baby leggings tutorial

Having a baby girl has opened up all kinds of new fashion options for me, and lately I've been in love with baby legs for adding warmth and color choices to Lila's outfits. They make diaper changes easier, and are just plain cute. I ordered a couple home-made pairs on Etsy, and I was really happy with them, but they looked like something I could easily make myself. I made a few pairs and really liked how they turned out, so I thought I'd share with you how I did it:

Baby Leggings Tutorial


First I bought three pairs of knee-high socks with cute designs. If you want a size that won't fall off a newborn, go with girls' size small. If you want one that will last longer into infancy and toddlerhood go with girls' large or adult sizes. I chose girls' sizes since I knew I'd still get a few months use out of them with Lila being so small.


I would wash the socks first, because your fabric might shrink, but I forgot that step and they've turned out fine for me. If you have a quilting set (rotary cutter and mat) you'll get the most precision, but a ruler and scissors will work fine as well.


Lay your socks out flat and cut right at the heel. If you aren't using a rotary cutter, mark the place you'll be cutting so both socks are cut the same length.


Turn socks inside out, fold the cut edge over, and pin. For these leggings I folded my socks twice so that the hem would be clean, but in later efforts I folded once to add length (after sewing just trim the excess). Both options looked nice.


Here's the tricky part. Hem the socks along the line you've pinned. Make sure you've separated the two layers of fabric so you're not sewing the opening closed. Go slowly, and gently pull the fabric apart as you go. I did a knit stitch for these and a hemstitch for later efforts. Both stitches allow for stretching but I like the look of the hemstitch a little more. Repeat with the other sock and you're done! Here's my finished leggings:


And my beautiful model with happy warm legs: