the upper are folded round under the sole, and stitched in place. Even though I graded the seams, you can still feel a ridge under your foot from this extra fabric. I need to grade the seams more closely next time, and trim a little more away around the curved areas.
• The sole was difficult to sew into place.
  Even after I’d given up on trying to hand sew though the cork layer, it was still quite tricky to sew the sole into place neatly. I now understand the purpose of a welt. It bridges the gap between the upper and the sole, and gives you a neat way of finishing the join which avoids having stitching on the bottom of the shoe which would eventually wear away. However, adding a welt might compound the problem of having too many layers of seam allowance between the upper and the sole.

Whilst it’s frustrating to have spent time making an uncomfortable pair of slippers which don’t even fit, I’ve definitely learnt enough from this process to be looking forward to making the next pair!

Read Full Post »

That’s better!

After the slight technical difficulty with Daniel’s slippers I did a bit of unpicking and attached the soles in a slightly different way.

Here they are, with big brother Edward’s skull slippers, enjoying the sunshine:

Both of these pairs were made from drawings of the boys’ feet.
I’m slightly concerned that Daniel and Edward won’t be heavy enough to compress the 1″ foam inside the soles, and that the slippers will be a bit tight as a result. They’re only little! At least their slippers will be nice and squashy though.

Next up is a pair for myself, following a flash of inspiration that I had whilst watching a documentary about Riverdance over the weekend. Would anybody be the slightest bit surprised if I told you that I spent the entire programme watching the dancers’ shoes?

Read Full Post »

A Slight Technical Difficulty.

Today I’ve been making slippers for Daniel, my colleague’s smallest son.

I’ve been following the instructions from Kwik Sew pattern 3323.

The Kwik Sew pieces are simple ovals, which can be worn on either foot, so I drew out my own pattern pieces to make them the same shape as Daniel’s feet. I then assembled all the pieces in the right order, and things seemed to be going pretty well!

On the left is one completed upper, and in the middle its matching sole. The upper is two layers of fleece, with a layer of batting in between. The sole is made from 1″ foam, sandwiched between a layer of fleece and a layer of drill. On the right is what happens when you pin the upper and sole together, right sides in. The idea is that you sew most of the way around the edges, leaving a gap at the heel to turn the slippers through.

Admittedly I did use slightly thicker foam than called for in the pattern, and I had been thinking that maybe the layer of batting was a bit superfluous with the fleece. I could see that the sole/upper piece was quite thick, even after I’d trimmed the seam allowances off the foam. I was expecting this part of the sewing to be a little tricky…

…and I was right. Oops.

The needle’s not only snapped, it’s also curved! This is apparently what happens when you try to squash six layers of fabric, plus an inch of foam, through your average domestic sewing machine. I don’t recommend it!

Next time I think I’m going to leave out the batting layer, and I definitely need to use only &frac12″ foam if I want to go with this particular construction method!

For this pair, I’m going to do a bit of unpicking, and then use the method where the final outer layer of the sole is sewn on by hand. Sometimes a bit of good old-fashioned hand sewing is the best way after all.

Read Full Post »

More slippers, and an exhibition!

, your slippers are finished! I hope you like them. :)

This pair were made to fit a drawing of ‘s feet, which she sent to me using the Power of the Internet. I now need to post them across the Atlantic, and hope that they fit when they get there!

These are made in the same way as the monkey slippers. The uppers are made from plush tiger fabric lined with gold satin, and interfaced with a layer of batting for extra softness. The inner soles are made from gold satin and white cotton, with a layer of 1″ foam and a piece of buckram sandwiched in between. The outer soles are felt, edged with blanket stitch in a strong buttonhole thread.

I learnt a few things while making this pair – namely when it’s better to use a curved upholstery needle, and when a straight one is more effective.

Next up will be two little pairs for Daniel and Edward, my colleague’s sons. They’ll both be made of polar fleece, so they should be really squashy and cute!

Oh yes, the art exhibition!

I’ve received an email via Etsy, from a local ceramic artist. She’s asked me whether I’d like to have some of my badges included in an exhibition that she’s putting on in Henley in July.

I’ve mailed back to ask for more information, but this is the first time I’ve been invited to take part in anything like this, so I’m very excited about it!

Read Full Post »

More slippers…

The monkey slippers are finished!

I added some felt soles, with a decorative blanket stitch to neatly finish off the edges. I hadn’t worked blanket stitch for approximately 28 years, but it was lovely to have a look through my Great Aunt’s sewing book from 1940, for a little refresher course. :)

I love these monkey slippers with a fiery passion, and I have managed to find a single fat quarter of the same fabric, but with the nuts/gourds in purple rather than brown. If I buy it, I can make one more pair of monkey slippers… or of course you can all have something different!

I’ve also finished my second pair of slippers – these are a slip-on mule style, made from skull and crossbones print fleece.

The uppers are made from two layers of fleece, with a layer of denim sandwiched in between for strength. The soles are made from a layer of fleece, then denim, then heavy buckram, and finally felt on the bottom. (This is what the soles look like.)

The monkey slippers have a layer of foam rubber in the sole, which makes them extremely squashy and comfortable to walk on. They feel a bit tight the first time you put them on, but after a couple of days the foam compacts down nicely. The mule slippers don’t have any foam in the soles at all, which is something I want to change about them. I think it would be nice if they were a bit softer. I also need to make some changes to the felt soles, to make them a little safer. They’re a bit slippery on laminate flooring – I’ve almost gone skating a couple of times!

If anybody would be interested in buying the skull slippers, they’re a size 6/39, and can be yours for the bargain prototype price of a fiver!

I’m not taking formal customer orders for slippers yet, but if you’d like to help me by testing out a slightly experimental pair (possibly involving you drawing around your feet), please drop me a comment, and we can work something out. :)

Read Full Post »

Everybody needs monkey slippers!

Today I have been mostly making monkey slippers!

I promised to make a pair of slippers for a friend, so I thought I’d better make a prototype for myself first, to figure a few things out. I had just enough monkey fabric left from my Superbuzzy order, so I couldn’t resist using it up.

I have plans to make some more, probably out of fleece, and a slip-on/mule style with some of my leftover fancy fabrics. This is all part of the Grand Shoe Plan, but I figured that slippers would be a good starting point.

This is how I made them…

Here you can see (almost) all of the necessary pieces. For the uppers, there’s the monkey fabric. For the lining I used some cream poly/cotton, which is fused to a piece of batting. (That’s the squashy stuff.) For the soles, there are two pieces of cream poly/cotton, each fused to heavy interfacing. Between them goes a piece of 1″ upholstery foam.

These are the upper pieces, sewn together and turned right sides out, and the sole pieces with the foam sandwiched between them.

The uppers and the soles pinned together. I learnt a few things at this stage:

• Press the uppers before you sew them on to the soles
• Don’t bother pinning and machine basting. Hand basting is actually quicker and easier for this.
• If you have a fine upholstery needle.

I also left out the elastic which was suggested for the back of the heel. The slippers do stay on without it, but I think I’ll be adding it in next time, to stop them from gaping.

Ta-daa! They look finished!

Until you turn them over…

I’ll be buying felt for the soles tomorrow! I might also add a bit of decorative top stitching around the uppers.

And there you have it. Monkey slippers!

[edit] I forgot to say – I made these using Burda 7978 as a starting point, and then getting creative with a book about making your own shoes. Feel free to make your own!

Read Full Post »