Ahead of schedule, Winnipeg's first snowfall happened yesterday and I'm transitioning to a cold weather wardrobe. Oddly enough, I wore shorts on Monday. Weird week.
I made these leg warmers for a class a few years ago... inspired by today's persisting snow, I want to share this 15 minute DIY with you :) Legwarmer up.
Step 1/ Choose a long sleeve shirt or sweater that has a bit of stretch and suits your style :) You'll also need less than an arms length of 1/4" flat elastic, a safety pin, scissors, straight pinks and a needle & thread or sewing machine.
Step 2/ Cut off each sleeve under the arm, square (90˚) with the sleeve edge. Turn both sleeves inside out.
Step 3/ At the wider opening of the sleeve, roll the raw edge down approximately 1 inch and pin in place. A half inch from the top, folded edge, sew a straight line around the fold, leaving a two inch opening so that you can thread the elastic into the casing.
Note: If you're using a sewing machine, remove your 'table feature' on your machine so that you can feed your sleeve around the 'freearm', to avoid sewing through both layers. See above.
Step 4/ For a perfect fit, measure the elastic around your leg below the knee and adjust the elastics tightness/stretch so that it will hold the legwarmer at the right place on your leg. Mark the portion that fits your leg, then add 1.5" extra elastic so that you have overlap to sew the elastic together. Cut a second elastic with the same length and marking for your second legwarmer.
Step 5/ Fasten a safety pin to one end of the elastic and feed the pin end into the fold/casing. Once you've fed the elastic all the way around, exit the pin through the same opening. Make sure to hold the end of your elastic as you feed the pin through, so that it stays on the outside of your legwarmer.
Step 6/ Sew the elastic ends together at your mark (from step 4). Then unfold the elastic ends (like butterfly wings) and sew them down so that your legwarmer doesn't have a bumpy joint. Then sew shut the 2 inch opening from step 3.
Because your legwarmers were originally sleeves, the wrist part is already hemmed and now goes at your ankle:) Quick & easy and a fun way to reuse an older shirt or sweater. These would also look cute tucked into a tall boot, appearing as knee socks.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below and I'll answer there :) And if you make a pair, tweet me a pic @LAfromFN... I'd love to see yours! :) xo, Leigh-Ann
