How to make and add rubber soles to the slippers

I get a lot of requests to teach how to make shoes. Here is short lesson, how to make, glue and stitch soles to the bottoms of the felt slippers.

1. If you want to make slippers with the hard soles, you should make them on the shoe lasts. Put your slippers  tightly on the shoe lasts and only then add the soles. bottoms of the slippers must be stretched while doing this.

2. Circle your slippers and make the pattern of the soles. This paper pattern will be used to mark the place of the soles on the slippers and to cut soles of the soling material. This time I use yellow micro-porous rubber for the heel and beige natural rubber for the bottom of the sole:

Heel is not neccesary, but this time I was making slippers for my daughter Leda for her kindergarten and footwear had to comply with the requirements of orthopedic (small heel, hard counter).

You can use any soling materials - rubber sheets for soles, thick leather, cork, recycled tire rubber etc...

Heel is 1/2 length of the sole. Mark place of the soles very accurately on the both slippers - this kind of footwear doesn't have seems, so only your accuracy will guarantee, that soles will be in correct place.
3. Grind the detail of the heel with the sandpaper:

4. Apply contact adhesives on the bottoms of the slippers, let it dry. Apply second layer of contact adhesives on the heel area and on the detail of the heel. Use adhesives according to its instruction. Usually surfaces must dry for 10-20 minutes. Then accurately put parts together.
If you glue just one layer of the soles skip part 4 . 

5. I did it outside my studio, as contact adhesives for shoemakers are very toxic.
When parts are put together, struck with a hammer. Apply next layer of the glue - on the whole bottom of the slippers and on the soles. Let them dry and put together, struck with a hammer.  
If you won't be stitching your soles, our slippers are finished.
Soling material must be very elastic if you will glue it without stitching. Otherwise it will peel off while wearing.

6. Usually I stitch soles from the inside through the slipper and sole. But this time the size is too small. My stitching tool don't fit into the slipper, so I made an outer seem:

I use The speedy stitcher sewing awl. It is very useful as it tense stitches and I don't have to make it heard with the fingers. Use waxed thread for shoemaking.

Slippers are finished. 
Moccasins are similar "free form shoes" as the felted shoes, so most of the ideas, how to make soles I found in the tutorials of how to make moccasins :) 

Good luck with your projects!

Supplies for shoemaking you can find in my Etsy shop

Amber sunrise

Gintarinis saulėtekis

Crochet

One of my favourite crafts is crocheting. I made a model of the wool felt clogs with linen crochet for Spring. Clogs are covered with flax fibres too, it gives great durability to the shoes and a bit of a shine:

Longing for colours

This year Winter is brown and grey. After a couple of weeks of a real Winter we have rain again. I am longing for colours, waiting for Spring, felting for Spring:

Felted wool boot for men

Felted wool boots for men.
These are size 48:

Shoe soles for your own projects of extra large sizes you can find in my Etsy shop supplies for shoemaking
And felted wool shoes for men with ethno motives:

For both:

Vacation, linen, dress and loafers

There is no better place in Summer than Lithuania. I love my rich green wet warm land :)
Some of my Summer and new creations:

Nuno felted dress, made of linen and merino wool Leda loves it :)

Stylish loafers, why not to make them of wool :))) Felted wool slipper loafers

And a bit play with plant dyeing and curls  Wild felt handbag

Granny

My Granny turns 82 this week:) She already has 6 great grandchildren!

She loves to swing:)

A little warm gift for her - felted wool shoes:

Clogging into Spring

WoolenClogs  at this time of the year usually fly to Australia and Canada

 

Apavas gaspadoriškas

Pirmąkart - vyriški lauko padai.

Rubber soles for mens felted clogs

Naginės

Veltų klumpių padai gali būti visokiausi. Šį kartą jie odiniai, užsakovo pageidavimu. Nesinorėjo siūti odos, taip, kaip klijuoju guminius padukus, nes siūlės greitai nusivaikščiotų, tad užlenkiau kraščiuką ir gavosi vos ne naginės :)
Gražu, lengva, tik skalbti problematiška.

Tokias veltas klumpes galima rasti čia: Felted gray clogs Sun , o Europai čia: Filz Hausschuhe Sonne

Felted soles

One more kind of a soles for felted footwear - felted soles.
My customer asked for the clogs without any soles of rubber, because she has a chemical sensitive disorder. Thank you for this idea, Lisa! I like how slippers looks with these soles. I think will use such soles for my clogs more frequently, just will add a patches of rubber in the area of toes and heel.  
And now I wish you a warm and long wearing, Lisa: