Felt Slipper Tutorial - Full Length, Thorough DIY Resist & Wet Felting How To w/ Feral Forest
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- This is my first pair of felted wool slippers, and I document the process from start to finish. I've made wool boots and shoes before, and plenty of wool bowls/baskets, so I can share expertise while also showing you what it can look like to make felted slippers for the first time.
This video is long because it shows the whole process. I didn't want to skip or gloss over steps that you might be unfamiliar with, and I didn't want to just post photos - because I've found when teaching people to felt that seeing the hand movements involved can make a big difference. Hopefully you'll agree, and will find this video helpful.
I did, however, 'speed up' repetitive steps after showing them the first time - that way you can get a sense for some of the hidden time that goes into making slippers that you don't see in other guides, and can still see the motions and techniques used without watching a 4-hour video.
There are other methods out there, and many other tools that can be used. I felt without bubble wrap, without special tables, without special tools. If you can learn to felt the way I do, you'll find yourself capable in any situation and able to felt even more quickly if you Do happen to have access to faster methods or tools.
Please share in the comments - have you felted for the first time after watching this video? How did it go? If you're an experienced felter, was there anything that was new to you? If you're sharing critiques, please make them constructive so I know how to change or improve for future how-to videos. Thanks! :)
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I’m an experienced felter and my techniques and equipment come from decades of study and practice. I wanted to commend you for a quite thorough and immediately useful introduction to wet felting and particularly that you did it with so few of the gadgets that I have become accustomed to such as my special watering tool, my favourite resist, netting etc. And washboard, oh and my weigh scales, yep I am one of those 😏. Anyway, a very nice job and a reminder that pretty much hands and soap and wool (and sometimes no resist) are all that you really need to make serviceable clothing. These kinds of tutorials were not available when I began felting before the internet but most are not as useful to beginners as yours is. Cheers!
Such a wonderful comment! You've prompted me to watch the full video as I've wanted to make slippers for years but tend to give up when I realize how much time it takes (and space as it is too cold outside).
Great video. Love the slippers. Thank you
I'm a textiles student learning to felt and this tutorial was so helpful and thorough! Thank you so much! This answered a lot of the questions I had about making felt slippers but also just the felting process as a whole.
This is an AMAZING TUTORIAL !!!!!!!!!!!!! Geez thank you so much !!!! I can needle felt but Ive stayed away from wet felting out of fear and there's really not much on the net that helps. Your tutorial assumes the watcher is a beginner and you've explained difficult stuff so easily - thank you, much much appreciated - subscribed xxx
Thank you so much for the level of clear and patient detail, it’s really helped me better understand the end to end process after reading information from lots of sources - I finally have enough rollags ready to go and this has given me the confidence to make slippers my Covid Lockdown project next week. Thanks again and hope you are all keeping well.
Thank you for showing that all the tools aren’t necessary. I made some. I love them.
I've been felting for years but this is the best tutorial I've seen. Will use it with my students. Thank you so much. You made it easy and enjoyable.
Hey Pat! Thanks so much, I'm so glad to hear you found it helpful! Best of luck & fun to your students :)
This reminds me of the process for getting the perfect Levi 501 jeans: Back in the 70's one would buy a pair of those extremely stiff not pre-washed jeans just a little larger than you would normally buy, 1 size larger. Then put a worn-out towel on the bathroom floor, then put on the stiff pair of Levi jeans and wear them in the bathtub of very warm water so they'd form to the individual's body. Climb out of the tub letting the dye get only on the towel. Take the jeans off (not easy to do soaking wet but possible) then bring them outside to dry. Your lower body and legs will be blue so you'll need a shower to get the dye off. Once the jeans are dry wear them again for a day or 2 (2 is better). They'll still be somewhat stiff but relatively tolerable. Then you can wash them alone or with other blue items in a washing machine with cold water. Tumble dry. You can machine wash from now on for decades and they'll continue to fit perfectly - depending on how many cookies, cakes etc one consumes of course. :D
Thank you so much
I wish I had watched this video when I started felting - it would have saved me from making so many mistakes
Thank you for taking time to show step-by-step instructions.
