DIY Slippers

When Prym brought out their new slipper soles I couldn’t resist, I just had to try them. I wear slippers whilst I work (when it’s not hot) so being able to make a pair to wear in my studio it felt like a fab idea.

The summer probably seems an odd time to be making slippers but when you live in England you have to be prepared for winter to suddenly turn up unannounced. Plus, my partner would say that slippers are for all year round, as he’s even been wearing his during the heat wave we’ve been experiencing recently.

The only major disappointment with the soles is the limited size range. They didn’t go big enough for my partner to have some too (which he was quite sad about, he loves any opportunity for me making something he can match our son in). They go from toddler size 2 through to an adult size 7.

*Note, I find children’s shoe sizes so confusing, so I managed to buy the wrong size for my son (hence why they look so big in the photos) but the bonus of children is he’ll grow into them eventually. I’d recommend checking the EU sizes to make sure you get the right ones when you’re buying them.

The packet contains a pair of fur lined leather soles and written instructions. Along with this you’ll need some jersey fabric for the outer, some fur/fleece fabric for the inside and some strong thick yarn/thread for hand sewing the soles on. (I used 2 strands of topstitching thread and found it worked well, although something thicker would have possibly looked better). There are also instructions for knitting the slippers too if you’re that way inclined.

The instructions are written in a few different languages, they are however quite limited in detail. The biggest problem is however that once you’ve cut out your templates you’ve cut through the instructions. It’d be worth taking a photo of the instructions first or tracing off your templates to avoid this problem. I just placed the templates back in the instructions like a jigsaw puzzle once I had cut out my fabric.

You have 2 templates, one for the outer stretch fabric and one for the inner fur fabric. You need to make sure you’ve cut 2 pairs of each fabric (8 pieces in total) so you don’t end up with only 1 slipper. Do cut them in pairs though so you can make sure they all go together right sides together when you sew them.

Once everything is cut out they sew up quite quickly. I chose to sew mine on the overlocker as it’s neat and a stretch stitch (this is what the instructions ask for). It’s quite fiddly to do that way though so I’d suggest if you’re not a confident overlocker user to sew with a zig-zag stitch on a regular machine for increased control.

So the first instruction is to sew down the backs and the tops of each pair. There is a notch marked that you sew up to leaving the rest open for where you’ll eventually insert your foot.

From there you then place one jersey boot into a fur one (right sides together) and sew around the top opening. This is the really fiddly bit as getting into the v at the front where the notch is can be tricky, take your time on this bit and make sure you’ve not left any holes before turning right sides out.

Next the instructions say to stitch around the outer edge securing the 2 fabrics together. This part is visible on the inside of the slipper so overlocking is lovely and neat but a zigzagged that has been trimmed back would work well too. Once that is done all that’s left is to pin and handstitch the soles.

The instructions say to stitch the soles on using a cross stitch. The pre-punched holes in the leather make this really easy and don’t give any need for special needles. In my opinion you could stitch them on using other designs, lots of vertical lines would look quite fun. A horizontal running stitch just wouldn’t be as secure.

The finished slippers are lovely. I find them a little roomy (I don’t know why but I do like a slipper that hugs my foot more than these do, as they’re quite wide) but given i wear a size 6 shoe and these are sized to fit up to a 7 that’s probably a good thing.

I’m actually quite looking forward to cold winter mornings in my studio now I have these to wear (although that may also be because in this heat my studio has become Swedish sauna like)