A lovely customer showed us her homemade insoles in our Facebook group, and all the women with cold feet in the group cheered and asked for sewing instructions, which she promptly provided.
And that's not all, she also sent me some insoles that will keep my feet warm from now on (so great!!!) and when I asked her if I could publish the sewing instructions for all of you, so that you
a) warm feet and
c) Great use for fabric scraps
c) that you will have great Christmas presents, she immediately agreed.
Thank you so much, dear Mareike!
Insole made of wool fabrics
Mareike sewed her insoles from three layers of cuddly boiled wool or from three layers of cuddly boiled wool plus one layer of wool terry cloth . She used hemp woven fabric as the outer finish.
Step-by-step instructions for the insole
The easiest way is if you have the recipient's shoe handy and can create a template based on the insole. Otherwise, you'll have to do some guesswork and approximate it using your own insoles. The term "seam allowance" here refers to the extra fabric needed for adjustment. Any excess fabric will be trimmed later.
Here you can see the three layers of felt. Of course, another layer, for example made of wool terry cloth or wool fleece, is also possible.
The soles of the feet stay firmly in place when the soles are pressed together.
This way it not only holds well, but also looks stylish!
Now trim all the way around until the sole is the same size as the template.
If you have the shoes you plan to insert the insole into, I would recommend testing the fit first to see if it's too big, as you can easily shorten or adjust it at this stage. Therefore, it's best to insert and test the insole before trimming it all the way around, and then shorten it gradually to ensure it's not too small.
Hemp woven fabric was chosen here. Hemp lyocell woven fabric or whatever other woven fabric you have lying around in your scrap bins would also work.
This is what it looks like on the underside after the woven fabric strip has been sewn all the way around.
So, the end piece of the woven fabric, which had initially been cut a little longer to allow for some play.
It should work with a regular needle too. I hope. I don't have a twin needle :-) So I'll just make two seams.
This is what it looks like after sewing from the underside. Here, the excess fabric is simply cut off.
Alternatively, it can of course be folded over, or instead of just being slightly shortened, folded over and then sewn down again, if everything is to be visible from below without any fabric edge.
Ta-daaaa - warm feet!
Or great handmade Christmas gifts for your favorite people!