Friday, January 20, 2012

Felted Slippers - DIY

Recycle a sweater....Make some slippers

It's winter again, but this time I'm prepared!  I'm battling the elements (indoors of course) with a sort of new pair of felted slippers made from a recycled wool sweater.  These bad boys feel great, and I just may never leave the house again!  




Ingredients...
1 cup steaming hot cocoa
large handfulls of marshmallows (or you can substitute whipped cream)
an old sweater, made of mostly animal hair, so either wool or cashmere, etc.  
TIP: cotton doesn't work well for felting and if it's a blend, make sure it's no less than 70 % animal hair.  
embroidery floss
cotton fabric
fusible fabric (iron on)
sewing machine
thread
scissors

Directions...
Thanks to Martha Stewart for the fancy directions!  Just a hint, I did have to play with the template a bit to get my accurate foot measurement.  If you need help felting your sweater, click here.
Now for my added cuteness!  

  • I used a turquoise embroidery floss and just did a simple "X" stitch around the top of the slipper.
  • And because I would never remember to check whether one is actually a left or right, I cut out letters out of cotton fabric, making sure the back had the iron on fusing so the fabric wouldn't fray.  
  • I also wanted to keep with the turquoise theme, so I placed the cutout cream fabric on top of a turquoise fabric so the contrasting color would show through.  I then used a blanket stitch to sew the two pieces of fabric to the outside heel of each slipper.  


So grab a cup of steaming hot cocoa, handful of marshmallows, and a good book (I've just finished Room, by Emma Donoghue and can also recommend Blonde, by Joyce Carol Oates!) 

Happy Creating!

XX 'n Hugs
~Andi