Mommy-Daughter Slippers!

I don't do many mommy-daughter twinsie type things.  But I have to admit I am tickled about these.

Felted Goodwill Outlet Sweater Score!

So, I do have these matching slippers to show for this project, but I'm not going to give you a tutorial. Because I couldn't if I tried. Which is disappointing, because I planned to make this type of slippers for several people on my Christmas list, and I even have several sweaters felted and ready to go, but I'm just not sure what to do, because even when I am making these for my OWN feet, I couldn't get the size right without trying them on and re-sewing the heel several times. And I don't even know the shoe size of some of the people I was planning to make these for (the boy's preschool teachers, for example, who wear house slippers around the school all day).

There's a question for you--how do you subtlely find out the shoe size of someone you don't know all that well?

Anyway, I made my own pair as a guinea-pig pair, then decided to try again with a best-guess shoe size in mind. It totally didn't work, and that's how I ended up cutting the second down into a pair for the girl.  And now I don't have any of this sweater left.

I can tell you a couple of things--I followed the same basic idea as the girl slippers I made in this post, except that I sewed them together inside-out so the seam was on the inside, since this sweater didn't felt as thickly as the other. Also, I lined the sole piece with fleece.

And, I used a wide zig-zag stitch to sew some foldover elastic (the same kind I use for my headbands) around the opening. The key to doing this is to stretch the elastic (and DON'T stretch the fabric) as you are pinning the elastic down before sewing. Otherwise your fabric will get all stretched out as you sew.

I learned that you need to cut the sole piece WIDER than you think at the toe, and NARROWER than you think at the heel.

If I attempt this again, I will try to document and make a tutorial.

OH, and one last note. For grips on the bottom, I did glue gun on the slippers I made for the kids and it just wasn't very grippy because it dries pretty hard. So on mine, I tried puff paint, and it was much grippier. BUT, it starts to peel off relatively soon. So I'm thinking of doing puff paint stripes across the length of the foot, then going around the edges with the glue gun to hold the puff paint on. Will let you know how that works out.