Sew: Adult Ladies Fleece Elf Slippers {FREE DIY Sewing Pattern included!}

Some things I make start with a clear plan and other things take a meandering path. I bought some fleece with the intention of making fleece socks to wear around the house. Mummy Ask & I discussed the plan and possible embellishments, then Mum joked about pointy toed shoes with bells on the toe. We laughed at our silly and ridiculous thoughts! I choose a sock pattern, cut and sewed it and realized I was never getting my foot to fit in it. After that failure, I had to rethink. I only had a little fleece left and I didn’t want to waste it. Do I try another sock? Try something else? Then I thought of Mummy asks pointy shoes with bells and knew that I had to make fleece elf slippers!

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A quick Pinterest brought up this tutorial for a felted wool children’s version. I drafted a quick pattern and stitched up a single lining piece to test fit. Success! The drafting wasn’t too hard but if you can’t be bothered, I’ve included my version of the pattern as a PDF (elf slipper pattern). I am an Australian size 8-8 1/2 and they fit me in a slouchy sort of way, a size 9-9 1/2 could probably fit this too because of the extra room the pointy toe creates. Smaller or larger sizes could try scaling the printing down or up to suit. You know you have your size if the sole piece fits your foot like this picture. 

These are a nice, quick sew! I used a lightning bolt stretch stitch throughout (a small zig zag works fine too) and a 1/4″ or 6mm seam allowance. I backstitched at the beginning and end of all of my seams. If you want to test fit, baste one slipper lining together with a straight stitch on a longer length (maybe 3.5 length) first. Removing lightning bolt or small zig zag is the devil!

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Once you have the pattern scaled and printed, start by cutting out the fleece, you’ll need to cut:

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4 x side uppers

2 x soles

4 x side uppers

2 x soles

Take two side uppers (either two outer or two lining pieces) and pin right sides together. Repeat with all the other side upper sections. You should have four sets of side uppers. 

For the outer fabric – Sew along the front toe, pivoting at the tip and sewing along the curve at the top of the foot. Then sew the back heel seam.

For the lining fabric – Repeat as above but leave 2.5″ or 6.5cm gap in the centre of the back heel seam. You will turn your slippers out through this hole, so don’t forget it!

Now to pin the sole in so the right side of the sole is against the right side of the uppers. Make sure you line the centre of the toe on the sole with centre toe seam on the upper and the same at the heel. There is a certain amount of easing to fit, so just work with it till it’s nice and even. The upper is the longer side, so when I come to sewing, I like the upper to be against the feed dogs and the sole against the presser foot. I pin in a way that makes it easy to sew it that way. Start sewing on one the longer sides and sew right around the sole. It gets awkward around the toes and heels but go slow, adjust often and you’ll be fine!

Before you sew the lining and outer together, clip away the seam allowance around the pointy toe, so you get a sharper point. Now get the outers inside out and nicely shaped, put the lining inside the outer, so right sides are together. Pin around the foot opening matching the seams as you go. Sew around the foot opening, it’s sort of small and ungainly but easy. 

If you pull the lining out of the outer, you get weird double boot but you can now turn everything right side out through the gap in the heel lining! This is your last chance to go through the gap and poke out the points of the outer fabric toe, so get them how you want them. Now hand sew that gap in the lining shut, arrange the lining in the outer and voilà! 

If you’re me, you’ll look at those elf slippers and think, gee they need a pom pom! So hand sew one on and revel in the glory of toasty feet in sexy elf styling! Done, right? No, you want yours to be super padded soles. You could cut some insoles a 1/4″ smaller all around than the sole piece, poke it in the heel gap once things are in the right way. You might want to secure it to the sole of the outer with a couple hand stitches too. Have I covered everything? No? Well, I can hear you from here, saying “But Sarah, my floor is slippery! How can I make these non skid?”. There are a few options that I’ve read up on but not tried, if you try them let me know how these work, ok?

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Puffy Paint – I hear a puffy paint design on the sole does wonders. I also hear it gets worn away but can be easily re done. This is a choice of many crafters.

Slipper Gripper – I’ve not seen this in Australia but you could baste it to your outer sole before sewing the sole and upper together 

Rug Mats – That bobbly rubber meshy stuff you can buy to put under rugs on hard floors. Often found in cheapy shops. You could baste it to your outer sole before sewing the sole and upper together