Mary Jane Slippers

Look! I made Mary Jane Slippers!

Oh wait...

There they are!

As I was saying... These are my new slippers! {Wyatt calls them "sweppers". Sometimes he sings it..."Sweeeeeeeeeeepers!" Very dramatic that one :)} I used the Simplicity pattern 2278 for mommy and me shoes. The pattern comes in Sm, Med, and Lg for misses MJ's. I held my foot up to the sole pattern and took my best guess as to which size since there wasn't a breakdown. I made the Lg size and wear an 8.5W in women's shoes and this pattern size seemed to fit well. I would guess the Lg size to be a 9.

I used a piece of Happy-Go-Lucky by Bonnie & Camille for the outer fabric and a bit of somewhat stretchy, thinnish, white minky fur fabric for the inside. I've used the white minky to back three quilts recently and love everything about it! I'll be sad when it's gone. I used a lightweight pellon fusible interfacing to steady the shoe a bit and fused it to the minky fabric which made the minky easier to work with and not so stretchy.

I used a grippy dot utility fabric from JoAnn's for the sole, and I'm so glad I did! My very largo preggo state has made me clumsy and the grippy dots really GRIP the floor and keep me from falling. I decorated the strap by sewing mustard yellow plastic buttons to the outside of the shoe through all the layers as finishing touch.

 I'm really pleased with the fit of the shoes and only made a few minor adjustments during construction to get the fit I wanted. I sewed the outer fabrics, the flowers and grippy sole together and then tried it on and decided it was a tad bigger than I wanted. The pattern calls for a 1/4" seam allowance which I changed to a scant 1/2" around the toes/sole and at the vertical flower heel seam and then repeated this for the minky too. I changed the construction of the shoe a bit so it made more sense and went together easier. Instead of following the directions, I made the outer and lining of the shoe separately, matched right sides together and then sewed the two together around the top edge of the shoe, leaving a 3" gap for turning. Then I turned it rightside out, straightened it, and edgestitched the top edge to close the opening and keep things neat. I think edgestitching is a great professional touch for most projects. I constructed the strap differently too because I hate making a casing and then trying to turn the skinny thing right side out. I pressed all the edges in a 1/4" and then pressed it in half. Next I sandwiched a piece of interfacing in the middle, then edgestitched around the whole strap to close it up. The shoe fit nicely and stayed on well without adding the strap, so instead of making it velcro on like the directions called for, I attached it by stitching a line along both the skinny edges of the strap right next to the sole.

The shoes slip on and off easily and are very comfy. They will make great hospital slippers when I need them in a couple weeks. I may use the pattern to make some leather Mary Jane's to putz around town in soon. Oh, gotta run, the mailman just got here and is dropping of my cloth diaper prefolds! Have a great day!