How to Make $lippazz

$lippazz is an easy-to-make slipper design that provides comfort and fun to your late night strolls to the bathroom. This provides a detailed description on how to make cozy $lippazz that are

• cute
• customizable
• made of only a few parts
• easy to assemble

The first step to making $lippazz is collecting all the materials to complete the requirements. Get a pair of simple, cheap, slip on slippers from the store. The two additional and most important components needed to make $lippazz is fabric and lights. You can choose whatever fabric pattern you want as well as whatever strand of lights you want that are reasonable in size.

Additional supplies needed to make the circuit and assemble the $lippazz include:

• conductive fabric
• thread and needle
• sewing machine
• hot glue and glue gun
• additional fabric (any print, will not be visible)

The first requirement includes having a soft switch made from a conductive material and an on/off switch. This is where the LED strand and the conductive fabric come into play. The LED strand has a built in on off switch, but is a closed circuit with two wires connected together leading from the battery down the LEDs. To open the circuit to integrate the soft switch, use wire cutters or scissors to cut one of the wires, making sure not to cut the second wire. Carefully pull the wires apart to split the rubber attaching them. Trim away the rubber coating from around the metal wire to expose the wire about half an inch. Now the lights are ready to attach to the conductive fabric.

Cut two squares of conductive fabric about 1 1/2" x 1 1/2". Use hot glue to attach one end of the exposed wire to one of the sheets of conductive fabric, and do the same with the other. Make sure to only glue onto the rubber of the wire and not onto the exposed wire. Make sure to glue enough that the wire is secure in the center of the sheet. It helps to also spread the metal wire tips onto the conductive fabric to ensure they are maintaining contact and securing the circuit.

Test the circuit by turning the LEDs on and pressing the conductive fabric together.

Repeat the same circuit for each slipper.

Use the additional regular fabric to cut two pieces about the size of the heel of the slipper. Cut a hole in the center of the fabric pieces about the size of a quarter. Next, we will hand sew the conductive fabric pieces to cover the holes of each regular fabric piece. When orienting the conductive fabric and fabric pieces, place the regular fabric back to back with conductive fabric facing outwards. Make sure that each wire is coming from a opposite sides (one wire exits to the left and one exits to the right). Once the conductive fabric is sewn to the regular fabric patches, sew the two fabric patches together. The gap created by the holes in the regular fabric act as an air gap between the conductive material and a break in the circuit. Test this by pressing the fabric in the center to see if the LEDs turn on.

Once the circuit is complete, you can super glue the fabric patch to the heel of the slipper and direct the wires towards the front of the slipper. The battery pouch will be kept in the foot pocket of the slipper and will be secured once the slipper cover is on. This is where you can begin to customize the layout of your LED lights. You can place the lights in any way you want on the front of the slipper. Hand sew them in place.

The next step is designing the slipper cover. To do this you cut pieces from the fabric as seen above. The oval pieces should be slightly bigger than the outline of the slipper sole. The half ovals should be just over half the size of the regular oval pieces. To make the odd shaped pieces, draw an oval piece about half an inch larger around the edges. Trim about half an inch from the edges of half of it.

Lay the odd shaped slab on the table with the pattern facing up. Place the regular oval piece on top facing down. Align it in the center of the thicker end of the odd slab. Stick pins where you want to sew slightly inside the edges as seen above. Fold the skinny half of the odd slab out of the way, and align the half oval piece facing up under the remaining portion of the regular oval piece. Similarly place pins where you will stitch as done before. Draw dashed lines to have an idea where to lead your stitch. Now, use a sewing machine to sew along the dashes around the slipper covering. Once you're done sewing, turn it right-side out, and you have your slipper cover.

Once the slipper cover is turned right side out, slide the slipper into the cover. Point the front of the slipper towards the side with the half shaped oval covering. The extra piece from the odd shape will be tucked into the foot pocket of the slipper from the back and will act as the bottom part of the foot pocket. Now, just fold the extra material from the half oval covering piece over the lip of the foot pocket and sew it in place by hand. Keep one end of the lip covering open to tuck the battery pack into.

Optional: Hot glue an extra sole onto the bottom of your slipper for more support and structure.