So this was my first and might be the last time I wet felt boots, but it was a fun if uncomfortable challenge. These were made to resemble Rey‘s boots (from Star Wars). I made them sometime last year for a comic con.
I used a mesh bag, bubble wrap, and soapy water to wet felt essentially a stocking around a plastic template that I created. At this stage I was like “okay, this feels and looks weird.”
Wow! I can’t imagine how your poor hands must feel, what a labour of love (I’m sure you were telling yourself that half way through the endless agitation) The boots turned out fabulous!
I’d say that is a pretty fantastic “first attempt” you totally aimed high as the crafty people tend to do I’ve always wanted to try a big wet felting project but I don’t think my hands could take it.
Great job!! I don’t know wet felters figure out how big they need to start to get it to shrink down to the right size and clearly you were right on target
I still don’t know. The foot lasts that I made helped ensure it didn’t get too small at least, but that was part of the reason why I wasn’t sure it was going to work.
Well done!! They look fantastic.
I love the feeling of wet wool under my hands. Some people use hand held sanders (slightly modified to hold bubble wrap or another textured surface instead of sand paper) to speed the first step of the process up. I can’t imaging skipping that step, because I love the feeling of wool under my hands. I did get a mechanical roller/tumbler to do the last steps tho, because felting is hard work, and I like to do the part I like and let the machine do the work I don’t! So those are always options if you ever want to felt again!
Ooohhh…okay, so maybe not my last wet felting attempt after all. It was a total sensory thing for me. Like nails on chalkboard. I could deal with it for a bit but it built up and I wanted to crawl out of my skin.
The duct tape lasts are just a tool to help shape and size the boots. Shoemakers use them and you can buy plastic or wood versions. I just made my own. The downside is they were a one time thing because I wasn’t great about waterproofing them.
So after creating essentially a felt stocking, I put the duct tape last inside and agitated the felt more. As the wool shrunk up, the foot last provided the shape and prevented me from making the booties too small. Not shown is the other foot last. I made 2, one for the L foot and one for the R foot.
These are great! Do you have any photos/details of the leather reinforcements & how you applied them? Is there anything on the bottom? Thinking these would be good inspiration for one of my upcoming garb sets!
Unfortunately, I don’t. I used contact cement to fix the leather to the wool and then sewed for extra reinforcement on the leather loops for the straps and the strip that goes up the heel. The contact cement worked really really well. And for the soles, I just cement glued some non-slip slipper material to the heel and toe area.
That said I would have gone with something like these soles if there had been time enough to allow for shipping. If I make another pair, I’m definitely getting actual soles.
These are so amazing! I adore them. I’ve wanted to make a pair of felted booties for myself in the past, but wasn’t sure how to go about sizing without just putting them on my feet while felting
You did an amazing job!! I hope to see more felted projects from you soon
I’ve always wanted to try a big wet felting project but I don’t think my hands could take it.
day!