Good video, nice complete tutorial! I watched at 1.75 speed, and then the voice is still very understandable :) so I would recommend that if you want to watch the whole video before starting yourself :)
You did such a great job explaining the felting process!
You are so generous! Thanks so much. Hugs from Patagonia
Thank you very much for this video, for your time and effort, for the instructions... :-)
I tried my first pair of slippers and I am very happy how they turned out.
This is great Feral. Thank you! I haven't felted anything before so this was my first exposure to the technique. Glad you made this tutorial!
Now I know how I can get my hands clean after shop work and end up with a pair of slippers as a reward.
Made some for my daughter, they turned out great. Hands are a little worn out though. Great instruction, thanks so much. Would love a video on some winter boots. :)
Thanks!! So glad to hear they turned out well! Yes, it does get tiring for the hands after a few hours. It helps to take breaks and let them dry out properly :D My sweetie and I are planning on each making our own winter boots this fall! (My first pair wore out after a good few years of use and too much time too close to woodstove! Besides, I'm looking forward to how much nicer they'll be the second time around, now that I have a lot more practice) I'll be sure to take video of the whole thing and share it here. So keep an eye out!
Hey KD - just an update - I made winter boots the other day! I took video of the whole process, and am editing the video now. So keep an eye out, it'll be posted soon! :)
I have needle felt the opening to tighten and strengthen it. Nice shape.
This is such a great tutorial! I love that this can be done without any fancy equipment. How many hours does this method generally take total?
I can't find a video for the adorable shoes you showed. The decoration was beautiful!
I haven't made a video showing shoes, only these slippers and winter boots. The decoration on the shoes is needle felted ☺️
Beautiful! I'm beginning to learn about felting, and loving it! Thank you so much for sharing!
I have watched a few of these felt slipper videos and I really like yours the best! Great job!!
How did you create the pattern and how do you know how much to enlarge the pattern to account for shrinkage?
Спасибо за видео,полезно🎉
So neat great job I might try his same day!
Thank you for your video.
This was a very interesting video... I had no idea how these felted slippers are made. Pattern making for slippers would also be interesting to see... Thanks for sharing...
Hi! I'm about to publish a similar tutorial on making felted wool boots, where I'll start the video with creating the template/resist using the same method (though for a slightly different shape). Keep an eye out for that video if you want to see visually what to do. :)
Can you do a quick video showing how you finished off the little ankle boots you show at the start? They are gorgeous! It would be lovely to be able to make some.
Great job, I loved this tutorial! Thanks so much.
very well!
Fantastic tutorial 👌
Great explanations and video. Am thinking of trying this! What as your resist? Looked like some kind of butcher paper? Loved how you used your foot on the table for continued felting- ahh to be young 😀. Also really loved how you design when they are wet. Thank you!
Can you show us how you went about measuring some ones foot and drew it out on the resist please
Hey trish! I answered that question in response to the comment by 'polina Ross', so you can see the information there. I'm also about to publish a similar tutorial on making felted wool boots, where I'll start the video with creating the template/resist using the same method (though for a slightly different shape). Keep an eye out for that video if you want to see visually what to do. :)
Awesome video. Watched it while making chili. Beautiful. I ordered some BureBures today.
Thank you so much! Yes, it was long but precious to see every single step. It's much easier to do the way you do , I mean on a towel and without any bubble wrap or other tools, but what about your hands?
Hi! What about my hands? They do get pretty pruned up by the end, but it's okay to take breaks as well. And yes, if I do a long project (or several bowls) in one day, my hands get a little worn out. Not enough to be frustrating, though.
Thank you
Thank you for sharing this. I enjoyed and learned from it.
Beautiful
Thank you I have mohair pet goats I am going try this.
How many ounces of wool did you use for these slippers? They're beautiful.
Thank you Feral!
Very helpful thank you
Great tutorial what is your resists you are using.
