Felted Mary Jane Slippers

OK, I admit it... I was always the first one up at Christmas because I hate waiting. So hopefully whoever is reading this won't be turned off by how they look sitting on a plastic bag with plastic bags stuffed into them to help them hold their shape (I have re-stuffed the toes and pulled them to narrow them a bit since taking this picture as well as moved the bag in the shoe around so ignore that little bit of bag sticking out on the left side of the right slipper!). These are SOOO cute! What I did was take them out of the wash every 8 minutes and check. At 24 they were almost ready. So I set it for 8, pulled them out again at 28 minutes and they were the right size. How did I know? Well I put two plastic bags on the floor, squeezed out the water from the slipper, put the slipper on the plastic bag and my foot into the slipper to see if it was the right size. They will fit my foot without being snug but also not too loose. Besides, as all we who felt know, if I get unhappy with it and want them a tiny bit smaller after they dry, I can put them back in the hot water and felt a bit more.

I don't know if you can see the pretty mulberry color all that well or not. I tired to put a picture of the right slipper alone at the end of this bragging session (hehehe) so that you could see it better but I can't get Blogger to allow me more than one picture. Hope the one at the top is sufficient!

My fears of being able to see the stitches because I don't like to felt things down too small were baseless. Since I made the medium size and have a foot that is more at the smaller end of that, I had to felt them enough that the stitches aren't visible. My task now is to find a pretty ribbon that will compliment the color.

These were super easy to make (if you crochet) and fun and fast and very rewarding. But here's the thing about gifting these to someone - unless the person knows how to felt, I probably wouldn't. I would make them and have the recipient do the felting to size. This means that I can't make a pair for my mom because she wouldn't understand the instructions because she does not craft. I have similar wonders about other people I thought might enjoy these. So instead I will try something else (Brooke and LB, you know what I mean!).

Can't wait to be able to wear these! BTW, the instructions call for making a second sole and attaching it to the bottom but the instructor made it a triple sole for extra softness and while I debated a long time about making a third, I am really glad I did. Once you felt them you can't add and I prefer them softer. So I would recommend to others making these that they make 2 extra soles and attach them to the bottom of the slipper. I attached one at a time. I also did the recommended stitch down the middle to better attach the soles to each other on both soles. This means I made the second sole, crocheted it to the bottom of the slipper, sewed, made the third sole, crocheted it to the bottom of the slipper (which now had 2 soles) and sewed that. I could tell when I tried them on for size, even wet, these will be comfy.

I CAN'T WAIT!!!