Felted Slippers

This past weekend Laughing Coyote hosted a Slipper Felting Workshop with Margaret Tullis. I was lucky enough to be able to be a participant and came out of the two day workshop with a wonderful and perfectly fitting pair of handmade woolen slippers. This was the first time Laughing Coyote has offered a slipper felting class and from my experience it was a huge success. Margaret was a wonderful and methodical teacher, taking the class through the soap felting process step by step and the last day we learned embroidery and beading techniques to decorate our slippers, to make them unique, as well as how to patch holes or thin spots. Soap felting is an absolutely magical process, to go from light fluffy roving to dense and foot-shaped felt takes some serious time, elbow grease and patience, but in the end the satisfying feeling of accomplishment is overwhelming. I am now waiting for my slippers to dry (which takes only a few days here in dry Colorado). Meanwhile I am designing my embellishment and will add a photo of my finished slippers soon. Hope you can join us next time! 

~Gelsey

Colored roving that one of the students picked out

Laying out my swatch which later I embroidered

Starting to felt my swatch

Roving colors I chose for my slippers

Plastic slipper pattern

The first layer

One of the students' colorful embellishments

Patting, soaping and adding hot water to begin the felting process

I can't believe that this big hunk later turned into a beautiful slipper

Felting on my foot

A finished slipper and a "raw" slipper

Finished! But they still need to dry

The class' colorful slippers

Unique and colorful

Lovely ladies!

Embroidery, beading, and finishing techniques

Close up

The daisy stitch and more