One of the things on my daughter’s Christmas wish list was Miffy slippers. I remembered that I had a pattern for simple felt slippers in an old Martha Stewart Holiday magazine, which I had saved for years. Also, I already had felt on hand, leftover from other crafts, so I decided to attempt the project. I finished with a gift that my daughter loves and that cost practically nothing. I decided to go ahead and make these during the day, when she was around, because I don’t have energy for projects in the late evening, when she’s sleeping. I told her they were an early Christmas present and she was delighted to be a part of picking the colors of felt we used and to learn a little about how the sewing machine works. She said that the slippers are just like the picture she drew on her list and “just perfect!” It was so sweet to hear her say that after putting forth the effort to make her something she really wanted.

Obviously, these aren’t the plushest, coziest slippers ever, but if you want to makes something novel for your child, they are very inexpensive to make and quite simple to complete. You’ll feel like you’ve accomplished something!

If I were to make another pair of these, I might try doubling the felt, to make them thicker. Or simply using a thicker felt, perhaps up-cycling a sweater. Yet, for my first attempt, I was happy to make these with materials I had readily on hand. I was using scraps, so there are four different shades of green in them!

The Martha Stewart pattern in the magazine provided a tiny template, which you’re supposed to photocopy to enlarge to the correct shoe size. I don’t have a photocopier, so I decided to just trace the sole of my daughter’s shoes and then eyeball the upper pieces. It worked out just fine!

If you want to embellish the sides of the uppers, I recommend doing so before you sew the uppers to the sole. I failed to do so and it made it slightly more difficult to maneuver the needle.

Here are the steps:

1. Trace the sole of your child’s tennis shoes onto felt with a disappearing ink fabric pen. 
2. Cut out the two soles. 
3. Draw out a pattern for the upper pieces. It should be about 1″ longer than the sole, with a slight curve toward the toe. If you are considering this project in the first place, you probably have a good enough eye to get it close enough. Test your practice piece and make sure it matches up to the shape of the sole. 
4. Cut four pieces for the uppers.
5. Sew the top and back of the uppers as shown. Don’t forget to back-stitch! After my daughter tried these on, I reinforced all of the stitching at the back and front of the opening.
6. Open the upper piece and pin it to the sole, with the edges facing outward. If it seems slightly off, gently work the material into place and pin securely. 
7. Carefully sew the uppers to the soles. I used the ¼” guide on my sewing machine for the soles. Again, don’t forget to back-stitch. Trim your threads and your basic slippers are done!
8. To attach the bunnies, I simply whipstitched them on with white thread. I used a Sharpie to draw the eyes and mouth, because I was feeling lazy by that point! When my daughter tried them on, I did find the opening to be a little too big, but it was quite easy to re-stitch the back seam to curve inward and make the opening ½” smaller. I simply trimmed the excess after sewing the new seam.