Boot socks- on the cheap

I've never made any secret of the fact that I'm cheap thrifty.

I could never pay ten to twenty dollars for a pair of socks.

One pair, not a pack. 

Not gonna do it.

But they are cute. And trendy. And I like to look cute sometimes.

Not twenty dollar socks cute.

So, I went to the thrift store and picked up a couple of sweaters.

Less than two bucks a piece.

And I cut off the sleeves.

Then I serged around the raw edge of one.

And it got all stretched out and ugly. 

So I dug through my enormous fabric stash,

and found some ribbed knit.

I measured around my ankle with pants on

and cut a strip of the knit roughly that size~

about 9 inches by 4 inches wide.

Fold in half, the long way, wrong side together

Then fold in half, end to end and straight stitch making a tube.

Yea, I have orange thread in the bobbin. Too lazy to change it.

Now, the tube is going to be smaller than the end of the sleeve/sock.

To make sure you sew it on evenly, place pins on each piece at half and quarter points.

Like so.

Now slide the knit tube over the sleeve and pin raw edges together, starting at the pinned points.

Then pin in between these pins, evenly distributing the excess fabric in the sleeve between pins.

The knit will stretch quite a bit too, but will bounce back.

Sew around the top edge with a zig-zag stitch.

This will help keep the raw edge from fraying and also will allow it to stretch.

For the other pair, I cut the collar off an old tee shirt and used that as the band,

just to see if it would work.

Cause I know not everyone has a fabric stash,

but most folks have old tee shirts.

It worked, but not as well. I really like the wider band better.

When I bought the sweaters, I thought I would come up with a way to attach them to a sock.

When I tried them on I discovered the benefit of making them this way, leg warmer style-

since they are open ended, you can reach inside to pull your pant leg down and straighten it.

You couldn't do that with regular socks.

I wore them last night and can officially give them two thumbs up.

They were comfortable, cute and best of all, cheap!

 

 Places I party:

 

 

Comments

[alana]

really cute, love the tan ones!!!

[Lera]

CUTE! I just cleaned out my sweaters and found a bunch to donate. Luckily they haven't gone out yet. I'll have to dig back through them and find a few to use.

[Elizabeth]

What a great DIY! I was facing the same dilemma-- I love the look of those big socks but I don't want to pay a lot for socks. (First world problems, right?)

[Autum]

Exactly Elizabeth ; )

xo Autum

[Jenny]

Oh thank you for the thrifty post!

[Cindy]

Super cute boot socks but love, love your boots. What brand? They're great!!

[[email protected]]

LOVE LOVE THE BOOTS!!where o where did you buy them???oh the socks are very lovely too!!very clever!

[Colleen]

This is a WONDERFUL idea! I am addicted to socks. Simply addicted to them! But you're right - paying what they want for them makes me cringe. I am so going to try this! When I do, I'll of course link back to the post in my blog and I'll come back and comment so you can see them!!!

[Natalie Dalton]

I agree with Colleen, this is such a wonderful idea! I love fun and unique socks. I just found an adorable pair of baby boot socks (http://www.bootzies.net) for my baby but my other two girls would look adorable in these. This project seems really easy I am going to have to try it out. I will let you know how they go! Thanks.

[Lida daidaihua]

Kelly: Because kids would not be able to walk around and sing them on Christmas Eve or at church

[Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust]

I am so in love with this idea. I can't sew to save my life, but luckily my mom can! I have some old sweaters from when I was first dating my husband that have special memory, but I can't fit into them anymore. :)

[Jessica]

This is sheer GENIUS. Can't believe I actually spent considerable $ buying legwarmers and boot socks in the past. Now I'm going to do it your way!