Embroidered Valentine’s slippers

Sewing a pair of slip on, hotel-style slippers is easier than you think. Best of all you can decorate them with cute embroidered love messengers – get free the sewing and embroidery patterns below.

To sew these slip on, hotel-style slippers I used flannel fabric to make them extra cosy. The sole is made from non-slip material, and the edges are finished with a neat machine-sewn binding.  

I’ve supplied the free slipper sewing pattern and the free Valentine’s embroidery as separate download files (see below), so you can make non-Valentine’s versions of these slippers – they make great gifts!  

If you want to decorate the slippers with different embroidery, why not check out the Brother Artspira app? Brother’s free mobile design app has lots of embroidery patterns – upgrade to Artspira+ to access 1000s more! 

Download embroidery designs

Download sewing pattern
 

Materials needed

• Flannel fabric for slipper soles: 40 x 30cm 
• Non-slip material (the kind sold to put in your kitchen drawers): 50 x 40cm 
• Foam stabiliser: 45 x 35cm  
• Flannel fabric for slipper top/upper: four pieces of 30 x 30cm 
• Foam stabiliser for top/uppers: two pieces of 35 x 35cm 
• Fabric to cut bias from: 60cm x width of fabric (at least 110cm wide) 
• Tearaway stabiliser 
• Embroidery threads and bobbin thread, as per the designs – we used Brother Country embroidery thread to complement the matte appearance of the flannel fabric 
• Sewing thread to match the flannel for quilting 
• Sewing thread to match the binding fabric 
• Temporary basting spray 
• Tissue paper – 2 to 3 sheets 

Equipment needed

• Brother Sewing machine
• Brother embroidery machine
• Dynamic Walking Foot with open toe foot attachment, quarter inch attachment and quilting guide
• Fabric clips
• Stiletto or awl
• Scissors
• Iron and ironing surface

Notes

1. I have supplied three sizes of the free slipper sewing pattern– small, medium and large. To determine your size, place your foot on the pattern piece. There should be at least 1cm of open space around the whole of your foot and the line. 
2. The top is a generous size, allowing for socks to be worn with the slippers. After basting it to the sole, you should try it on for size. If it’s too loose, unpick the basting and trim 5mm – 1cm off each side, tapering towards the toe.  
3. Print the slipper sewing pattern PDF at full size. 
4. If you’re skipping the embroidery part of this project, skip straight to Step 2 to start sewing the slippers.

How to 

Step 1 

Download the free Valentine’s embroidery designs using the blue button above, and send them to your embroidery machine.  

Embroider the designs on two of the flannel pieces for the slipper tops/uppers. Use tearaway stabiliser. 

When the embroidery is complete, remove the fabric from the frame and tear the stabiliser away. Press the embroidered flannel pieces as well as the other two flannel pieces for the slipper tops/uppers. 

Step 2 

Apply the embroidered flannel pieces each to a piece of foam stabiliser using a sparse amount of basting spray.  

Adhere the remaining two pieces of slipper top/upper flannel to the other sides of the foam stabiliser with basting spray.  

Step 3 

Adjust the following settings on your Brother sewing machine: 

• Presser foot: highest position  
• Presser foot pressure: lowest setting 
• Stitch length: 3.5 or 4. 

Attach the Brother walking foot to your sewing machine. Using the quilting guide, quilt the pieces. I quilted the flannel fabric for the slippers with a simple 1” grid, set on point – however, feel free to quilt with whichever pattern you fancy.  

Remember not to sew through the embroidery. Sew up to the embroidery, do a few tie off stitches and jump over the embroidery. Tie off and continue sewing. 

Step 4 

Prepare the slipper sole pieces.  

Using the basting spray, adhere the non-slip material to one side of the foam stabiliser. Then use the basting spray to adhere the flannel for the slipper soles onto the other side of the foam stabiliser.  

Lay this fabric sandwich on a sheet of tissue paper, with the non-slip material facing the paper. The paper will keep the non-slip material from sticking to the sewing machine while you are sewing the slippers.

Step 5

Keep your Brother sewing machine on the same settings as Step 3. 

With sewing thread that matches the colour of the flannel fabric and flannel fabric facing up, quilt a diamond pattern over the whole piece of the slipper sole fabric sandwich. I quilted a pattern with slightly larger diamonds on the soles than on the tops.  

Tear away the tissue paper after sewing.

Step 6

Download the slipper sewing pattern pieces, print them and cut the slippers soles and tops/uppers out to the size you want to make. 

Lay the slipper top/upper sewing pattern pieces over the embroidered fabric, centring the embroidery. Cut a left and a right top out.  

Cut a left and a right slipper sole piece from the quilted fabric sandwich. Transfer the dot positions to the slipper sole pieces.

Step 7

Overcast the edges of both the upper and sole pieces of your slippers. Set your Brother sewing machine to a wide zigzag stitch, with stitch length of 3.  

Sew over the edges, all around the slipper pattern pieces. When the sewing needle is in the left position it should pierce the fabric, but on the right-hand side, it should not pierce the fabric.  

This sewing method will overcast the many layers that each slipper pattern piece is made from, and make construction of the slippers easier.

Step 8

Cut the bias tape. Press the fabric well and cut two strips of 2½” x 1m and two pieces of 2½” x 30cm. You may have to join pieces to get the correct length – if so, press the seams open.

Step 9

Bind the top edges of the slipper uppers. Fold a shorter piece of binding lengthwise with wrong sides facing. Clip to the wrong side of a slipper top, along the top edge.  

Sew a ¼ “ seam.  

Push the binding up and over to the right side. Clip in place and top stitch in place with matching thread.  

Repeat on the remaining slipper top.  

Step 10

Place the left slipper upper on the left sole, the bound top edge of the slipper top aligning with the dots on the soles.  

Carefully ease the top around the sole – you’ll have to mould it to fit onto the sole. Clip securely.  

Step 11

Place a piece of tissue paper under the slipper sole and attach the top with basting stitches.  

Step 12

Fold the binding lengthwise, with wrong sides facing.  

Leaving a long tail of fabric binding, clip the binding around the slipper sole, placing it on the bottom (the non-slip material).  

Join the binding ends as you would do on a quilt.  

Tip: unsure as to how to sew binding onto a quilt? Follow steps 9-12 of our How to Bind a Quilt tutorial here.

Step 13

Sew the binding to the slipper sole with a ¼ “seam all around.  

Step 14

Pull the fold of the binding over to the right side of the slipper sole and shape with your fingers.  

Topstitch close to the fold through all layers of the slipper.