Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Felt boots for Miss Piggy

When I made felt boots while I was writing the book, I used felt that's made of recycled textiles for making several pairs. I still have plenty of that felt left, so I decided to try boots with normal heels. The felt is thick, so larger scales are better, and the doll with the biggest feet is Miss Piggy. So she got a pair of boots as well.


The first thing to do is to make a pattern and cut the pieces. I made the two-piece design as I wanted a curved back seam.



After sewing the vertical seams, it was time for the soles, which are also made of the same felt, and I sewed them in place. The pieces of fur (more about that later) are for the upper edges.



I also made the heels using the same felt. It's so thick that the structure is sturdy enough even without filling the heels (I could have done that using air-drying clay).



I covered the heels with the same plastic decorations I used in Gooliope's shoes. The yarn I used for sewing the seams was silver-colored, so I chose silver-colored decorations.



The final step was gluing the strips of fur in place. I'm not sure if I like these or not, but this was an experiment. I'm starting to think I should have used laces, so I could have made the boots tight fitting instead of this big.



And then about the fur issue. I've had people complaining about the use of leather in the doll shoes I make, so I'm expecting fur to be an even bigger issue. To begin with, these are pieces left over from other people's projects. Since they would have gone to waste otherwise, I see no problem in using them. Basically, the principle of "no waste" trumps the principle of "no fur." 


I had the idea that my view on these things is closest to utilitarianism, but as I did some research, I found out about consequentialism and I think that fits my ethics best. In this case, it means that "what's done is done" (the fur exists due to no action of mine and would have gone to waste) and what matters now are the consequences of further action (i.e. discarding the pieces and being wasteful or putting them into some use, even if that use could be considered frivolous).