shrinking fabric on purpose provides endless opportunities for making shaped garments, bags, belts, and even shoes! If you combine yarns that shrink with yarns that don’t in the warp and weft, your fabric will be covered in bumps. If you combine these yarns in the warp and use only a yarn that shrinks in the weft, you’ll produce a fabric with long wavy stripes. Experiment to see what other effects you can produce.
About 10" (25.5 cm) long; to fit a woman’s foot.
Plain weave with differential shrinkage.
10-dent rigid heddle with 14" (35.5 cm) weaving width; two stick shuttles.
Sett (epi)
10.
Weaving Width
14" (35.5 cm).
Picks per Inch (ppi)
8.
Warp Length
100" (254 cm; includes 30" [76 cm] for loom waste and take-up).
Number of Warp Ends
141 doubled ends.
Warp and Weft Color Order
Warp: Using two threads together as one, alternate 3 yellow and 3 blue green, ending with 3 yellow.
Weft: Using two threads together as one, alternate 3 yellow and 3 mint green, ending with 3 yellow.
Warp
2-ply 2/8 fingering-weight wool (2,240 yd [2,048 m]/lb): 400 yd (366 m) yellow. 2-ply 10/2 laceweight mercerized cotton (4,000 yd [3,352 m]/lb): 385 yd (352 m) blue-green.
Shown here: Jaggerspun Main Line 2/8 (100% wool) in Daffodil (yellow). Lunatic Fringe 10/2 mercerized cotton (100% cotton) in Blue Green.
Weft
2-ply 2/8 fingering-weight wool (2,240 yd [2,048 m]/lb): 240 yd (219 m) yellow. 2-ply laceweight mercerized cotton (4,000 yd [3,352 m] lb): 239 yd (218.5 m) mint green.
Shown here: Jaggerspun Main Line 2/8 (100% wool) in Daffodil (yellow). UKI 10/2 mercerized cotton (100% cotton) in Willow Green (mint green).
Trim
2-ply 3/8 sportweight wool (1,490 yd [1,362.5 m]/lb): 5 yd [4.5 m] green.
Shown here: Jaggerspun Main Line 3/8 (100% wool) in Capri Green.
Because the warp is wound in pairs, it will help to use yarn wound on mini cones. Place two cones of yellow in a cone holder or in two tall, narrow containers. Wind the warp (see page 35) using two strands as one, placing a finger between the two to keep them from tangling. Wind 72 double-stranded ends. Tie a choke.
Place two blue-green cones in the holder or containers and wind 69 doubled-stranded ends of blue-green in the same manner. Tie a choke.
Place two cones of yellow in a cone holder or container and wind a shuttle (see page 39) with double strands of yellow. Wind another shuttle with double strands of mint green.
Warp the loom (see page 24), following the specifications on page 61, threading *3 yellow double-ends, then skipping 3 spaces; repeat from * for the entire 14" (35.5 cm) width. Thread the blue-green double-ends in the empty spaces. Check your work—it is easier to correct threading errors before the warp is wound onto the back beam.
Weave a few picks of cotton scrap yarn (cotton will be easy to remove) to spread the warp ends (see page 40). Using a loose beat, weave three picks with yellow. Add green and weave three picks with green. Alternate three picks each of yellow and green for the entire length of the warp (see page 45 for tips on working with two shuttles). Don’t worry too much about maintaining even selvedges—they won’t be seen in the final project.
Remove the fabric from the loom (see page 46). Remove the scrap yarn in the header.
Full (see page 55) the entire length of the fabric in the washing machine set for a normal cycle with enough warm water to allow complete submersion. Check the fabric periodically for progress—you want it to shrink to about 5½" (14 cm) wide or until “bobbles” begin to appear. Reset the washer if necessary to get the desired amount of shrinkage. Remove the fabric from the washer and rinse it thoroughly, then roll it in a towel to squeeze out the excess moisture and lay it flat to air-dry.
Photocopy the pattern pieces at right on stiff card stock, enlarging as necessary so that each square eguals 1" (2.4 cm). Cut the pieces out and pin them to the fabric. Cut the dry fabric, using the templates as a guide. Using yellow and an overhand stitch, sew one top flap to one sole, with the arch facing to the left, then sew the other top flap to the other sole, with the arch pointing to the right. Sew one back piece to each sole and front flap. Fold the extra fabric from the back piece so that it is even with the front flap and stay-stitch it in place by taking one stitch on each side. Using the green sportweight wool, sew decorative blanket stitches around the sole of each slipper.
Gently handwash the slippers in warm water using mild soap and rubbing the stitching to full it ever so slightly. Roll the slippers in a towel, then shape as desired (place a small cloth or tissue paper in the toes) and allow to air-dry completely.
