This is one of the projects I was working on before Christmas! They are slippers made from felted wool sweaters.

I was inspired by these slippers that I saw linked to on someones (sorry?) blog. It reminded me of an old article in Threads Magazine, and, lucky me, I was able to get a copy at our library. The Threads article gave me the main piece of information I needed- where to find the thick piece of wool felt for the inner sole. Turns out a convenient source is a press cushion from Dick Blick. I bought one that was 12″ x 26″ ($16.99), but unfortunately it wasn’t big enough for 4 pairs… not good planning. Poor Peter has cold feet. When the new piece arrives, I will make more- a pair for him and a pair for me.

Here is an in progress picture. I don’t have a vise in my workroom… which would have been very useful for this project. Getting the thread through all the layers was a 2 handed and sometimes pliers job, so I clamped the slipper onto an open drawer. And here is a better picture of one pair finished-

The slippers are made of old and/or damaged wool sweaters which I felted in the washing machine.
There are 5 pieces per slipper-
1. top- over the toes, 2. back- around the heel, 3. inside sole (these 3 pieces are the recycled sweater pieces). 4. inside sole of 1/4 ” felt from Dick Blick (although it is more like 3/8″) and 5. ultrasuede bottom soles. The ultrasuede was recycled from some really hideous estate sale fashions.
The heavy felt piece is glued in a sandwich to the top inner sole and the bottom sole. The rest is handsewn together and blanket stitched around the edge.

I know this isn’t enough information to actually make a pair- just a general idea.