Please explain how you made the base/resist for the slippers and what material you have used for it. Thank you!
the resist is plastic, and is 'shelving liner' i bought from the hardware store. i have also used thick leather, or other large pieces of plastic that i had around. it needs to be flexible, but not too floppy. here's an answer i gave to this same question recently in the comments below:
To create the pattern, I placed my foot on the material (which is shelving liner from the hardware store. It's what I could find at the time. I also use thick scrap leather, cut-out flat sections of milk jugs... whatever it takes and whatever I have on hand based on size/shape needed) and measured out about 1.5" all the way around - this distance may vary a bit, as not all wool will shrink the exact same amount. When in doubt, make it a bit bigger than you think you need. It's painful to put in all that work and end up with something too small.
Once you have your foot outline (+1.5"), you can decide what shape of slipper you want. I look at different templates and decide what shape to use each time. Here are a few options:
-Fuller, kind of clog-shaped: feltingandfiberstudio.com/2014/03/03/felted-slipper-tutorial-using-ear-shaped-resist-by-nada-v/
-Ankle-high slippers/shoes: hubpages.com/art/How-to-Wet-Felt-an-Infants-pair-of-Booties (tutorial is for baby size, but same template works when scaled up to any size)
-For simple, slip-in, open back slippers, just use the outline of your foot +1.5" (you'll need to make two, since they aren't joined together like the others) and cut a small oval about where your ankle meets your foot & carefully stretch & trim to the size of opening you want.
-The template I use in the video makes a sort of medium-coverage slipper that tapers from the top of the foot down to a low heel (as you can see at the end of the video).
You just have to feel out how much overlap is appropriate between your two 'feet' of your template... more overlap will give shorter sides, less overlap will mean higher sides and heading toward ankle-height.
I hope this helps!!!
I didnt understand where n how u got the resist...it would b helpful if i cld know how to make a resist on my own without buying expensive ones...n which material wld b the best for a resist...am felting for some months nw. ..made flowers n scarfs n landscapes with wool n silk n silk hankies...am getting better each time ...so thnx n happy felting
Liked the tutorial and the slippers. It was a good tutorial, but for the first part, all I could think of was how much I wanted to hand you a handkerchief! Looks like no one else noticed it, so maybe it was just me. A little like fingernails on a chalkboard.
When making your resist, how did you know how much bigger to make it than your actual finished-product measurements?
this is amazing and so time consumin. May I ask you what you charges for the pair. also, why don't you use a bigger pair of scissors?
Thank you for sharing your gift with us!!! I have done dry felting, but I've never tried see felting before. I'd really love to learn how to make clothes for the little creatures I make. Any ideas & advice you could give me would be absolutely wonderful!!!!
Thank you!!!!
Hey Jeannine! I'd consider making a thin, large flat felt, and then cutting and sewing clothing for your creatures. If you feel they're large enough to create each piece of clothing individually through wet felting, you could try that... I'd make a test piece with just one full layer of fiber around the resist (so each side of the resist gets an up/down oriented layer and a side/side oriented layer), and see if that thickness feels appropriate once it's felted down. The size recommendations should still work the same - go about 1/3 bigger than the general radius of your piece. Good luck! I hope you share video if you try it out. :)
Saw another video where bamboo mats were used to roll and cause the shrinkage. Seems easier to me than the rubbing with my hands. Just an observation. Gonna try this when the handmade drum carder I am borrowing has a motor attached to it.
Yes, as I mentioned in the description, there are many other tools available that can make the work easier - I'm simply showing this way because I use what I have access to, and I'm often living very remote with only the most basic materials. Other felting tutorials describe more about using other tools and techniques to speed up the process or make it easier.
Could you wait to put on the design until you are finished flipping both sides? That way you don’t have to worry about your last layer affect in the design the edge?
Can we have some referrals for the batted wool you use
Great job. How much wool do I need? Thanks !
This pair used about 8 ounces.
Excellent tutorial on felting boots. Unfortunately it was very dark at the end also writing didn't stay long on the screen., although did pick up some very helpful tips. Thank you.
You can always pause the video to finish reading the captions. I tend to read very quickly, but I did try to leave them up a good length of time. Sorry about the darkness on the other boot video, I know that wasn't ideal.
