More Legwarmers!

Hey, I might as well tell you, I made TWO pairs of legwarmers. These were pure recycling: I made them with an old sweater.

I know that photo makes my carpet look really gross, but really, it isn't that bad. It's actually pretty white. But my old, non-digital photography somehow made my off-white carpet look like the floor of a crackhouse. Ignore that. Stop looking at it!

I cut the sleeves off of a sweater that was both too large, and also chafing to the new disorder that I've added in recent years to my growing collection of disorders: the one in which I can't wear anything around my neck. No, no, that sweater would not do at all. So I cut into the body of the sweater just a bit for a cuff around the top of the legwarmers, then I turned them inside out, cut more of a calf and knee shape ( I measured around my knee and calf), sewed it back up, finished the top, and turned it right-side out again.

I like them. They don't come over the knee, so they don't really have far to fall, and are made to be a bit slouchy, anyway. They are a great use for a knit you like, but a sweater that you don't.

Leg Warmers

I like to wear skirts, but dang those Chicago winters. If you don't want to wear thick tights around every day (though it's handy to have a couple of pairs of those, too), here's an alternative to waiting for the train in a skirt. Legwarmers!

I don't knit. As of yet, it isn't a crafting project that has held my interest. I think I'm just too impatient. Anyway, lucky for me, you can buy knitted material right off the bolt. This particular piece I bought was on sale for $3 for the whole thing. (In cases like that, I buy first, and figure out what to do with it later.)

I decided to do a LONG pair of legwarmers, so that the cold air didn't hit the tops of my legs. I took three measurements to make these: around the widest part of my thigh, and around the narrowest part of my ankle. Then I measured the length from one to the other. I basically made a long cone.

There were stripes in this material, so I matched those up.

Then I just hemmed the top and the bottom. I also placed a hemmed slit in the bottom at the back, so that I could get the narrow part over my feet when I pulled them on. I also sewed some elastic around the top, so they would cling around my thighs and wouldn't fall down easily. I used a piece of elastic that was just smaller than the measurement around my leg, and stretched it as I sewed it in.

These pull on right over pantyhose or tights, or keep you warm until you get where you are going if you are wearing neither. I might one day sew some short zippers into the back at the ankle, because at this point, you have to pull your shoes off, then pull these off, and then put your shoes back on. Still, I like 'em, and I like the sort of witchy-poo look they came out to having. I especially like the way I seem to have matched up the stripes pretty well!

Variations on a Theme By Gina

Ok, so Gina came up with one use for old t-shirts. This past week, I helped Maya clean all the too-small clothes out of her closet, and came up with another use for old t-shirts, when she looked heart-broken that I asked her to give up her beloved Hello Kitty t-shirt. Darn all that "growing"!I'm sure y'all know how to make a pillow...so I won't bore you with the details.
I will say, however, that after I was done I had a "wish I had done it differently" moment. The knit t-shirt material is so stretchy, that it makes the pillow pooch all out deformed-like on the front side. If I had been smarter, I would have sewn the shirt square flat to a piece of the polyester fabric, THEN sewn it on to the back of the pillow before stuffing. The added layer of polyester would have given the front a lot better shape.
Here's the back (all nice and normal and pillow-looking).
And here's the front (all crazy and pooching out at the sides and whatnot.)But whatever. Maya is only 4 and she thinks this pillow is the best thing ever. Probably because it has SPARKLES!