Joy comes from within: Monday Makes {baby legs}

I first saw baby legs several years ago and I fell in love. I knew that when we were blessed with more babies- boys or girls-they would be sporting some of these cute little things.

When I found out that I was expecting they went on the list of wants. I had a couple problems 1) they are not the most budget friendly 2) I like to go to stores and buys things-I haven't jumped on the online shopping bandwagon and where we live they don't just sell them in stores. Being a craft lovin' Mama, I set out to find a way to make them. After some internet searching I found that they are SUPER easy to make! Enter in the {knee high sock}. If you are making these for a girl then you will have a HUGE selection to choose from. I was having a boy. It was hard enough to convince the man of the house to let his son where these. I had to do some searching for ones that were masculine enough for our little boy. Target had several that stacked up with color and pattern.

I will say that there are SO many tutorials out there on making your own baby legs. I've tried 3 and will show you them here. If you have any questions please comment and I'll do my best to answer them :)

1) Pick out some long socks. Some are longer than others. If they are going to be for a young baby then it won't matter but the longer you get them the "longer" they will last ;)

2) Cut off the the sock right above the heel. Now there are a few options so don't throw out he foot part just yet (more on this later).

*Now if you are lazy or don't sew you can stop here. The leggings won't fray much and if you don't care about having a finished look, the leggins will hold up just fine. I needed a pair to match an outfit and left a pair with the raw edge. I never got around to finishing so they are still like this and ~~I don't care~~ I don't let it bother me ;) If you are type A then proceed to the rest of the tutorial.

3) Turn the tube inside out and fold over the unfinished edge. Stitch with a zig zag stitch all the way around. Don't pay attention to the fact that I did not do a zig zag stitch. I found out that it won't stretch if you don't do one. Learn from me...not the hard way! (If you want a cuff on the bottom - don't do this step and proceed to step 5)

4) In order for the legging to stay on the ankle and not slip onto the foot, you may want to stitch at an angle so that it's slightly tapered.

Here is a picture of a pair of real baby legs (left) and my version (right).

*I was pleased with how they turned out but I really wanted them to have a cuff on the bottom. I also wanted them to be a little longer so I could get more wear out of them. Who wants flood baby legs-not me. Remember how I told you to save the foot portion?

5) Cut the middle of the foot section out. {Please ignore the sock change :) these pictures are many months apart!}

6) Fold it in half-wrong sides together. Take this piece and slide it over the long piece and line up the raw edges.

7) Stitch the raw edges all the way around. Make sure to go over your starting stitch. If you want them to taper in just add a diagonal stitch. This is what it will look like after you fold it back down.