Late last year, in preparation for the winter, I made a pair of French Press Slippers (ravelled here). They knitted up in an afternoon and were felted and ready to wear in a few days. I wore them, and wore them, and wore them. Can you guess what happened next?
Yep. I’m fairly heavy on my shoe leather at the best of times, so really I should have added an extra layer to the soles in the way of fabric paint or leather. Still, better late than never.
Here’s how I went about it.
Firstly I mended the hole. The original was knitted, before felting with three strands of worsted weight wool, and for the darning, I went over it with two strands which made the same weight fabric.
Next I took some slipper bottoms that I had acquired from Get Knitted. They’re made of suede and have a larger piece for the ball of the foot and a smaller one for the heel.
They’re ready-punched so you just need to place them on the bottom of your slippers, pin in place and sew on. As you can see from the picture below, the placement of the patches isn’t necessarily where you might think.
Given the slippers’ less structured nature, your foot moves around and the place that recieves the most wear (especially on the heel) can be a little to one side. I pinned the patches in place, then put my foot on the ground in the slipper to work out the best placement. As you can see, it looks especially wonky on the left foot, but is actually perfect. X marks the spot.