I love slippers. I guess I am a bit of a slipper snob, because I prefer boiled wool as my slipper material of choice. Haflingers to be specific. They are not cheap, but I like them because they are made of undyed wool, the soles are really durable, and most importantly - they are warm. I had an incredibly adorable pair of sheep slippers that lasted me 4 years (I am not affiliated with that website and only included it to show you how cute the slippers were). I literally wore them every day, except for a couple of weeks in the hottest part of Summer. I loved those slippers and was sad when I finally wore holes through the toes and the bottom detached from the felted top. I wasn't so crafty and frugal as I am now (meaning, I thought I had extra money to spend pre-baby), so I sadly threw them into the trash can. I then requested another pair of Haflingers for Christmas and they were great at first, but within only a couple of months, the threading ripped open and they started splitting apart. I was really disappointed.
I didn't know what to do with them, so when the house warmed up in July, I left them under the sofa, collecting dog hair and dust bunnies. I always knew they were there; I just didn't feel like dealing with them yet. About three weeks ago, I finally got tired of my feet being cold and I pulled them out, vacuumed them off, and then threw them in the washer. They sat on the brick wall next to the woodstove to dry for another couple of days. Then I broke out the needle and thread and tried to sew them together. No luck - I couldn't even get the needle through the thick sole once. So back to the brick wall they went, where they sat for another two weeks while I thought about how I could fix them.
The idea came to me while stuck in bed with the little babe - when I have lots of time for mulling about things. Patch wool with wool! It was a multi-step process and at first I didn't even know if it would work. I still had some scraps of the felted wool scarf that I have used for several projects, including my little babe's leg warmers and the snowman pillow. I had just enough to cut out a rough crescent shaped strip of wool, following the outline of the slipper. I then sewed the inside edge onto the top part of the slipper, which is soft enough to push a regular sewing needle through.
Then it was time for the magic ingredient - Gorilla Glue. I dampened both the bottom of the slipper and the underside of the felt. I applied a thin strip of glue and folded over the felt. I then needed to press it together for a while, so I developed a high tech device for smashing two glued pieces of felt together:
Need to see it up close?
It kind of reminds me of the Wicked Witch getting crushed by the house in The Wizard of Oz. Twenty pounds of beeswax sealed that glue on pretty tight. (If you try this at home, don't forget the wax paper, otherwise you'll have a very stuck slipper.)
I have toasty toes again and some extra color that makes me smile!
I shared this post on The Self Sufficient HomeAcre for the HomeAcre Hop.