This time I will show and tell how to make lovely wool slippers with your own hands. To my mind, such slippers serve both for shuffling around the house and as a gift, for example, for your granny in Easter.
Materials needed:
- carded wool (orange or green);
- felting needle;
- polyester pad; - scissors and paper knife;
- marker;
- dispenser;
- detergent "Kastanis" or household soap;
- bubble wrap;
- towel;
- rubber gloves.
Step 1.
Using the marker encircle the foot of the person you`re felting the slippers for on the pad.
Step 2.
Cut out the forms of the slippers` soles, adding a silhouette reserve of approximately 1-2 cm to the encircled forms. During wet felting the desired item shrinks for at least 2-3 times.
Step 3.
Wrap the forms with carded wool, once horizontally and then vertically. If I have decided to felt the slippers in two colours, then inside I use the colour that later on will be visible on the outside. So first I wrap the green one, and only then the orange one. Then very smoothly I fasten all the assembled parts with the help of a felting needle.
Step 4.
In the dispenser prepare warm water adding the detergent "Kastanis". Put both wrappings on a bubble wrap. It is important to moisten the wrappings so that the liquid would soak through the layers.
Step 5.
Now comes the longest and most difficult part - the chafing of the carded wool with bare hands for 2 hours straight. To avoid getting blisters, I suggest using rubber gloves.
Once in a while turn the carded wool around and continue chafing. When the wool becomes firmer, remove the bubble wrap and continue chafing with bare hands. How do I know when to stop felting and move to the next step? 1) the surface is solid, firm and completely even; 2) time - you have been chafing for at least 2 hours.
Step 6.
Measure and cut the heel of the slipper.
Turn the felting on the other side and carefully straighten out all the corners, giving the slippers the right shape.
Continue chafing for at least 1 more hour, making the surface of the other side of the slipper even and firm.
Step 7.
When the felting is firm enough and it is impossible to change its form (it can still shrink a bit), then comes the rinsing part. First rinse in clean water, thoroughly squeezing out all of the soap leftovers. Then in cold water fasten the shape of the felting.
Step 8.
Wind the still wet but thoroughly rinsed slippers to even the rough sides, as well as to cut off the excess edge of the heel. Of course, there are other slipper designs where the deepened edge should be retained.
Step 9.
Put to dry for approximately 2-3 days.
Step 10.
The last step is the decoration of the slippers - the most pleasant, creative and less tiresome process. Here you can use dry felting, for example, with the felting needle felt flowers, leaves, bobs or other decors. If you want the slippers to last longer, sew leather to the bottom.
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