Tutorial - Make some Baby Leg Warmers!

For ages, I searched high and low to buy my son a pair of leg warmers. For lots of reasons... I think they are super cute, for starters. And toasty warm in the cooler months, of course. You don't have to pull them off to change a nappy. And they are  super easy to get on and off which is extremely appealing when you have a child that makes poking your own eyeball with a knitting needle more appealing than attempting to pull a pair of pants or a nappy over his wriggling, contortionist body. Seriously, the boy flips with more gusto than a pancake in a hot pan. No sooner do I manage to get one leg in that sonny pulls it back out. Again and again until I could literally weep.

not the best photo, but YOU tell Elliott to sit still and smile for the camera!

So yes, leg warmers are a great idea. Particularly the not having to remove them whilst changing a nappy bit!

Sadly though, baby leg warmers are hard to come by! You can buy them online, but I am yet to find a pair in any store I've been to. And so I set about researching making them. And delightfully, it not only turns out to be super easy but cheap too, meaning you could whip up several pairs for your bubby-o (and a friend's) in all manner of colours and patterns and sing tra-la-la-la at your own marvellousness!

The hardest thing about the whole process, as it turns out, is finding some knee high socks! But knee high socks you do need, and I finally located some in Hot Dollar (women's, but oh well) for $3.95. I grabbed a pair, but I'll be returning for more!

I considered making some of these to sell in my shop, but decided to share this process with you instead so you can make your own super cute leg warmers and use the $$ you save from not having to buy more expensive pants on some other glorious items in my store!! ;)

Anyway, without further ado, here's how you make a pair of baby leg warmers:

Ingredients
- 1 pair of knee high socks (mine were adults size 2-8)
- A sewing machine or a needle and thread
- A pair of scissors

Time
About half an hour, tops!

Recipe
1. Grab your pair of socks and cut the foot off each from above the heel. Then, cut the toe off the foot. Finally, cut the heel of the foot off.

2. Throw away the toe and heel sections - you won't need those. The bit that is left of the foot section will become the cuff at the bottom of your baby leg warmer. Because your baby probably has a narrow little ankle you might want to make the cuff a little more tailored than the piece of material you have on hand. So, simply cut 1-1.5cm's from one of the lengths of the tube. 

3. With the square of fabric that is left, fold it in half with the patterned side facing in and sew with either your machine or by hand, recreating your (now smaller) tube. 

4. Turn your tube the right side out and then take the top of the tube and fold it inside, so that you have a folded edge at the top, and two rough edges at the bottom.

5. Pull the cuff over the bottom of the sock, so that all the raw edges are lined up. Pull the sock and cuff over the arm of the sewing machine (or prepare to handsew!). Sew around the bottom of the cuff, ensuring all your edges line up.

6. Pull the sock off the machine, cut the loose threads and sew up your second sock. Fold the cuff down and admire your handywork with a sense of pride -- you've done it! At least, I hope you've done it. Otherwise blame me and my dreadful instructions!

7. Dress your baby and sigh with pride... Elliott looked so cute in his! I love it! I tried to take a picture of him modelling his leggies, but it was fruitless. Hopefully he'll do better soon, cos I made this pair to go with some other little pieces I've created for Bubby Makes Three, which I'm hoping to share with you this week! Here are some of the outtakes from today:

so Fern is in the way?... not a problem... just up-n-over the top! She'll be right!