Valenki are shoes made of natural wool. Such shoes are considered the most practical, comfortable and absolutely indispensable in extreme cold conditions.. In ancient Rus', felt boots were a luxury; only wealthy people with high status could purchase them, and poor peasants rarely had only one pair for the whole family.
To date, despite developed technologies, no more comfortable and warm shoes have been created than Russian felt boots. And if you have a desire to make them yourself, I suggest you read this article to the end. In this article we will talk about how to felt (not sew) these wonderful shoes with your own hands.
Required materials and tools
Instead of special tools you can use a rolling pin.
To make felt boots yourself, you do not need any special equipment.
The main thing is to have patience and time.
In addition to this, we will need:
- sheep wool (about 1 kg), not felt;
- polyethylene bubble cellophane;
- mosquito net;
- stencil for felt boots;
- wooden rolling pin;
- hot soapy solution.
How to felt felt boots at home?
Pattern
To begin, take a sheet of A4 paper and draw a stencil on it for future felt boots. You need to draw the size and height of the shin, taking into account 40% shrinkage of the wool.
The template can be made from ordinary compacted polyethylene. If you are making felt boots for a child, you can take a template with a combined bell to felt both felt boots at the same time. Later they will need to be cut in half at the shin.
Blank
One of the difficult and responsible tasks is laying out the wool on top of the pattern. To begin, we lay bubble wrap on the table and place the resulting template on it.
Attention! Before starting to lay out the wool, it is recommended to comb it well for further use.
The wool fiber needs to be pulled out by hand so that long strands are obtained. After which these strands need to be carefully laid out on top of the template, first across and then along the stencil.
The wool must be laid out carefully, evenly and uniformly. You can put a little more wool in the toe and heel area, since these places are the most vulnerable to frost. Lay out 3-4 layers. Each layer must be moistened with an aqueous solution.
After this procedure, the workpiece must be turned over, after which the protruding edges are folded onto the main side and the process of laying out the wool in perpendicular layers is repeated.
Felting and rolling
We take a solution with soap and wash the resulting workpiece, after which we roll it into a mesh and begin to knead and rub the surface with our hands. Then we take the iron and iron all the wrinkles, lumps and irregularities formed as a result of the workpiece. Now you can sculpt the shape of a felt boot, which will look like a huge sock.
Important! Be sure to ensure that the layers of wool do not shift and holes do not form. This can lead to deformation of future shoes.
From time to time it is necessary to water the workpiece with hot soapy water to ensure uniform shrinkage. After which you need to pull out the template and iron the felt boots from the inside.
You need to knead the prepared shoes for quite a long time until the felt boots acquire the required size and shape, and the wool is pulled out of the felt. We do the same with the second one. We check whether both felt boots are the same by placing them next to each other from time to time.
Inserting the pads into the blanks
The last stage is decor
Decorating is the most creative part. There are many options for how to decorate newly made felt boots.
For example, you can take a ball of thread and decorate it with beautiful embroidery. You can decorate such shoes using colorful ribbons, from which you can make bows.
Felt boots decorated with fur look harmonious and stylish. In order to decorate them in this way, both real fur and its substitutes are used. Fur cuffs look perfect with voluminous laces and large buttons for decoration, which are covered in leather.
Painted felt boots are the most popular. To make a high-quality and beautiful painting, you need to have talent and also purchase thick acrylic paints.
Reference! Floral designs are popular among adults. Felt boots for children can be decorated with paintings in the shape of anything: cars, fairies, favorite cartoon characters, and so on.
To decorate these shoes yourself, beads and beads are often used. It is recommended to sew on beads with a thick synthetic thread or fishing line, since when used, there is a high probability that the beads will get caught on other objects.
In general, making felt boots is not an easy task. But if you have a strong desire and desire, you can open your own business in this craft, which will not only bring a stable and good income, but will also be an activity for the soul.
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