Doing the Boot Scootin' Boogie
Boot Slippers using McCalls 6449

I'm in the midst of my Christmas sewing and have finished a few pairs of suede and faux fur boot slippers for gift giving.

The zebra pair on the left is made from two layers of faux fur. All edges were bound. The leopard pair on the right was made from a single layer of sherpa-lined suede:

Cute, huh?

Pattern: McCalls 6449 View E

Materials:
Faux fur from fabric.com (zebra and black fur pieces)
Sherpa-lined suede from JoAnns.com (the zebra piece) and from HobbyLobby.com (the leopard piece)
Inexpensive slippers ($2 per pair) from local discount store. I reaped their soles. (doesn't that sound diabolical?)
Jeans/denim needles, size 100 or 110
100% Polyester thread

Method/Tutorial:
1. Before you start, note that the sizes run pretty true. A large is a size 8-9 women's slipper size and medium is a size 7-8. Those were the two sizes I worked with.

Also note that all seam allowances are 1/4 inch. If you're making a view different from A, you might not notice that little blurb at the bottom of column 2 on page 2 of the instructions. It's easy to miss. Ask me how I know.

2. Cut out the faux fur from the back side and the sherpa-lined suede from the suede side.

3. Assemble per pattern instructions, the vamp seam first and the side seams next, and turning the top edge under and hemming, if desired.

If you are using faux fur, you'll have to attach binding to each seam. I used 1 inch wide black strips cut from a heavy knit fabric. It followed the vamp curve nicely without puckering and was easier to sew on than, say, single or double fold poly cotton bias binding.

4. Reaping soles:

Before the reaping:

Cut the top of the inexpensive slipper away, leaving the nicely edge-bound thin slipper sole behind.

Attach this sole to the upper, pinning through the upper and the cushy side of the sole with strong pins.

Using a Jeans/Denim needle size 100 0r 110, a zipper foot, a stitch length setting of 3.0 to 3.5, and 100% poly thread, slowly stitch around the sole. I stitched completely around twice.

I changed the needle for each pair of slippers, since sewing through these plasticy/rubbery slipper sole could dull it.

You have to go slowly with this step, keeping the bottom of the sole away from the needle support mechanism which wants to hit the sole with each down stroke in the area of the raised heel. You'll know what I'm talking about when you get to that point.

And voila! you have some boot-scootin' slippers!

Some additional notes:

We've been kicking this pattern around on Stitcher's Guild, discussing options for soles besides what is recommended in the pattern. The option I would have tried, had I not found those cheesy slippers at the discount store is to sandwich a Dr. Scholl's foot pad between some slipper grip for the bottom and the sherpa side of the fashion fabric for the top to make a sole. I would probably have bound the sole sandwich at this point with the 1 inch wide black knit fabric.

For the faux fur version, I probably would have also bound the lower edge of the upper with the same knit strips I used for the other seams. I would have bound the edges of the sole together similarly. Then I would have topstitched the two bound edges together. With the slippery fur, I think it might have been more difficult, for me at least, to bind the upper to the sole neatly with one strip of binding.

The sherpa-lined suede is the easiest to work with because no binding is necessary on any of the upper's seams. I would have just stitched its upper to the bound sole sandwich described above.

Here are a few more views of the sole-pinning and stitching steps:

This pair was made from sherpa-lined zebra suede, which was not lined like the other zebra pair shown above.

The closer you place the pins, the less chance there is for the upper to slip away as you're stitching from the underside. However, since I stitched over the pins, the more pins there are, the greater the probability of hitting one. I set my machine to a slow stitching speed, put on some safety glasses, and proceeded carefully. I don't usually stitch over pins, but it would have been pretty much impossible to baste the upper to the rubbery sole, and I wanted the whole she-bang to stay together during the stitching process.

And another sole being harvested:

At $2 per pair, the slippers I used for their soles were cheaper than many other options. Plus the cushioning in the soles will make the boot scooters more comfortable to wear.