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Saturday, December 8, 2012

DIY Leg Warmers



Love your new winter boots but wishing they were a little warmer (and cuter)? These leg warmers are disguised as socks to keep your feet warm but not too squashed in your boots!

Inspiration:

What you need:
-a sweater to cut up
-sharp scissors
-fabric glue or a surging machine
-a sewing machine or a needle and thread

Go to Goodwill and find yourself a cute sweater! I look for sweaters with interesting arm designs that would also look good as 'socks'. Make sure that you get a sweater that fits over your calf, or at least fits to mid calf, where ever you're planning on wearing it!


Lay the sweater flat and measure the length you want your socks to be! Cut straight across, making sure that your cut is always parallel with the edge of sleeve. (Or you can do what I did and cut with the pattern, but I eventually trimmed it to be straight.)


Try your leg warmers on. Chances are, they're not snug around your leg because one side is slanted out thanks to them originally being a sweater sleeve! Turn the leg warmer inside out and sew up the side with the seam, making another seam, farther in, so that the leg warmer is a perfect rectangle. (You can do this with a sewing machine or needle and thread. It will be much sturdier with a machine, but work with that you have!)


  

 Now onto the bottom edge! You can either surge the edge with a machine, blanket stitch the edge, use fabric glue to hold the sweater together, or you can tuck under and sew a seam in there. It really depends on the type of material the sweater is made out of. For something not very sturdy like a cotton sweater, I would surge it or tuck it under and sew. For a sweater of wool or other thick fibers, I would surge it, blanket stitch it, or glue it!





And now you have your easy, cheap, and hopefully cute leg warmer/socks!


Love, 
Rebekah