At Meow Wolf's Convergence Station in Denver, there is a truck called Snurtle that is covered in lights and you can sit in the front our enter the back and go on a trippy journey. I was tasked with turning that large vehicle into house slippers!
The truck is very angular with lots of triangles and lights, as well a various intricate images painted on the sides. I started with a sketch to figure how a foot would fit into and how to break down those hard metal shapes into soft fabric that could make up a slipper.
I use my sketch to draft the pattern shape. First building it out of muslin, then making a sample version in finish fabrics. I had worked with long chenille fabrics making some pet toys so I though that material would work well to replicate the feel of the cleaning fringe on the truck.
I used a combination of machine embroidery and appliqué to define the different sections on the truck. In my first sample I didn't have the intricate image that would later be screen printed on. I also added some rhinestones to mimic the lights.
The real truck has a light up antenna so I tried to replicate that with a removable light. This way you could snap off the light to wash the slippers.
Once the in house design team at Meow Wolf is happy with the pattern and sample I've created that is usually the end of my involvement. So what comes back as the final factory piece is often a surprise to me. There are a lot of design and cost decisions that come in to play working with the factory to get to a point where everyone is happy with the product. For the Snurtle slippers, they dropped the light feature, switching it out for a sequin ball that is no doubt simpler to construct. They switched out multiple panel piecing for a simpler construction with fewer pieces and a full back instead of the slide in slipper. They also printed all the images and dropped the front mirror pieces. Even with changes it's always cool to see the final result.
Factory Finals
Available in the Meow Wolf Store
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