When Joshua was little I made lots of leggings for him from old woollen jumpers. They were easy to make as I only needed the sleeves which I sewed together at the cut off seams and then just finished off with an elasticised casing for a waist. Now he is bigger this method is no longer appropriate as he needs a lot more room across his hips.
I had this 100% Australian Merno wool jumper sitting in my stash that I bought last time we were in Newtown for $3 from Vinnes that was perfect to make him a new pair. I purposely made them larger so that they should last him hopefully until he starts school - his hem is rolled up 3 times in these pictures and there is plenty of growing into room yet they still fit well now without sagging too much. The following is the method I came up with to create them. If you have basic sewing skills you will find it pretty easy.
Step 1.
Cut the sleeves off your jumper. In order to increase the depth of the crotch cut off two pieces of fabric the width of the top of your sleeves from the centre front piece of the jumper, which you can fold in half to make it quicker to cut out. I made the length about 15cm. Overlock these to the top of each sleeve.
Step 2
Fold the sleeves in half and lay a large piece of paper underneath. To maintain some accuracy line up the longer ends of the sleeves against a straight line (I used the side of the table and measured off against this to line up the other sleeve).
Step 3
Trace off around the inside of the two pieces. Remove the sleeves and draw in the lines more accurately using a square ruler to ensure that all edges are at 90deg.
Step 4
Cut two pieces out using the above pattern adding some seam allowance around the outside. I lined up the waist end to the hem of the jumper to get a neater finish to the final garment.
Step 5
Pin the triangle shaped fabric pieces to your sleeves and then overlock them together. Leave the last few centremetres at the crotch open and finish this section off by overlocking straight across and down the side seams of each sleeve for a few centrmetres. This will remove the pointy end of the triangle off giving a neater finish to your garment.
Step 6
Turn down the waist to make a casing and insert your elastic.
And you're done!!
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