Felt boots out of existing felt

I've been looking at felt boots and I'd like to try making some. In general, they are made by felting wool rovings over a form of some sort.

Wool rovings are quite expensive, and every day lots of wool items (blankets, afgahns, sweaters, etc.) come to the end of their useful life and are thrown away. These items can be turned into felt quite easily.

How would you suggest I should go about making felt boots from a pre-existing sheet of felt? The only instructions I can find for this sort of thing are for slipper-like footwear to be used around the house, and I'd like something that is more robust and more like the one-piece felted boots.

Can you felt pre-existing layers of felt together? Could a cut and sewn boot of felt be covered with a final layer of felted fibers to improve its water resistance and durability, making the boot thicker and effectively one piece?

Aside: if you show us how to create felt boots out of waste and put them in some sort or weather resistant shell, you will have permied the felt-pac boots that I live in for half the year.

Also: I would love to provide these as boot linings to the homeless folks that are enduring dangerous conditions out here tonight.

Just pulled the forecast (these are in *C): "Mainly cloudy. Clearing this evening. Wind up to 15 km/h. Low minus 24. Wind chill minus 27 this evening and minus 34 overnight. Risk of frostbite." No time to be outdoors without proper gear.

Gilbert Fritz wrote: I've been looking at felt boots and I'd like to try making some. In general, they are made by felting wool rovings over a form of some sort.

Wool rovings are quite expensive, and every day lots of wool items (blankets, afgahns, sweaters, etc.) come to the end of their useful life and are thrown away. These items can be turned into felt quite easily.

Expensive roving is not necessary. One can purchase wool in many states of process, with raw (unwashed, unprocessed) being relatively cheap, and often even free, because some (maybe even many) shepards have no interest in the wool, and only see it as an unwanted byproduct of the sheep they raised for meat. That said, yes, many items, including the ones you've mentioned can be repurposed into loads of other things, including your boots.

Gilbert Fritz wrote: How would you suggest I should go about making felt boots from a pre-existing sheet of felt? The only instructions I can find for this sort of thing are for slipper-like footwear to be used around the house, and I'd like something that is more robust and more like the one-piece felted boots.

Can you felt pre-existing layers of felt together? Could a cut and sewn boot of felt be covered with a final layer of felted fibers to improve its water resistance and durability, making the boot thicker and effectively one piece?

The one piece felted boots are a specific process, using wool and a form to wet-felt them. Any other process will need seams. Sheets of 100% wool (it doesn't work at all, for 'super-wash' wool) *can* be felted together, but the process is long and tedious, unblemished you have a machine needle felter. A much easier, more time-saving method would be to simply layer the pieces together, and quilt them. Eventually, they'd felt together somewhat. As to the water resistance, it really is simply 'resistance'. Meaning water will, in a very light rain or mist, bead up, a little bit - but step in a little puddle, and you'll be drenched. It really doesn't even matter how many layers there are,  it's the nature of the material. That can be improved some, as well as the durability greatly improved by adding a leather sole.  If you want something more water proof, you'll need a 'paintable' natural rubber or tar of some sort.

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone! I was hoping to find some sort of paintable rubber for the soles. Does anyone have any suggestions for what products would work for that? I'd prefer a water-based rubber instead of solvent-based, for health reasons.

Gilbert Fritz wrote:Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone! I was hoping to find some sort of paintable rubber for the soles. Does anyone have any suggestions for what products would work for that? I'd prefer a water-based rubber instead of solvent-based, for health reasons.

I'd also love to find something workable for this. I've used a liquid form that was made from natural rubber, but was so very watery, it wouldn't be conducive to this purpose, unless it was poured into a vessel of some sort, and the intended sole area laid into it. The caveats being 1. Unless supported, somehow, the shoe would sink to the bottom, leaving the part most in need of the coating being the part with the thinnest layer. 2. It's INCREDIBLY messy to work with. 3. It's pricey. 4. It doesn't seem durable, in the long term, losing its flexibility, becoming brittle, & cracking in mere months, under the slightest pressure.

FlexSeal is, I believe, silicone based, but has its own multiple issues, including poor durability, with any level of contact/ friction. Most resins I've used become brittle in the cold and sticky/gooey, in warm conditions, and these issues aren't even in using the products in a high-wear purpose, like shoe soles.