Muy lindo ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
What kind of soap is best?
Anyone else nervous that the splashing water is so close to the laptop in the background? :D
What kind of resist is this please
I am just learning. When you say (in reference to the white wool) "Bat" do you mean that is wool batting? I'm just wondering if I can felt wool batting normally for quilt making and such. Thanks so much in advance!
Hi! So the term 'batt' refers to wool that has been carded into a long flat fluff pile so that all the fibers are aligned in the same direction. I made my own batts with raw wool on a drum carder. Wool batting for quilts will likely work if it's 100% wool and as long as it's not a "super-wash" variety of wool, as those don't felt as easily.
You can also use wool that hasn't been carded, but it takes a Lot more time to pick the locks of wool apart and fluff them up and then lay them down in an orderly fashion for all the layers of your shoes.
@@ferallion Thank you SO much!
love the tutorial, thank you so much for doing this. About how long do you think it took to make this pair start to finish?
i don't remember exactly... usually a project this size takes a few hours. maybe 3-5, as a rough estimate?
Is Is their a pattern somewhere? Link is broken
hola, que tal esta? la verdad, q aun, no encuentro un video hablado en castellano, español o latino, por eso preguntare, ¿ que es el liquido y que es lo que lleva, gracias, veo que aun asi, con solo las manos se puede hacer perfectamente, ¿ no ha dejado nunca secar y luego comenzar otra vez? o siempre es sin dejar de trabajarlos y al finalizar, se los deja? yo solamente consigo vellón, da igual ? he visto que usted separa la lana y la coloca.
hermoso,
No hablo español, pero intentaré responder usando el traductor de Google.
líquido - agua y jabón.
sí, está bien que se seque. puede volver a él y mojarlo de nuevo, si no puede terminarlo todo de una vez.
vellón - también trabajo con vellón fresco. debe desarmarse y esponjarse, no funcionará bien si las fibras todavía están muy juntas. luego, todos deben estar alineados como en el video, incluso si son pequeños fragmentos a la vez. toma mucho más tiempo, pero también he hecho botas de esta manera.
Intentaré hacer un video corto y subirlo mostrando las respuestas a estas preguntas en caso de que no se traduzca bien. Si alguien aquí en los comentarios sabe español y se ha fieltrado, corrija cualquier cosa que se traduzca de manera poco clara.
Can you explain when you would add a dry felted design?
You can needle felt after they're completely finished and dry.
When you say you are using carded wool...does any type of carded wool work? Like as long as the wool is called "carded wool" it is safe to use for this project?
Thanks so much.
That should be true! You just need 100% wool that isn't listed as "super-wash" as those types are harder to felt. You could also search "wool batts" or "wool batting" - it's just helpful to have wool that's already been carded bc the fibers are all aligned in the same direction, and that saves many hours of labor vs using a raw fleece.
Also for durability you would want to use a coarser/stronger wool the soft wools like merino that are best for things that don’t get such wear as slippers.
Can you explain how you made your resist pattern
That's explained in my felted boot tutorial that I made after this one. Also it's explained in other comments here, look for a reply to the comment by polina ross.
Hey angel, what size does my resist need to be if I have big fucking feet already? I know yours started out big and shrank to about 2-2.5 sizes too big when you finally took it off the resist. I’m brand spanking new to felting this was he first vid I’ve ever seen about it and always assumed needles were involved or something. But yeah.... what is a resist even made out of? You had a big roll of something there that you cut it out of. Let me know haha!
Could you tell me how to create the pattern and what is the material you are using for the resist? Thank you!
Hey Jennifer. To create the pattern, I placed my foot on the material (which is shelving liner from the hardware store. It's what I could find at the time. I also use thick scrap leather, cut-out flat sections of milk jugs... whatever it takes and whatever I have on hand based on size/shape needed) and measured out about 1.5" all the way around - this distance may vary a bit, as not all wool will shrink the exact same amount. When in doubt, make it a bit bigger than you think you need. It's painful to put in all that work and end up with something too small.
