DIY "Ruffle" Leg Warmers

When my daughter was born I became a little "goofy" about accessories.  Ok who are we kidding I'm still pretty ridiculous when it comes to the things I dress her in... but they are soooooo cute! Hey I guess admitting you have a problem is allegedly the first step to fixing it.. so here I am freely admitting I have a problem!  But, don't get any ideas I'm riding this train until she forces me to stop.  I'm thinking I've got at least another couple of years, so I'm going to make the most of it :) That said... I REALLY love leg warmers on little girls.  I can't get enough of them.  But of course the ones I like are 15 dollars a pair, which wouldn't be so bad if you only bought one but I wanted ONE in EVERY color and pattern!  Thankfully I looked online and found so many great tutorials about turning long socks into super cute leg warmers for just a couple bucks... thank you "Mommy Bloggers" for saving me there!  With the tips in hand I immediately went on the hunt for fun long socks and came up with a treasure trove of them... but I started to get bored just hemming them or making a cuffed bottom so I started experimenting with ways to use the extra foot fabric to make them special... and this is what I came up with.

I cut the socks with a rotary cutter just before the ankle.  At this point try not to pull on it too much or you'll have a fraying mess.  

To seal off those ends I zig zag close to the edge (or serge if you are lucky enough to have one), to make a nice finished edge.

You could end here with a cute tulip edged looking leg/arm warmer... and a lot of times I do. 

But if you want to add some "ruffles" this is what I do. 

 I cut three strips out of each of the remaining foot sections. 

 Then I layer them onto the bottom of the leg warmer.

Starting with the strip closest to the bottom edge I sew a straight stitch right down the middle.  You don't have to be real precise, the strips will curl up around the stitches. Now repeat with piece two and three.. just moving up a little each time.

 I think it adds a fun extra element to a very inexpensive pair of leg/arm warmers.  And surprisingly they wear and wash really well... even the edges that aren't finished off on the "ruffles" keep looking great wash after wash.

They keep little legs warm, help protect crawling knees and to top it off they look pretty darn cute. 

We sure like them and hope you do too!

Good Luck, Lindsey