Sew House Shoes for Summer – DIY Slippers

Follow the instructions in this tutorial to learn how to make lightweight house shoes for summer.

Hey y’all – today I’m going to show you how to sew these summer slippers. I don’t like to wear shoes around the house. Especially living in a hot climate, my ideal would be to go barefoot. Forget arch support, I just want foot freedom! But between dogs and kids, there always seems to be dirt in my house, and that ends up on my feet. And dirty feeling feet aren’t ideal for comfort. Summertime means I don’t want socks, because I don’t want a closed-toe or the extra warmth or sweaty feet. So I made these open-toe summer house shoes for myself to keep the dirt off my feet without really feeling like I’m wearing shoes.

I love that these shoes can basically be made from scraps, so they’re very budget-friendly. They use lighter materials and have open toes, so they’re airy and breathable. I used less than a fat quarter of fabric for them, as well as some quilt batting scraps. And bonus – they’re also machine-washable. They have soft soles for indoor use which makes them the perfect option for me. And I’m sharing a free pattern as well as the tutorial to make this pair of slippers for the hot months.

Materials to Sew Summer Slippers

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. All affiliate links are identified with (affiliate link) after the link or a commissions earned statement above the link(s).

To make your own perfect pair of house slippers, you’ll need

• 1/4 yard of fabric for the outer slipper. This will make the vamp and insoles. I used quilting weight cotton, and I bought it a long time ago so I’m pretty sure it’s out of print. Other fabric suggestions include linen, thin terrycloth, flannel, or other lightweight fabrics.
• 1/4 yard of non skid fabric, similar to this fabric (affiliate link) that has rubber dots on the bottom
• 1/4 -1/3 yard of Peltex (affiliate link) or ultra firm stabilizer, depending on foot size.  Get the sew in kind, not the fusible kind. If your feet are larger than a women’s size 8 or so, I’d get more Peltex.
• Quilt batting scraps – use more breathable cotton batting instead of polyester batting if for the lightest feel.
• The pattern (see below)

Note that you’ll have plenty of left over non skid fabric if you buy it by the yard because it’s generally 60 inches wide. So you can make a few pairs of soles for these out of that amount.

Another note: if you’d like to turn this into a warmer winter pair, use materials like faux fur, suede soles, velvet lining, wool batting, etc. Just note that you should size the pattern up if you’re going to make a fuzzy slipper to account for the thicker fabric. So if the wearers shoe size is 6, size up to a 6.5 at least.

Video Tutorial to Sew Summer Slippers

To sew the best summer slippers for yourself, watch the video tutorial below. If it won’t load below for some reason, you can also watch on YouTube here. And if you prefer a written tutorial, keep scrolling for that.

DIY Summer Slippers Instructions

Weather you have narrow or wide feet, you can resize the pattern for a perfect fit. First either measure the length and width of the person’s foot, or use google to find a foot length chart; there are a lot out there. Then cut the pattern on the horizontal lines to lengthen the or shorten the slipper, and cut on the vertical lines to widen or narrow it. Either tape or retrace the pattern, paying special attention to making sure it is the right size on the seam line, not the outer edge.

Once your pattern is the correct size, cut the following, making sure to mirror image your cuts so you have a right and a left  foot:

• 2 toes of fabric and 2 toes of lining (you can use your outer fabric as lining if you’re using quilting cotton)
• 2 soles of fabric for the insoles
• 2 soles of non skid rubber bottom fabric
• 2 toes of quilt batting with the seam allowances cut off
• 4 soles of Peltex with the seam allowances cut off

Place the outer toes and lining toes right sides together and sew the top and bottom edges. Then clip the curves, turn the toes right side out and press. Clip off the extra fabric from the seam allowances.

Insert the quilt batting between the layers of the toe pieces. Take one sole, one toe, and one non skid sole. Place the toe on the sole, matching the notches, with both fabrics right side up.

Place the non skid sole right sides together with the sole/toe piece and match the notches. Stitch around the outer edges, leaving a 2 1/2 inch gap between the bottom of the toe band and the heel on the outsole side. Clip curves.

Turn shoe right side out and finger press edges. Fold and insert a Peltex sole, then repeat, so that there are 2 soles inside. Finger press the seam allowances of the gap to the inside, then stitch around the heel to close the gap and keep the fabric from shifting. Backstitch at the beginning and end of this topstitching. If the non-skid fabric doesn’t want to feed through your sewing machine, add a layer of tissue paper under it to help, then tear the tissue off after stitching.

That’s it – you’ve made the perfect summer slipper. These are a pretty quick project from sewing to wearing. So slide them on and enjoy your clean feet in the warm weather.