Felted Baby Slippers with Textured Sole

Filipinos are really fond of wearing slippers whenever and whatever the occasion may be. The trend of flip flops and slip-ons crazed major malls nationwide. Why?  We love the comfort these footwear provides. No additional fuzz. Simple yet rocks.

I was playing with my fiance’s niece when I saw one of her slippers lying around. I picked it up and got inspired to make a pair of slippers. It’s what I do usually. Be inspired then crochet.

This pair of slippers is made with felted wool, for additional touch of softness and comfort. Plus ankle-wrap straps to secure the slippers on for extra flirty style. I also made the bottom sole textured for rough – look.

Close Up of Felted Sole:

Felted Sole

Soak Top Sole (if Yarn B is untreated wool) in hot water (preferably water that just got boiled) with dishwashing liquid for 5-10 minutes (as desired – or longer). Remove the cloth from hot water. Be careful with being burned. Gently hand wash the cloth until felting occurs. Soak again to hot water. Repeat procedure til desired texture is achieve. Wash the soap in cold water. Let the sole dry.

Close Up of Slippers:

Close Up of Slippers with view of Textured Sole

The textured sole:

Textured Sole

The textured effect was created by alternating treble and single crochet.

This is what my fiancee pointed to me this morning when I was trying to assemble pieces of what should be ‘baby slippers’. I had this idea while playing with his niece yesterday. See, I made moccasins for this little girl that was meant to be for Christmas of last year, but were not able to deliver the presents. It has just been two months since, and the shoes do not fit already. My, my.. babies grow fast. One of her slippers were lying around and I picked it up just to compare the size, it’s like comparing a grape seed to the fruit itself hahaha…

And so, while sitting on the floor with baby already asleep on the bed, I started crocheting. For some reason, when I just don’t have anything else to do or I don’t want to do anything else (In this case, it’s the latter) I crochet.

I remembered my friend, peach reminding me to start writing the stitches as I go on with crocheting so I could share the pattern later on, (If someone happens to like what I was able to do) And so I got a pen and a notebook and started crocheting (and writing) .

I was a bit afraid to post this one coz I got this feeling that it would be on the What Not to Crochet Blog .. Hehe. If you make slippers like this, there’s just two possible outcome. Either these  slippers would be worn out as soon as your baby stepped out of the house. (well you could let your baby just stay indoors to save the slippers from getting ruined) Then your baby might slipped, because the footwear was basically made of soft material and there’s little friction between tiled floors and cotton yarn.
Anyway. Much with the introduction. Here’s my first baby slippers, The design made it look like an outdoor-kind-of footwear.

The sole and strings are made with Brown cotton yarn (bedspread weight) and the top is made of 90% wool, handfelted. I plan to give the pattern away for people who would buy the wool yarn from my shop. So hopefully, someone would be interested.

Here is the top view of the slippers. It has draw strings to wrap around the ankle for more security.

Baby Slippers

A closer view. Has the top sole been felted properly? Hopefully.

I try to always make a textured sole for slippers and shoes i make, to hopefully add a little more friction to the floor and the footwear. Hopefully later i could find a way to add rubbery texture on the soles so it would be more practical for the wearer.

Textured bottom sole

Side note on felting. The procedure went much easier with colored wool. The garment felted immediately with just few scrubbing and agitation. It made me happy this morning you know? Progressing a little bit with felting.

Close Up Felted Bangle

I am going to wear this to office tomorrow I like the jeweled bling bling around it. Looks like a dog collar to me

Felted Bangle - worn

When looked closely – individual crochet stitches were barely distinguishable:

Close up look at the felted bangle

I cannot share yet the experience since i am more excited about the result. I will share next time the steps I had taken but i want to share this wrist wrap i was able to make:

If you want to order a bracelet of the same kind, kindly leave a comment below

Now I should compile the pictures of the felted crochet projects I see in the web.

Deep Red Statement by GlissKnits from www.etsy.com

Crocheted/Felted Wool Bangle with Hand Needle Felted Applique by OctobersChild from www.etsy.com

Crocheted/Felted Wool Bangle with Hand Needle Felted Applique by OctobersChild from www.etsy.com

Ivory felted bracelet by HeddaVatter from www.etsy.com

I will try making felted accessories first And i will try making something like these photos

This felted flower can be applied as additional ensemble to many different projects. Like the felted bag below.

I want to try making crocheted accessories again! sigh…