Sew Warm and Comfy Teddy Bear Slippers

Last November I was headed up to the woods near Whistler and really needed a warm pair of slippers. So I made some bootie slippers from the sleeves of an old polar fleece jacket.  They where definitely warm and comfortable, but they looked too plain.  Since then, I spruced them up a bit by adding a teddy bear face and a paw print on the soles.

The best way to measure how much of the jacket fabric to cut is to stick your foot right into the sleeve. Pull the cuff up your leg to just above the ankle, then measure the point where your big toe is. Allow about a half and inch extra for the seam.

With the sleeve turned inside out, I sewed the open end together in a curve (see image below) and cut off the excess fabric.   Turn them right side out when you are done.

When you put the slippers on at this point, you will find that there is some bunching of fabric around the front of the ankle.  What I did about this was to fold over this excess material and sew the edge of the fold to the slipper starting from the heel across the top of the slipper to the other heel.  See pictures for more clarification.

I added another layer of fleece and a layer of foam for the sole giving the slippers greater comfort and durability.

• I used an old pair of slippers to trace the shape and size of the sole onto cardboard (you could trace around your foot too).
• Then use the cardboard to cut out the shape from the polar fleece and foam.
• I trimmed the foam so that it was slightly smaller then the fleece.
• Pin the foam and fleece in place (foam on first and fleece on bottom), and sew onto the slipper with a whip stitch.

From scraps of leftover fleece I created the ears.

• Cut four circles out of the polar fleece fabric about 5-6 cm diameter
• Cut each circle in half.
• Sew the half circles together along the curved edge, leaving the bottom edge open.
• Turn right side out.

Black and white felt where used to create the face.

• Cut the eyes and nose out of black felt using the pattern below.
• Cut little squares out of white felt for the whites of the eyes.

Arrange the parts of the face on the slippers to determine the best placement.

• Sew the white squares onto the eyes.
• Sew the eyes and nose on with a whip stitch.
• With embroidery thread (I used 4 strands thick) sew the mouth using a back stitch.
• Sew the ears onto the slippers with a whip stitch, making a slight curve for the inner part of the ear.

Sewing leather or vinyl on the bottom of the slipper will help give the slippers traction on slippery surfaces.  I probably should have sewn the leather onto the sole in step 5, before it was sewn onto the slipper. 

• Cut the paw pattern out of leather.
• Sew the leather paw onto the sole of the slipper.  If the leather is thick you may have trouble pushing the sewing needle through. Punching holes into the leather with punch or awl first will help.