Flip Flops

Walking around in style…

One of my favourite types of footwear for around the house are my flip flops.  I know that they are not your standard house slipper but I just prefer to wear them, particularly in summer! So when I purchased Noodlehead’s book ‘Handmade Style’ I immediately knew that I wanted to try her flip flops. Last weekend I finally did!

This project doesn’t use a lot of fabric but it does require materials that you might not necessarily have in your sewing supplies. Like Pellon 72F double sided ultra firm interfacing. If you can’t find this at your local fabric store you can buy it from fabric.com. They ship internationally which is very handy. I’ve also used a non-slip fabric for the soles as I’m only going to wear my flip flops indoors. After a bit of searching I ended up buying this from eBay as they have the largest range of colours and sizes. You also need bias binding, which you can either make yourself or purchase pre-made. I always make my own with a bias binding tool. It is really easy to use and it gives you the freedom to use any fabric you want.

The instructions for this project are really clear and there are some pictures to help you along the way. It’s not a very hard project but you do need to sew a couple of button holes through a thick layer of interfacing. I suggest taking your time for this step particularly if button holes are not something you sew a lot of.  I also recommend practicing on some scrap fabric first and always make sure you have enough thread on your bobbin to complete the button hole. This is a mistake I’ve made before and since I couldn’t save the button hole I had to start again. Another challenge I found was sewing the bias binding to the assembled foot bed. It can be quite tricky getting it around the corners and avoid puckering. 

Overall I love this pattern! It’s nice and quick to make so it won’t take longer than an afternoon. It’s also a great way to use up scrap pieces of fabric (which you know I like to do whenever I can). Flip flops are also  something a bit different and out of the ordinary. Plus now I’ve got fashionable footwear for around the home!