Make Boot Socks from Old Sweaters (super easy!!)
Recently, a couple of sweaters came in a hand-me-down bag from my cousins.
(Yup! My cousins. My youngest cousin is slightly younger than Joshua, so we've been lucky enough to get a steady stream of hand-me-downs from them.)
I'd been wanting to give boot socks a try for a while now, and since my girls have a lot of hoodies and sweatshirts already, we decided to put these in the refashioning pile.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Free stuff is my very favorite to refashion, since I'm not out any money if the project is a total flop.
It's so risk-free.
Anyway! Boot socks are pretty much entirely for looks, which means they don't exactly need to have feet on them.
And which also means this version isn't exactly a pair of real socks.
They're more like legwarmers that look like socks once you have your boots on and since they can basically just be a long tube that goes from your ankles to your knees, sweater sleeves are perfect.
You'll presumably want something to cover your feet, so you can just put these right over your regular socks and jeans, or tights.
If you have a wool sweater, you can wash and dry it before you make socks. That process will make the wool immune to unraveling issues, which is really handy.
These sweaters were acrylic, though, so I just cut off the sleeves.
And then I had my girls put them on, so I could figure out how much more to cut off. Once we had the length right (a little above the ankle), I did a simple zig-zag stitch around the raw ends. The other end was the cuff of the sleeve, so it needed no attention.
That's all you have to do-cut the sleeve off, trim it to the right length, and zig-zag the edges. If you have a washed and dried wool sweater, you don't even have to do the zig-zagging!
So that Sonia and Zoe could both have a pair from the pink sweater, I made one set from the sleeves and then I cut and sewed two tubes from the body of the sweater to make another pair, using the sweater hem as one end of the sock.
And since I prefer not-so-colorful clothes, I used the black and grey striped sweater to make socks for me.
I have not-very-curvy calves, which means that when I wear my boots with tights, they're a little loose at the top. So, I'm hoping these will help to take care of that problem.
I've only worn them with jeans so far, but Zoe sported hers with a pair of tights. 😉
Super easy project + $0 spent = happy me.
And now I'm going to be keeping an eye out for sweaters with sock potential at Goodwill.
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P.S. Food Waste Friday is over at Simply Being Mum today.
They look great!
If you really want to repurpose sweaters though, google katwise. She sells amazing repurposed things, as well as a tutorial on how to do what she does...and if you really got into that, she's more than happy for you to sell them too, as long as you credit her for the original idea, unlike other crafters who want you to buy a commercial license.
Whoa-just took a look at her shop. She makes some really colorful stuff! (which I would not be brave enough to wear, but kudos to her for making something people love out of old sweaters.)
Ah, but that's the beauty of it. You could do something similar in muted shades, or go all monochrome. Black, and charcoal and greys would work just as well as bright colours. And could be made out of sweaters that might otherwise go to landfill.
That's true! Although they are still quite a statement piece, even in gray.
Fun! Buzzfeed.com has lots of ideas of ways to repurpose old sweaters. I haven't gotten around to trying them yet, but they look great.
Ooh, that sounds intriguing! I'll go google it...I dearly love to look at refashioning ideas, even if I don't get around to executing all of them.
With wool sweaters, if you felt them (wash and tumble dry first), you can make mittens and hats with the body of the sweater. Felting makes the knit super tight, and these hats and mittens are very warm. I've done this with old (and moth-holed) sweaters. Use a hot wash/cold rinse, high heat in dryer.
If you happen upon really colorful sweaters that you don't want to make into something for yourself, felted wool also makes great pot-holders. Cut felted wool about 7 inches square. Hand sew two squares back to back with wool yarn. Voila -- very cute pot holders! (I made these as gifts for aunts and sisters a few years ago, and everyone loved them).
Hmm, knitting projects and felting them is a big thing on Ravelry, the website for knitting/crocheting. I'm afraid to try it because I understand it can be hard to control what size the felted projects become--but you wouldn't have to worry if you pre-felted old sweaters.
Felted wool doesn't stretch, so it would be hard to get the cuffs on and off. I'd stick to washable sweaters for this project. 🙂
Very cute!
This is really cool! Thanks for the sharing this.
What will you do with the rest of the sweater??? My ideas would be:
vest
sew on sweatshirt sleeves and hood from stained sweat shirt
hot pads
mittens to make the boot socks
stuffed animal
sew into small balls for Christmas tree ornaments
unravel and make a yard ball for future project
make a tote bag out of the body (needs to be lined)
hat
water bottle cozy
cut into large squares and store until you have enough for a lap blanket or pillow (as in8 x 8 or 12 x 12 squares)
dog sweater
sling purse
slippers
turn sweater so that the ribbing is at the bottom, and cut off up near arms. Hem the top, add elastic and make it into a skirt for a little girl.
Well, there wasn't a lot left once I made two pairs of boot socks, but Sonia and Zoe have been busily cutting up the rest of the sweater to make clothes for their calico critter animals!
My daughter is playing with her Calico Critters right now. They are such FUN toys. Target has their version of them--I don't know how sturdy the animals are, but we gave my daughter the camper for her birthday and have found that to be well-made and she plays with it constantly. The sofas and chairs fold down into beds ... the cushions fold out to become mattresses ... there are built-ins for all the fiddly little doodads that come with the camper--the only part I'm a little disappointed with is that the jeep which pulls it uses a magnet to hold the camper on and if you are on a carpeted floor it becomes detached easily. I got it on sale for about $25 (yes, a little higher than I normally spend for birthdays but it has been money well spent!) and the "official" version is around $60 or $70. Sorry, got distracted with your Calico Critter comment and had to share about that! 🙂
Oh, I've never seen Target's version. Do they have houses and all? My girls were eying some of the houses, but holy moly, those are expensive.
You can find them on the Target website, and you can view both the outside and the inside of the toys, which I find helpful. They are called Li'l Woodzeez. You can purchase a cottage ($24.99), camper, school, store, or bakery. These items seem to have good ratings but the ratings for the animals themselves isn't as good. My kids use a standard dollhouse for their Critters and that seems to work well. My daughter does have the Calico Critters playhouse, which is cute (and more affordable) but it only fits the baby-sized critters so you might want to skip that one. I think Calico Critters recently came out with a carry-and-play house which might not send you into heart failure when you view the price. 🙂 Good luck and I hope this helps!
Cute idea! I've been crocheting boot socks lately, and love them!
Super cute! Great idea for my daughter and her skinny little legs. I wish I could do something like this for myself, but sadly I have a hard enough time getting my calves into just the boots let alone tucking in pants and the adorable socks.
I love this idea and look. sadly I do have curvy calves (so much so that I can't even wear most high boots) I will pass this idea on to some friends though, thanks for sharing it.
I have muscular calves also - simply make a leg warmer to appear to be under the boot by making it just a few inches wide (like a band, rather than the long sock) and tucking it barely under the top of the boot. It looks very cute and who's gonna know;-)
I love this idea!