Fixing Felted Clog Slipper Bottoms

For several years now I have been making Fibre Trends felted slipper clogs to give as gifts to family.  They have been a favourite gift to receive.  A few people (myself included) have worn holes in the bottom of them and still refuse to give them up.  This past week I fixed my son's pair for him before the bottoms got really worn out.  I had picked up a black suede skirt off the $1.69 rack at the Salvation Army thrift store just for this purpose...it only took me about a year and a half to get around to finally using it. ;-)

Here are the well-loved slippers.

I just drew a rough outline of the slipper bottom onto the suede.

Cut them out.

Then used some of the leftover wool from the bottom to stitch the new suede bottom on.  The suede is not slippy so it works well for slipper bottoms.  When I finished these and W was happily wearing them I said I better get started on fixing Dad's slippers.  E said that I wouldn't have to fix his...because he didn't even have any yet.  Poor fellah. I'll have to remedy that this Christmas. ;-)

After finishing his I decided I would tackle my much more worn pair.  This pair is probably about 4 or 5 years old and should have been fixed a few years ago but I kept wearing them and managed to wear a hole right through both thicknesses of bottom.  I had tried a few quick patch jobs before by just needle felting some roving onto the bottom but these didn't last long.  Don't they look sad?

I had a knitted and felted rectangle on hand that I had made before to use as a patch so I cut that up and stitched it on with thread to cover the bits that had holes right through.

Then I decided to use one of my husband's old wool socks as an extra layer on the bottom before putting the suede on. (I never like to throw these out because I always figure I'll come up with some good use for them and now - much to my husband's dismay, I'm sure- I finally have)  I ended up deciding that I didn't mind the way this looked at all so now I think I will just leave it like this as that way I'll still be able to toss them in the washer when I need to.

And because I didn't want them feeling dowdy with that patched bottom I decided to give them a bit of ornamentation too.  I needed felted a daisy on the outside edge of each slipper - looks pretty and helps me know which slipper belongs to which foot. ;-)

Now...to repair my mom's,  my dad's, my husband's....