Felt slippers are quite physically challenging to make and it requires real perseverance and full engagement of the hands and will to transform the fleece into felt.

First comes the design stage. We discuss colour and the children are asked to think carefully about the colour combinations that they want to wear. They trace round their own feet to make their pattern, adding on a generous allowance for shrinkage.The children then select their colours, blend them together and start carefully laying the wool fibres in multiple thin layers around resist templates of their two feet.

They partially felt each slipper before opening them up, pulling out the template and slipping their bare feet into the soft wet semi felted shape of each foot. They then continue to felt their slippers around each foot which act as formers. Some love this, while others need a bit of persuasion to have their bare feet surrounded by soft soggy, warm, wet, soapy fleece. The children become aware of the bone structure and asymmetrical shape of the foot. They can choose to felt around their own feet or to work in pairs and each take it in turns to massage the felt around their partners feet until it shrinks and felts to fit.

Once the slippers have dried, the children then add blanket stitch around the tops before selecting and cutting out leather, or substitute leather, to sew on as a sole for each slipper using herringbone stitch. They can also choose to add further decoration by embroidering them or adding needle felted details.

Handwork is a core part of the Steiner curriculum right through from Early Years to Upper School. Making things that are both beautiful and useful, builds not only skills and competence – but self-confidence, perseverance, patience, focus, creativity, and resourcefulness. It develop a ‘can-do’ attitude – students know how things are made because they make them themselves.