Warm slippers in the frosty weather.

I think it will be above Zero degrees today (that's -17 Centigrade). The picture above is a closeup of the frost on the storm-window of my sewing room. After this cold snap, when it gets back up to the teens and twenties it will feel like a heat wave so people will be walking around without caps, mittens or zipping up their coats.

The start on another pair of slippers. I'm still trying to make them ambidextrous so it wouldn't matter which foot they went on, but I think the next pair I make will be specific for the wearer.
Ambidextrous - I'm just using that word because I don't know what you call a shoe that isn't specifically made for the left foot or the right foot.
I am definitely having a problem on my machine with the thickness of the wool; two layers is holding up the presser foot enough that the thread tension is not engaged and altho' I don't have loops of thread, the seam is not durable for the long term. On this specific pair of slippers it won't matter since I'll still be hand sewing the leather sole on, but it is an issue that has to be solved to continue. My next attempt for a remedy will be to pull out an old sewing machine. My fancy-worthless-expensive Bernina just can't do much.

Slipper design problems...

I've been working on fine tuning the design of making slippers with felted wool sweaters. I haven't gotten to the finish line yet.
Below are the slippers for Eric. Mostly done, but I need him to put them on to figure out what I can do to make them fit him. This particular design isn't working because it's too open over the top of the foot and the back of the ankle leans in too much (isn't 90º to the floor).
The positive point on this design is the pattern shape of the fabric it takes that is conducive to cutting it from a felted sweater. I have blue suede leather on the souls, hand stitched.
Now I've been proto-typing a different cut. A very simple cut using a long strip, which is not easy to find in a felted sweater and would need to be pieced in most cases. In the attempt below I am not using wool, but a 'quilted' style of upholstery fabric.

The strip gets the ends rounded off:

A pair of wool slippers are done!

I can't believe I'm finally done...they took so long to make! This is made of wool and leather I 'reclaimed' or 'recycled' from thrift shops. I felted the wool, it's atleast 1/4" thick. The leather was someones blue skirt, that I threw in the washer. Inside there's a separate piece of wool I felted and it's 3/8" thick. Warm and yummy!
Hopefully the next pair will be better made and won't take me as long. It's a 'learn as you go' project.