For the fifteenth day of A Gift a Day, I made slippers. Last year I made slippers for all of my girls in cream-colored satin with a flower in pink or blue on them. This year I am making them slippers again, but I’ve changed a few things. I am using a different fabric for the soles. On this pair, I chose cotton duck cloth, which is a heavy cloth. I hope that this will produce a more long-lasting slipper.
Slippers
Supplies:
fabric for outside ( I used a scrap of tapestry)
fabric for lining (I used fleece)
fabric for bottom (I used cotton duck)
matching thread
pattern (I used the Vintage Flair Flats pattern from Winter Peach)
buttons
elastic cord (I found mine here; she has lots of colors from which to choose)
Tools:
scissors
sewing needle
sewing machine
Time:
The total time for one pair of slippers was 3 hours.
Today I made one pair of slippers.
Cost:
$0.12 per pair. I didn’t spend anything on it this year, as I had the supplies already (my .12 was spent last year).
I bought the pattern last year and have used it to make 5 pairs of slippers since then.
The tapestry was a scrap that was given to me from my mother-in-law several years ago.
Tapestry is rather expensive. However, you don’t need a large amount to make these. The ones I made above are a women’s size 7. You only need a piece 22″ long by 16-17″ wide. If you want to match the pattern, you will need a larger piece for matching. You can buy a remnant of tapestry, buy a small amount on sale, check the fabric close-outs at the fabric store (I often see discontinued tapestries there), or pick up a scrap at a garage sale.
I bought the fleece last year on Black Friday sale at Joann’s.
I bought the elastic last year. I found last year that I needed a longer piece of elastic for my girls wide feet and high arches. This time I cut the elastic 8 inches long instead of the recommended 6 inches in the pattern. I Left very little overhang and I didn’t cut any off.
The cotton duck fabric was from my grandmother’s stash.
The buttons were vintage buttons that were given to me as part of a woman’s personal button collection. I used them for the same daughter’s slippers last year; I cut them off of that pair (which is worn) to use this year.
What did you make today?
Very pretty.
I have almost finished making one child’s winter coat. I realized at this point that I should be doing quite a bit of top seams and do not have a coordinating thread, so I am going to start the next jacket and leave that one hanging until I either find the thread or crunch time hits and I do it in white or black.I used corduroy bought 7 or 8 years ago, satin bought for a school Christmas show, and buttons from my stash. I did have to buy batting, but I got a really good price on it, so less than $10 for the jacket. So lucky to live somewhere that jackets are not needed most of the time, generally just needed when traveling and visiting family.
Brandy-These are absolutely beautiful! Your children are so blessed to have you as their mother. Blessings,Jennifer in IA
Pretty much in love with these slippers. So pretty.
I love these!!! Sitting here wondering if they can be made using leather sole…. then they could be used as cute church shoes too. hmmmmmm… 🙂 Amy
Yes they can. I own a pair of slippers that has a leather sole (Isotoners) and you can certainly make them with leather. A leather sole will help these to last even longer, but I haven’t found an inexpensive source of soft leather for making my own slippers yet. I want to; I want a pair of these, too! It will depend on what kind of leather you use to make them into outside shoes. I actually was inspired to make these from tapestry because of a pair of tapestry shoes that I saw years ago (October 1989 Victoria magazine).
I did not make anything today. I sadly received an email from Joann’s stating that the $1.98/yard fleece which I ordered on-line during their black Friday sale (free shipping) is no longer available. I emailed back to ask if they could honor the price on another order, since I would have chosen another print if that one had been listed as being out of stock. They refused. (Sigh…) I guess I won’t me making the two sets of pajamas that I had planned.On anther note, I did order a canning rack and jar lifter through your Amazon link, with prime shipping, so I hope to be making some pear-cranberry conserves for gifts. This will be my first attempt at canning.
What a bummer! I’m glad you were able to get a canning rack! Wonderful!
Those are truly gorgeous and one-of-a-kind – nice work! I actually have both tapestry and fleece that I got (2-3 yards for 99 cents at the thrift store!). I will try and use this pattern – I’ve always thought that corduroy would make cute slippers too, and my husband is always wearing through his and giving them to me for scrap material.
