Slippers too large? Don't fit? Flop about? I can fix that for you.
Outsize towelling robes and slippers
I have had outsize towelling slippers in hotels all over the world. Even in places like Singapore and China and Japan, slippers for hotel bedrooms and poolsides are size 11 and my feet are 4-5. I look absurd.
I have read that slopping around in shoes with heels which don't grip makes your toes curl up. That leads to forming hammer toes.
I can understand a Finnish sauna having size 11 towelling slippers. But a Japanese hotel bedroom!
I seem to remember only one hotel which ever had towelling bathrobes in three sizes, for men women and children, with proportional towelling slippers. It was the Halekulani in Hawaii. We bought the towelling bathrobes in the three sizes. The robes were large and would have filled a suitcase. We were travelling by air. The hotel sent the robes to us by post. I wondered if the parcels would arrive. They did.
An outsize slipper.
Making Slippers Smaller
Many hotels sell the slippers, but still too large. Towelling companies and discount stores also sell slipper sets and you can buy them secondhand or buy them from swimwear shops and hotel shops even if you are just visiting for a restaurant meal or to look around and have coffee and use the toilets and feel that you will give them your custom. So what can you do when the slippers turn out to be too large when you get them out of the packet?
This has puzzled me and annoyed me for years. Now I have the answer.
Sewing Slippers
I sewed up the toe area with a line of white sewing. This is very quick. I thought of doing two parallel lines, one on the right and one on the left, with the foot in the centre. Then I decided it would be quicker and neater to make just one line of sewing on the right.
The slipper fits. Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
I might leave them white, which matches everything. Or I might add two ribbons to tie a bow around the ankle so they fit better. White ribbons would be best. Or coloured ribbon to match a dressing gown. What could I used to decorate the toe?
I look in my sewing box and find a lace oval. What was it from? I could cut it in half to make two semicircles.
I could cut up bras which are too small. I could cut squares from old shirts or underwear. I could cut up an old towel which has holes or stains. I could use a piece of ribbon, a bow from an old bra, even the cups of an old bra, never worm because it was too small, a pair of thongs I don't wear, ribbons from a box of chocolates, cut into two and spiralled or twisted to make a rose.
I could cut up and old or new face flannel, a white one, or a coloured one. Or fancy tea towels with the pattern of an animal or bird or tea pot or rose or triangle. They cost only £1 in a pound shop for one or sometimes a set of three.
See my later post with updates on sewing my white towelling slippers.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker.
Outsize towelling robes and slippers
I have had outsize towelling slippers in hotels all over the world. Even in places like Singapore and China and Japan, slippers for hotel bedrooms and poolsides are size 11 and my feet are 4-5. I look absurd.
I have read that slopping around in shoes with heels which don't grip makes your toes curl up. That leads to forming hammer toes.
I can understand a Finnish sauna having size 11 towelling slippers. But a Japanese hotel bedroom!
I seem to remember only one hotel which ever had towelling bathrobes in three sizes, for men women and children, with proportional towelling slippers. It was the Halekulani in Hawaii. We bought the towelling bathrobes in the three sizes. The robes were large and would have filled a suitcase. We were travelling by air. The hotel sent the robes to us by post. I wondered if the parcels would arrive. They did.
An outsize slipper.
Making Slippers Smaller
Many hotels sell the slippers, but still too large. Towelling companies and discount stores also sell slipper sets and you can buy them secondhand or buy them from swimwear shops and hotel shops even if you are just visiting for a restaurant meal or to look around and have coffee and use the toilets and feel that you will give them your custom. So what can you do when the slippers turn out to be too large when you get them out of the packet?
This has puzzled me and annoyed me for years. Now I have the answer.
Sewing Slippers
I sewed up the toe area with a line of white sewing. This is very quick. I thought of doing two parallel lines, one on the right and one on the left, with the foot in the centre. Then I decided it would be quicker and neater to make just one line of sewing on the right.
To reduce a large slipper to a small slipper. All you need is a needle and white cotton, and a pair of scissors to cut the cotton. In a hotel room you may have to use nail scissors.
The slipper fits. Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
I might leave them white, which matches everything. Or I might add two ribbons to tie a bow around the ankle so they fit better. White ribbons would be best. Or coloured ribbon to match a dressing gown. What could I used to decorate the toe?
I look in my sewing box and find a lace oval. What was it from? I could cut it in half to make two semicircles.
I could cut up bras which are too small. I could cut squares from old shirts or underwear. I could cut up an old towel which has holes or stains. I could use a piece of ribbon, a bow from an old bra, even the cups of an old bra, never worm because it was too small, a pair of thongs I don't wear, ribbons from a box of chocolates, cut into two and spiralled or twisted to make a rose.
I could cut up and old or new face flannel, a white one, or a coloured one. Or fancy tea towels with the pattern of an animal or bird or tea pot or rose or triangle. They cost only £1 in a pound shop for one or sometimes a set of three.
See my later post with updates on sewing my white towelling slippers.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker.
