The magic of felting

Remember those slippers I knitted?  I promised to show you the transformation after felting them, so get ready to have some serious "slipper envy". ;o)
 
The pattern to make these  cozy slippers is (available here) and they are my all-time favourites.



Here's some before (felting) and after pictures for comparison.   Amazing, right?

From giant woolen floppy "clown" footwear to a cozy, compact felted clog.  A change of  6 inches in length for the men's pair and over 4 inches in length for the ladies pair!
 
The process of felting them down to the finished sizes was accomplished using our top loading washing machine (which allows for me to check on the progress throughout the duration of about an hour of agitation in hot, slightly soapy water).  I tossed a couple of pairs of clean jeans into the washing machine along with the slippers (which I had placed inside cotton pillowcases that were knotted closed) to aid in agitating the wool.  I checked the slippers about every 15 minutes to keep track of how far along they were in the felting.  This becomes more critical as you near the desired finish size (don't want to shrink the wool too much smaller than you want for the intended wearer ;o).
 

I love the double layer of felted wool for the soles of the slippers and on my last pair, I experimented with adding a leather sole to make the wool last longer (because I basically live in my slippers when I'm around home ;o).  I'm thinking I'll do the same with this new pair for me and for the first time for my hubby's.  So good to have new cozy slippers for the rest of our winter!


I'm linking up my latest finish with Amanda Jean and friends over at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday!

Comments

  1. That's magic, surely? How wonderful Katherine! I have learned something new today!!!!

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  2. That is amazing! I've never seen comparison photos like this so thank you!

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  3. Quite fascinating! With an awesome finished product. Thanks for sharing this process.

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  4. They look like great slippets! Love the colours

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  5. Wow! They are amazing! Really great transformation :) Jola

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  6. Hi Katherine! Wow, these look the best slippers ever! Just amazing how much they change with the felting! I have done only wet felting with wool and needle felting but now I must try this. Lucky me I have special wool yarn for this. Thank you for showing. Happy New Year! x Teje

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  7. That is just awesome! I can't believe that they are the same slipper before and after washing they look so different!

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  8. These are wonderful! If only I could knit! Felted wool has such a homey, yet elegant, quality to it

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  9. Wow... These are Fantastic.... I can't be without wool slippers ... They are a must... Might have to try this someday...

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  10. HAHA I love Patchwork and Play's comment - it definitely looks like magic to me too - WOW that is one awesome transformation (per pair, lol)! I'm curious - if you have to check frequently so it doesn't shrink too much - just how much WILL it shrink if you leave it - enough to shrink it to baby size ... or elf size ... or ??? Did you have to take one slipper of each design out of the pillowcase and measure it against a shoe or something, to be able to judge if it had shrunk enough? I just can't get over the difference - they look like pieces of art!

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  11. Wow - tolle Filzschuhe - wo gibt es die Anleitung noch? Der Link ist leider nicht mehr aktuell ... liebe Grüße Rita

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Rita! The link is now updated (Nov. 13, 2023). Happy knitting!

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