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Make your own slippers

Going barefoot at home in high summer is a child-like thrill, but as the weather turns, you need something cosy for your toes. As seen in issue 36 of Good, and extracted with permission from ‘Cloth: Over 30 beautiful projects from linen, cotton and silk to wool and hide’, by Cassandra Ellis, here’s how to make a simple and gorgeous pair of linen slippers. 

What you need: 

55cm fabric. (Enough to make two pairs of slippers). 
100 percent cotton thread in a neutral colour.
100 percent cotton thread in another colour of your choice
30cm x 30cm piece of wadding or fleece per pair of slippers 

Other tools: 

Iron and ironing board 
Tailor’s chalk or dressmaker’s pencil 
Fabric scissors
Pins
Sewing machines
Hand-sewing needle 

This pattern comes in two sizes, small/medium and medium/large:

  • small/medium fits up to UK size 5 (European size 38)
  • medium/large fits UK size 5–7 (European size 38–41)

Seam allowances are 1cm and are included in the pattern. Cut on the solid lines, and sew on the dotted lines.

Size small

Size medium/large

Prepare

1. Pre-wash fabric on a warm wash to eliminate any shrinkings.
2. Dry, then press with a hot iron.  
3. Cut out or trace the two matching pattern pieces. 

Cut

1. Using pins, secure the pattern pieces to your fabric. 
2. Trace around them, ensuring you transfer all the markings as well, then cut out four of the bottom and four of the top pieces per pair of slippers.
3. Trace the bottom pattern piece onto your wadding or fleece. Cut out two. 

Sew 

1. Pin two top pieces right sides together and stitch along line A. 
2. Press curved seams flat and clip if necessary. 
3. Turn the right side out and press again. 
4. Repeat for second pair of top pieces.
5. Change the thread on your sewing machine to the contrasting colour. Pin one of the bottom pieces to the wadding with the right side facing up, away from the wadding. Decoratively stitch the two pieces together. You can choose how many lines, how wide apart they should be and in which direction they should travel. 
6. Change the thread on your sewing machine back to the neutral colour. Pin the two bottom pieces and the top piece together, with the top piece sandwiched in the middle and the bottom pieces right sides towards the middle.
7. Match all markings – you will have to curve the top piece to fit. Stitch the three scetions together, leaving the gap as marked on your pattern.
8. Press seams open with a medium to hot iron and trim or clip excess fabric away. 
9. Turn the slipper right out and press again. Slip stitch the open seam complete. 
10. Repeat for the second slipper and the pair is complete. 


Extracted with permission from Cloth: Over 30 beautiful projects from linen, cotton and silk to wool and hide, by Cassandra Ellis, photography by Catherine Gratwicke. Published by Kyle Books and distributed in New Zealand by New Holland, $59.99.

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