Baby leg warmers!

Last year I made this hat from Ms. Disney's tutorial. It was originally meant for Hailey but she doesn't care for it. It isn't pink...so I got to keep it! While I was making the hat I thought that it would be a shame to throw away perfectly good sleeves. So I saved them. They went into my "up-cycle" box and sat. For an entire year!

Then last week at ballet we saw this little girl with her cute little leotard, tutu, and ballet slippers. But she had these adorable little knit leg warmers on! And the light bulb went off ::ding ding ding:: in my head and I turned those sleeves into baby leg warmers.

Wanna make some?

All you need is:
an old knit sweater/long sleeved shirt
matching thread
bit of elastic (I used 1" because I had it)

Start by cutting your sleeves off right at the hem where the sleeve meets the sweater (armpit seam). Mine were already cut off otherwise I'd show you exactly where!

Then lob off the diagonal to make the edge straight. I used my cutting mat and rotary cutter but you could eyeball it if you want!

Turn inside out and fold over about an 1 1/4 inches. You cant try to press it. Mine had a bit of angora in it and the angora melted to my iron! AH! So I just pinned the rest of it.

Stitch together using a long zig zag stitch and leaving about an inch opening to work your elastic through. The zig zag will allow the knit to continue to stretch a bit.

Measure you babe's upper thigh and use that length of elastic. I can't remember exactly what Hailey's was I think it was like 10 inches or something. So I cut 10" of elastic and thread it through the opening using a safety pin.

Overlap the elastic about an inch and stitch closed. It is hard to see but I stitch a rectangle and then an X in the middle of the rectangle to make sure nothing goes anywhere. Backstitching at the start and stop of course!

Pull the elastic taught and all the way into the little pocket you made. Then close the opening!

Pop 'em on your little munchkin with her favorite tutu and go play! These little guys are super warm especially when layered over tights.

Hope you try 'em out! Super quick and easy. You could totally bust out about 10 pairs in an afternoon! You could also do this with any long sleeved shirt or even trouser/knee high socks! Anything stretchy and knit. Heck you could even through these on yourself over some leggings if you really wanted too!

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Love and Hugs,