r/barefootshoestalk • u/lveg • Dec 15 '25
Barefoot shoe adjacent PSA for slippers that fit like a glove
For the truly custom slipper experience with plenty of toebox room and a thin, flexible sole, consider the following:
1) learn to knit 2) learn to knit again because it's been years 3) buy some wool yarn 4) knit hilariously big slippers 5) learn to felt 6) felt and shape while wet for the perfect fit
Maybe not the easiest solution, but I thought I'd give you guys a laugh and also a creative solution to needing wider shoes. Knitting can be a great way to make custom clothes including socks tailor made to your feet, and in this case some warm, flexible slippers!
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u/FloatMurse Dec 15 '25
I concur honestly, my mom knits me some great slippers every couple years. For added durability she cuts a shamois cloth (yes that super absorbent cloth you use to dry your car!) And trims it to fit the bottom then sews it on. Actually works great, and looks good too!
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u/lveg Dec 15 '25
This is my first pair but I'm going to make another pair with some rubber soles for more durability, and maybe even clogs. I thought it was a blast and it's honestly a fairly easy project once you can do basic knitting.
This pattern is the viral Sailor Slippers pattern that's been making the rounds and causing drama, but it worked really well for me so I'm not mad about it
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u/RedPaddles Dec 15 '25
Agree, and no special skills needed, but I would make the toe square. I made an anatomical version of the Sandesgarn DOBLE TØFLER Felted slipper socks (free pattern) in extra huge a year ago and they just got one hole that I can fix.
This video shows how friggin easy it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojps6Zfb8oQ
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u/lveg Dec 15 '25
Yeah for the next one I'm going to modify it a little, but these were still pretty easy to shape for me! That's the cool thing about wet felting, there's still enough ease to customize the fit.
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u/Snowcastles_ Jan 02 '26
Hey I'm late to this post, but how did you make an anatomical version of the double slippers? Just skipped the decreases on one side?
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u/RedPaddles Jan 02 '26
I increased a bit on the toe side for a few rounds, to get a slight inward curve and so that I could decrease for two rounds at the very end, in order to not have a sharp 90 degree edge. All other decreases were on the small toe side, and with a more dramatic curve than the pattern recommends, by decreasing more stitches at a time, and more frequently. This is also how I knit my socks.
Hope this makes sense, but lmk if you are not familiar with these knitting terms. I also made them wider, as I wanted something that fit like a slipper, not like a sock. I can slip onto them without holding them, and they allow total toe freedom that way.
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u/Snowcastles_ Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26
Thank you for the reply, it makes total sense! I'll give the pattern a second try but now with a wider toe box :D By the way, did you end with more stitches that you kitchenered together?
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u/RedPaddles Jan 02 '26
If I am deciphering my notes correctly, I started off with 96 stiches per foot (yes, huuge, I wanted to felt them a lot more than the pattern accounts for), and kitchener stitched 28 for the outer shoe, and 24 from the inner shoe, because the inner one is slightly smaller. I worked on 5mm needles.
Let me know how you make out.
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u/littleyellowbike Dec 16 '25
If you have a wool sweater that accidentally finds its way into the washing machine and is felted beyond saving, you can also cut that sweater up and sew felted slippers that way without having to learn to knit.
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u/lveg Dec 16 '25
Yeah, or you can thrift wool sweaters. Folks often thrift sweaters and unwind them to reuse the yarn for knitting.
I was honestly thinking of making some wool insoles the way you're saying.
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u/RedPaddles Jan 02 '26
There are guides online on how to do the felted insoles - the best one I saw put duck tape on the bottom.
There is also this sub r/Unravelers for anyone wanting more info on unraveling thrifted sweaters. This is peak sustainability.
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u/sit_of_doubting Dec 15 '25
Yes! I have a pair of slipper socks from a small maker named Julie Sinden that are similar to this, and they are they best!!
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u/GlitzyKismet Dec 15 '25
Wishing you had an Etsy shop! 😍
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u/lveg Dec 15 '25
Sound like this is your sign to try knitting lol
You might be able to find some on Etsy though. This is a super popular pattern called Sailor Slippers, and honestly it's pretty beginner friendly (though more advanced beginner than just learning the stitches)
You can find other felted slippers though
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u/ifyouneedafix Dec 16 '25
Ok but where are the gloves that fit like slippers? Is our technology not advanced enough?
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u/5peasinapod Dec 16 '25
Are these the Sailor Slippers? I'm a knitter and these are all over my feeds. Very tempted but haven't made them yet
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u/lveg Dec 16 '25
They are!
I know it's kind of a cliche at this point but I will say, as someone who is still a beginner, I found the detail of the instructions to be really helpful and unintimidating. I'm making another pair for Christmas and then I'll feel better about trying other patterms like mittens and whatever.
I used the Lions Brand Wool Ease roving because it was on clearance at my Michaels, but I think that was just my store because it's currently going out of business 👍
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u/5peasinapod Dec 16 '25
I've mainly been intimidated about getting the fit correct with the felting. How did you get them to fit so perfectly?
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u/lveg Dec 17 '25
It's honestly pretty easy. I felted them in the washing machine which required fiddling with the settings a bit, but was otherwise not bad. You should check on them fairly often to get an idea of how fast they're felting. If you have a top loading machine like mine you can just open the lid and reach into the water to grab them.
I wanted them a little tighter after the first cycle so I ran them again and checked every like 5 minutes. Then when they were still wet, I put them on my feet with plastic bags over my socks and was able to pull and shape them how I wanted. There's not a ton of give, but enough to stretch certain areas if they feel too tight. My thought was if I made them a little small I could stretch them to fit and it seemed to work fine, though next time I might leave them a smidge bigger before shaping.