Our Goodwill stores have ‘color tags’ on all the stuff they sell, and there is a rotation where each color goes 30, then 50, then 75% off of the price. I have found that if I watch closely in the off season, I can pick up all sorts of good deals. So, in summer, watch the rack with leather coats, and I bet you could get one to use for shoe soles, no problem! Also, you might find someone giving away a damaged suede or leather coat on freecycle or craigslist – it never hurts to ask! 🙂
I think the computer ate my reply, but I wanted to mention that our Goodwill has colored price tags – they rotate through them offering discounts as high as 75%. In the off season, I frequently see leather coats at 75% off. You might also post on freecycle and craigslist. Someone with a damaged leather item might give it to you and could could cut soles from that too. 🙂
I had a really fun project this week! Our church needed something for the tables in the dining/fellowship area. There are 4 tables in there. I brought home all the (dusty, dingy) plastic fruit and the 3 baskets it was sitting in. I cleaned the fruit and baskets, and brought out a basket I had (from a gift given to me last year). I lined the baskets with cranberry felt from my stash, tied gold ribbon bows (also from my stash) onto the handles, and then put the fruit back in. I accented it with pine cones (from my yard!) rolled in glue and then rolled in gold hologram glitter. The glue is from back to school sales and the glitter was given to me years ago. It cost nothing to transform the baskets and they look really pretty! I’m so happy to be able to transform something we already had into something new. It was lots of fun. :)I am almost done with the shawl I’m crocheting for my mother. It’s pretty, and I think she will really like it. I am giving food gifts to some neighbors, and I’ve been making things ahead where I can. I have homemade jam to put in, and I’ve made cookie dough and frozen it so I can do the baking right before we deliver the gifts.The next thing I really need to get going with is Bible bookmarks for church members. I’m using cardstock and embellishments I have on hand, so they won’t cost me anything new – just time. I want to make ‘too many’ so everyone has several to choose from. The supplies were purchased for very little or given to me, and it’ll be fun to create them too.
Those are precious, you have very good taste.
Today all I had time for was home made hot dog rolls. And they did not turn out as good as they normally do because I was rushing and my children were fussing. Or I was rushing because they were fussy. One of those. Annnnyhow we are in our last two week budget crunch and then THANK GOD it will be easier. We are staying home this weekend and cleaning and decorating and putting up ebay sales. My husband made almost 300 dollars on ebay this week. He buys large lots of legos and then cleans and sorts and resells them. He does really well at it, and it is a nice way for him to support his hobby as well as making some extra cash with the ones he finds but does not want. It is pretty time consuming to wash and sort and them, but since he enjoys that anyway it’s not that bad. Then it’s so much fun to watch them up on ebay. He has another sale this weekend. Tomorrow we are cleaning and decorating and then I am making a big pot of soup and some turkey pot pie and I have to roast pumpkins.
This week I made a Christmas Joy plaque out of materials I had on hand and my Cricut (it was a gift from my mother-in-law). It was super easy and a great way to decorate my home inexpensively. I may try to make another one to give to my parents for Christmas. Here is a picture: http://emersonfamily.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/crafting-with-my-cricut-christmas-time/ I also threw my husband a SURPRISE birthday party tonight (he is turning the big 30). We had about 50 people come and it was a blast! It turned out to be pretty inexpensive-I cooked 3 turkeys this week that I had purchased 50cents/lb. and had turkey barbeque sandwiches, cole slaw, pasta salad, baked beans, corn pudding, green beans, layered lettuce salad, fruit tray, and 5 different desserts. I made nearly everthing from scratch! My husband was esctatic and completely surprised! Everyone had a great time. I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing of making presents next week. 🙂
Actually, although I didn’t make anything, my daughters did (ages 11 and 8). They put together two shoeboxes for needy children, one for a girl and one for a boy. Our church is giving them to local children through ministry partners instead of shipping them overseas with Operation Christmas Child. They included toothpaste and toothbrushes which we were able to buy free with coupons and extra school supplies that we bought for pennies during the back-to-school sales. Then they went through the house and found small toys and card games which were in like-new condition but which have been outgrown by them and my son. My older daughter made friendship bracelets to go in them. They made lovely boxes which did not require a penny spent. I’m so proud of them.
I LOVE these! I made a beautiful stocking for my grandson one year out of a similar fabric. Very rich looking.
Is this the last of your Xmas present series? If yes, I have thoroughly enjoyed it and been inspired.
I still have more presents to make, so I am going to continue to post them as I finish them! I just put up one tonight!
You win! Excellent idea!-Trish
I recently made fleece slippers with leather soles for two of my little boys for Christmas. I got scraps of suede from a shoe seller who set up a tent outside of Walmart, but they don’t really do that in America. I plan on making slippers similar to these sometime using leather from an old purse I found. Buying an old purse from a garage sale or thrift store could be an option.Thanks for the slipper inspiration. The tapestry and satin ones are both lovely.