Old Fashioned Wool Slippers with Leather Soles

I remember going to my grandmothers place and there was always a big basket of slippers at the door for us to wear around the house. They weren’t anything fancy, but they were comfortable, flexible, warm, and most of all, they had my Grandmas’ care and attention stitched right into them.

Since she is not around anymore, I’ve had to experiment to find the perfect pattern. I wanted my slippers to be simple and old-fashioned, just like my grandmas. Not only a durable and comfortable pattern, I’ve found one that works well with our own farm raised wool.

Because wool wears out a little faster than acrillyc, I find that is great to add a leather sole to add longevity to the slippers.

The leather I add to my slippers is steerhide that also was raised right here on our farm, so these are pretty special slippers! (They make a great gift if you need a hint!) Adding leather makes them more stable on smooth surfaces and less slippery.

You do not need to be an expert knitter to make this pattern. If you know how to knit, purl, cast on and cast off, you can make these. I usually include holes in my leather slipper soles, so it’s really easy to stitch it to the slippers without a special leather needle. I find they take a couple hours of knitting per slipper, so can easily be completed in a weekend.

It’s worth mentioning, the slippers use two strands of yarn together. So make sure to roll up the yarn in two balls to make knitting easier.

Unfortunately the pattern needs four and a half ounces of wool. This is just more than one skein! So you have two options the way I see it - Either buy three skeins and make two pairs of slippers (or four skeins and you’ll have enough wool for three pairs), OR use one skein of our wool for one strand of the slippers, and the other strand could be chunky yarn you have leftover from another project at home. The slippers are not picky. They are also super cute with two colours intertwined.

You will need size 11 needles (8mm) and a darning needle to sew on the leather.

Right now, this pattern is for womens size 6-9. If you have knitted before, you could probably make small adjustments to change the size. If not, hopefully I will soon have a pattern with smaller and larger sizes available!

The pattern for these slippers can be found here.

To sew on the leather sole, you will probably want to use non-wool yarn or waxed thread. If you use wool yarn, it will wear out, and you will have to re-sew the soles on.

First, trace one of the soles onto a piece of cardboard. Slide the cardboard into the slipper and centre it to the area you want the soles. Because knit slippers generally stretch when you wear them, putting the cardboard in while you stitch will ensure you get the soles in the right place.

Then, stitch the leather to your slipper! You can use back stitch, whip stitch, or blanket stitch, whichever you prefer the look of.

 Buy our wool yarn and steerhide soles here: