Snow flower winter boots < with my hands

Last year I made a pair of winter boots for myself. This year I decided to make a cute pair for my daughter. However, I wanted to make her boots a bit more weather-proof so I added sturdy non-slippery rubber soles. This project was also a good way to recycle the wool from two old coats.

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I have found that Etsy has the best selection of all different kinds of shoemaking supplies a hobbyist shoemaker might ever need. Of course, fabric is usually available locally wherever you live but already leather might cause problems. Then there are specific shoemaking products that are really hard to get: shoe lasts, insole boards, heels, and soles.

I already have lasts that I have found in a thrift store and I still had a few sheets of texon, which is a stiff cellulose board used in insoles. However, if you need texon here are some options for you. The only things I had to order for this project therefore were rubber soles that I found in this small Lithuanian Etsy shop that specialises in felted footwear here.

I decided to combine some traditional Finnish folk boot-making techniques with more modern techniques and here is how I made the boots:

The finished boots

These boots are super warm and my daughter can wear them even when the temperature is below -20°C (-4°F). She also wore these on our long Christmas car trip and these kept her feet warm and toasty. I at least have noticed that my feet tend to get cold if I sit still in a car for hours on end. I also wear my old hand-made boots when the temperature drops since they are the warmest boots I own.

I think these look super cute and feminine. The beginning of January was very cold and warm winter boots were surely needed. We have also got lots and lots of snow. It was -15 °C when we took these pictures, so we snapped just a few just behind our home and ran back inside.