Baby Legs

I'm eating dinner while I write tonight.  It's 9:00 PM and "dinner" is Cinnamon Toast Crunch... Everyone else ate hours ago, but I was too eager to start my sewing projects!  I also managed to squeeze in some sauna time with the babe before his bedtime.

Little J is almost 9 months old and he has caught his first cold.  Don't get me wrong, I realize that we were lucky to have made it this far without any illness!  But this cold has caused some pretty major congestion and coughing (and who wouldn't enjoy a little spa-type pampering?) so we sat on the bathroom floor and let the room fill up with shower steam.  Now the rest of the house feels cold in comparison (Jared disagrees, with sweat still dripping down his face).

Here's the other piece of my evening:

Homemade Baby Leggings

I refuse to use the term "DIY" because it sounds cheap to me... so instead I say "homemade" because it makes me think of grannies.  Here's how I made leggings for the babe:

This project only requires beginner level sewing skills (ability to sew in a straight line), but be aware that working with stretchy fabrics can be a little tricky if you are inexperienced.  But if you're like me and are building on years of sewing expertise learned from making Barbie clothes on your bedroom floor, then you're in good shape (wink!).

1. I bought these socks in the men's department.  The top part of the sock (above the heel) is nice and long for my tall boy.  That's the only part of the sock that I use for this project - the rest goes in my big box o' scraps.

2. So I snip the top away right above the heel.

3. The edge that I just cut needs to be hemmed in order to prevent fraying.  The easiest way to do this is to snip the sides of the sock (such a small tube is more difficult to fit around the sewing machine base).  I pinned my edges and sewed a straight line using a zigzag stitch to allow for stretching.

4. The bottom edges of the leggings will turn out looking slightly wider than the tops now, and in order to keep them snug around baby's ankles, I take them a bit. 

They should have this shape when finished:

There ya go! Super easy, right? I've made 6 or 7 pairs now, grabbing inexpensive socks whenever I spot them at the store.  My favorite thing about these is the convenient accessibility they offer for diaper changes.  No pulling down pants, and baby stays nice and warm.  This makes leggings ideal for traveling (check back later for my baby travel tips!). 

Action Photo! Bouncing against the back of the couch.