Once you have your foot outline (+1.5"), you can decide what shape of slipper you want. I look at different templates and decide what shape to use each time. Here are a few options:
-Fuller, kind of clog-shaped: feltingandfiberstudio.com/2014/03/03/felted-slipper-tutorial-using-ear-shaped-resist-by-nada-v/
-Ankle-high slippers/shoes: hubpages.com/art/How-to-Wet-Felt-an-Infants-pair-of-Booties (tutorial is for baby size, but same template works when scaled up to any size)
-For simple, slip-in, open back slippers, just use the outline of your foot +1.5" (you'll need to make two, since they aren't joined together like the others) and cut a small oval about where your ankle meets your foot & carefully stretch & trim to the size of opening you want.
-The template I use in the video makes a sort of medium-coverage slipper that tapers from the top of the foot down to a low heel (as you can see at the end of the video). You just have to feel out how much overlap is appropriate between your two 'feet' of your template... more overlap will give shorter sides, less overlap will mean higher sides and heading toward ankle-height.
I hope this helps!!!
What is the amount of increase for the pattern vs the finished slipper?
That's answered thoroughly in other comments (look for a response to a comment by polina Ross) but basically, add 1.5" all the way around the outline of your foot.
and again, you felted with padding wool, would it be possible to felt using ordinary ship wool? Thank you!
Hey - I am using plain sheep's wool. It just happens to have been dyed & carded already. You can use raw sheep's wool, but you'll need to pick apart the locks & have it nice and fluffy before you begin, and it will take quite a bit longer to get each layer arranged. I've used my own raw sheep's wool plenty of times & was very happy with it.
Thank you! Working with fiber is much easier than with raw wool.
Hi. Did you use wool batting or wool roving for this? Thanks!
Hi Tiffy, I've used both. It's much easier to use batts, as they're wider and lay down more quickly than roving. But roving will still work, it'll just take you slightly longer to fluff out and lay down evenly.
hello, please tell me , how much wooll , i need for a pairs slippers.Thanke you!
About 8 ounces for this pair
What is "resist" and where can I find it?
You can make a resist out of any material that is stiff enough to provide some resistance to the wool as it shrinks. I have used both plastic and foam type "shelf liner" before. Thick leather works. It needs to be flexible but offer some structure.
What kind of soap do you use?
Just something basic and gentle, like Dr bronner's. Normal dish soap works fine.
How much did the slippers weigh after they were dry
see above comment - roughly 6ish ounces. they don't feel heavy on the feet at all, just nice and cozy.
Feral Forest - Alaska thanks
Can you explain how to measured the foot and came up with the shape of the resist? or could I have your email so I can ask questions. Thanks!
Hi rylin! I answered that question in response to the comment by 'polina Ross', so you can see the information there. I'm also about to publish a similar tutorial on making felted wool boots, where I'll start the video with creating the template/resist using the same method (though for a slightly different shape). Keep an eye out for that video if you want to see visually what to do. :)
how many ounces of wool did you use?
ahh! good question, i didn't weigh it first, and i sold this pair, so i can't weigh them for you. i have another similar sized pair over here, though... let me find our fish scale... okay, so this scale isn't super accurate (made for heavier things) but it's reading at just below a 1/2 pound. so maybe 6-7 ounces? sorry i can't be more accurate this time.
Where do you buy your bats?
Hey Jennifer! So far I've purchased from two Etsy shops: mohairandmore and wildthyme. I've been very happy with both of them.
where to get the fiber?
Hi Polina! If I'm not using fiber from my own sheep, I usually purchase it in batt form on Etsy from 'mohairandmore' or 'wildthyme'. I've been very happy with the quality of wool & their customer service. There are many great sellers out there with wonderful fiber, so shop around!
I felt so sad for you that after all that work and effort the slippers were too loose and the heel was not high enough or structured enough to keep the slipper on the foot. I think the design step is overlooked albeit the felting being very well explained. You really need a good design /pattern at the beginning otherwise it’s a lot of effort for something that is unwearable
cool Thank You :