Felted Slippers Part Deux

When I started posting the ghosts of projects past, I didn't realize that they could lead to future projects. So when I started reading my blog comments and saw that fellow Mile High Etsian carlasonheim was potentially interested in my slippers, I was taken aback. In a good way.

After some chatting back and forth, I got the specs on the new slippers, which were remarkably like the originals. Green on neutral, silver findings. The only major difference was size and my improved skills since making the first pair.

Deciding the fiber for a custom piece is always the hardest part. I sometimes think I neglect to discuss what goes into that decision here on my blog. I factor in the cost of the fiber, whether it's available retail or wholesale, the quality of the fiber, and what I need it to do. In this case, I knew I'd need to buy retail, so I focused on feltability and cost. Pure wool is actually hard to find in the discount stores. Lion Wool seems like a bargain at $5.99/skein, but it's only 180 yards. After doing the math, I realized I'd have a better product for less per yard if I went with a premium felting fiber.

And so I was standing at the Brown Sheep Worsted Wool wall at Showers of Flowers, trying to pick a color. I wanted these slippers to be unique, so a slightly different color green was in order. I found a cooler green that spoke to me. The contrasting sole was a different story. We had originally decided that grey would be a good color, but after doing laps around the store trying to match green with grey, it became obvious that a warmer neutral color would have to be used. I ended up using the same natural wool color that I used on the original pair - a brown/grey color reminiscent of Romeldale/CVM wool. Depending on the lighting, it would be grey at times, but it would always match the green no matter what. I marched out with my three skeins and a big grin on my face. I love Showers of Flowers.

The next issue was the slippers themselves. My original pair were loosely based on a pattern from Fiber Trends. I'd deviated quite a bit from that pattern for the original, and knew I'd be doing that even more so with this pair. For starters, the pattern didn't even have instructions for the size I needed. And so began the test swatches and test felting.

A few hours later, I had a pair of slippers that were about 15" long in the soles. It was time to felt. With only coin laundry available, I opted to hand felt. After two days of this, I broke down and used my mother-in-law's washing machine to complete the process. The slippers felted down to size wonderfully. They retained a fun, fuzzy finish.

The last steps are always the most important. We decided on buttons, and, having learned my lesson from the original version, I used elastic cord instead of elastic thread to create the "toggle loops". I sewed the buttons on, and voila! Slippers.

I had fun. Mostly. Lessons learned:
1) Hand felting is, as spazspun put it, some form of medieval torture. I will never, ever, ever do it again.
2) Machine felting is pretty fun. I like watching things shrink.
3) No matter how big the eye is on your needle, sewing with 1/8" elastic cord is difficult.
4) It would be prudent to find a wholesaler of feltable fiber.

All in all, a great sequel to an already great project. One of these days, I'll get around to making my own.