Make Your Own Slippers

These slippers take almost nothing to make, are very warm, use up stuff that would usually be thrown away, and are a fun craft idea for a lazy afternoon or even a snowday project for older kids.

What you need-

• an old towel
• 10 plastic grocery bags (regular size)
• 1 spool of thread
• needle

optional additions would include-

• yarn and a heavy yarn gauge needle for accent stitching
• ribbon
• silk flowers
• buttons
• beads
• or anything else cute to decorate your slippers

I used an old pair of store bought slippers as a pattern. cut out 4 pieces of towel to be the bottoms of your slippers. be sure to leave a quarter inch seam allowance on all sides. If you cut 4 of the same shape you can just flip 2 over to be the other foot. I find that a thinner older towel is easier to sew than a newer fluffier towel.

Next cut 4 slightly curved rectangles for the upper part of your slipper. The two short sides should be straight, the long sides should both curve the same direction, towards the toe. Use an old pair of slippers for a pattern. Again, cut 4, flip 2.

Now match up your slipper parts. Each slipper needs 2 layers for the bottom and two for the top. Make sure you have a right and a left. I made the mistake of sewing 2 lefts!

Now flatten out your grocery bags and stack them neatly on top of each other. Cut off the handles as they make a lumpy spot and fold the stack of 4 bags in thirds so you have a long rectangle. Lay your bottom over it and neatly trim around it so you have a layer of plastic bag the same size and shape as you slipper bottom. Do the same for the other side. Now do the same thing for the tops.

To assemble the slippers start with one set of bottoms. I used thread but yarn would work just as well and be a little cuter and more durable. I used a whip stitch to sew all the layers together. Make your stack with both towel layers on the bottom and the sack layers on top. star at the heel and sew around until you get to the other side of the heel. leave yourself at least a 3 inch gap to turn with.

Now comes the tricky part! Slide your finger between the 2 layers of towel and carefully turn it inside out so that the plastic bag in incased in towel. Poke out the corners and stitch down the remaining section. Do the same procedure for the other bottom and both tops. Now using the same whip stitch sew a top onto a bottom starting at the toe and working your way out to the edges. Then turn the whole thing inside out to give it a smooth finish and add any decorations.

You should end up with a comfy pair of terry cloth slippers that are slightly rustly from the bags. the bags make them very insulative, lend firmness to the otherwise floppy towel, and provide a bit of cushioning for your feet. you could do the same thing using quilt batting but I didn’t have any on hand so instead used some of my huge sack of grocery bags instead. the towel I used was an old one that had lost a lot of its nap and so was not very absorbent. i was about to make dish rags out of it when I noticed that my slippers were also looking a little threadbare and decided to try making my own. at $12 a pair for the cheap kind it is as expensive to buy a pair of slippers as it is to buy a new pair of cheap sneakers here. The ones I made had the added benefit of being the perfect size too.

If you google “make your own slippers” you can find a lot of different directions for making your own, some even have printable patterns. I still find that the bast ones are made off of a pair of old slippers that fit really good. That way you know they are going to be the right size. Just remember your seam allowances when making your pattern