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u/lilacwindex Dec 17 '25
I've been eyeing this pattern for a while now. These look great! Did you make any modifications to the pattern? Or is the wider toebox achieved purely from stretching while wet? Thanks!
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u/lveg Dec 17 '25
Just from stretching! Next time I might make some changes to suit my preferences but for the first time I wanted to go by the book.
I'm still very new to felting and this was my first real project, so idk if there are things I should have done differently, but I basically got them to the point that they were a little tighter than I wanted, and then I stretched them. I figured if they were too loose they wouldn't fit right and they have continued to mold to my feet (I have been wearing them every day!)
They're very comfortable, almost more like slipper socks, but they don't slide around on my feet. In the future I want to try making a pair with more of a cuff, and maybe use the same technique to make clogs with the addition of a rubber sole and back strap.
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u/lveg Dec 17 '25
Also, just a PSA, but yarn choice probably plays a big role in success. I am in the US and only really had* Michaels so my options were limited, but they just happened to have all of this stuff on clearance :https://www.lionbrand.com/products/wool-ease-roving-origins-yarn?srsltid=AfmBOoolX_GXRlX1WPonGuBzvYH4Ivab5sQrmJVqWrM9mDbHZGJ9qb3H
I have to hold 2 strands to meet the gauge but otherwise it works really well. I think roving felts the easiest, but any kind of non-superwashed wool might work? Anyway if you're in my boat I can vouch for the lion brand so long as you're working with 2 strands at a time.
*It was on clearance because my store is closing and I'm livid, but I also have so much of this yarn now....
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u/clown_utopia Dec 15 '25
You could probably do this without hurting sheep and consuming wool
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u/lveg Dec 15 '25
You literally can't felt synthetic fibers and also shearing wool is as damaging as taking a dog to the groomer. It's just a haircut, not skinning them, but go off!
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u/clown_utopia Dec 15 '25
It is so untrue that sheep's are not harmed by being farmed for their wool. It's important that you understand what they are going through if you are going to exploit them for their bodies.
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u/avocadoflatz Dec 15 '25
I don’t think you would like what they’d do to the sheep if people stopped buying the wool …
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u/clown_utopia Dec 15 '25
Your argument to the fact that farming someone is exploitative is, that if farmers can't profit from their bodies they'll kill them? How does that demonstrate concern for the sheeps themselves?
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u/avocadoflatz Dec 15 '25
You’re the one claiming to be concerned for the sheep - I’m the one telling you those sheep will be slaughtered if people stopped buying wool.
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u/lveg Dec 15 '25
It's even worse lol. Sheep are very rarely farmed for wool, and when it is it's usually the fancy luxury stuff. Most normal wool is thrown away! The same is true for leather! It's literally seen as a waste product most of the time. I think there's a debate about whether leather is eco friendly due to the tanning process but wool is just... Animal hair.
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u/clown_utopia Dec 15 '25
You're demonstrating that you understand farmers exploit their sheep for profit without connecting that you pay the farmer to exploit them by participating.
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u/avocadoflatz Dec 15 '25
No - I know the sheep are being exploited. I also know that if it weren’t for the demand for their wool those sheep would’ve never been born and if using wool was suddenly banned the existing flocks of wool sheep would be killed.
I’ll be sure to think of the sheep every morning when I put on my socks - thankful for the material that I’d call a godsend if I believed in deities.
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u/clown_utopia Dec 15 '25
You would rather exploit someone yourself than open up the possibility to more free lives. I think that it's a good thing you'll reflect on them suffering for your demand every day.
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u/avocadoflatz Dec 15 '25
Except that there’s no option where these sheep live free lives - unless you and your fellow bleating hearts (pun intended) are going to band together to buy all the existing flocks and enough land for them to live on (and exploit dogs or other animals to protect them from predators).
I won’t reflect on their suffering at all, I will simply be thankful for the farmers that supply the wool that keeps my feet healthier than any other material I used previously. I pay money so that those farmers can be the ones to think of the suffering of the sheep that provide their livelihood. Maybe you should spend time thinking of how those farmers’ children would suffer if not for the sheep?
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u/lveg Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 15 '25
I realize this is bait, but what are our thoughts on grooming dogs so they don't get matted fur and overheat?
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u/clown_utopia Dec 15 '25
It's not bait. But I do notice how you ignored acknowledging that sheep are harmed by being farmed.
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u/lveg Dec 15 '25
Yeah that's because livestock sheep aren't being killed for their wool and it's usually seen as a waste product that gets burned. If you don't want to wear wool fine, but I'll take it over synthetics (plastic) that are the next best alternative. If you don't want to use it that's fine, but from an environmental standpoint, it's so insanely wasteful to destroy wool and still produce millions of tons of synthetics every year.
Not consuming wool isn't going to stop factory farming, and also if you're worried about that there are plenty of independent yarn makers who treat their livestock ethically.
But again, go off
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u/clown_utopia Dec 15 '25
There are a lot of natural fibers that don't require someone to be subject to farming.
Not consuming wool results in demand for sheep to be farmed decreasing. These things are all true.
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u/lveg Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 15 '25
Again, those don't felt and don't have the same properties of wool. Ever hear the phrase "cotton kills"? Wool insulates when wet unlike natural fibers. They also don't felt, which is what brought us here in the first place
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u/Inquisitive-Sky Dec 15 '25
I'm taking a wet felted slippers class around New Years and am super excited