How do your boots stand up?

It's snowing.  Boot season is here to stay for a while, and even though I have no-one but myself to yell at about boots in the front hall, for some reason they manage to take over the entryway.  I kick them off as I come in, and for some reason they have not yet learned to march themselves right into the closet!  Honestly!  But once I do put them into the closet, I have a trick for keeping them standing at attention, instead flopping about.

The original idea for these boot holders came, I believe, from some magazine article on closet organization.  The idea was to keep boots upright in the closet.  In the article it said to insert rolled up magazines into old socks, pop them into your boots and keep the boots from toppling over.  Very unappealing to my aesthetics.  Old socks?

This is what I came up with:

 

 

My boot holder-uppers.  (I love making up words.)  So much better looking than old socks.  Easy to make.  Good way to use up scraps of knits that have nowhere else to go.  I used a red ribbing that was never going to find its way onto a garment and black velvet ribbon that was kicking around.  I'll give you the instructions, in case you wish to make some.

Cut 2 pieces of the ribbing (or any other knit) - 7 1/2 inches wide by 18 inches long.  I made a lettuce leaf edge on the serger along one short end, but you really don't even need to do this.  Fold in half.  Stitch along the long edge to form a tube.  Gather up the unfinished edge and secure about 1 inch  or less from the end with a rubber band.  Turn right-side out.  Roll up an old magazine.  (No - not the sewing magazines.  You don't want to be looking for Burda patterns in your boots!)  Insert into "stocking".  Gather up top edge.  Tie with a ribbon.  Pop these into your boots, and you will have the smartest array of boots of any closet in town.

Oh - for those of you who hadn't heard of a felting machine...

Some companies call these embellishers.  It looks like a sewing machine, but instead of one needle, there is an array of very sharp barbed needles.  As the needles go up and down, they lock the threads of the fabrics that they are going through.  No thread is used.  Almost any fabric or fibre can be manipulated this way.  Probably the most common thing to felt is wool, but a lot of different bases can be used.  I've played with embellishing polar fleece, denim, and silk.  One of the samples that I have at the store is an evening bag, where I felted silk chiffon onto silk dupioni.  If I ever bring it home - I'll show you.