The Making of A Pair of Boots

  I just completed the finishing touches on a this pair of felt boots I made a few weeks ago.  The finished picture of the boots is here at the bottom, I think they turned out amazing!
  The picture up at the top was the very beginning for this pair of boots.  Here is the templates wrapped with a natural colored fleece and some wool yarn on the side flaps for a simple design.  To give you some idea of scale, they started out being about 20" inches tall and 18" inches wide along the foot area.  After rolling them about 800 times I removed the templates and begun the fulling process-that's where you get all those little fibers to come together and create a strong piece of felt-that took about an hour.  When you think they are

close to being the size you want, you get to
put them on your bare feet, yep, all cold, wet and soapy, and rub them until they fit your feet.  I actually made these bigger than my foot because I was going to be dyeing them and was afraid they would shrink up during that process...and they did!  I made up a natural dye solution using Brazil wood-this makes a good solid red color.  Since the wool I used was naturally a light brown I was hoping they would turn out a dark red/rust color...and
again, they did-as you can see.
  To finish them off I stitched around the yarn design on the flap to help it stand out since it got a bit washed out in the dye process and added some brass steam punk buttons.  The last step was to sew on the soles.  These are great soles that you can get from a web site called Simple Shoe Making.  You give her the length of your foot and pick out the soles you want from a number of different styles and colors, and she sends you custom soles and the material needed to sew them on-waxed linen thread and a leather needle.  Mind you, sewing them on is a bit challenging.  Just reserve a few hours and gather your patience.  Once on though they really make the look of your boot stunning!  But...are they comfortable and functional?  Absolutely.  I love wearing them.  Now I have to find the perfect, long denim skirt to wear them with so you can see the whole boot.