Baby leggings and other fun crafts!

Sometimes I think I should go into business selling baby stuff.  Seriously, I get such joy out of making things that are so stinking cute!  So my latest project involves baby leggings.  A friend of mine was looking for some affordable leggings or tights for her soon-to-be-born baby girl.  A friend of hers sent her a link on facebook for making your own baby leggings.  So easy and so cute, so I volunteered to make them.  I'm so glad I did because this is a gift I will go back to over and over (and hopefully improve on!)
Basically, you just lop off the foot of a sock and sew around the edge.  The foot can be used to make a cuffed bottom if you wish.  Here are the tutorials I followed:
http://cally-cruze.blogspot.com/2009/03/baby-legs-tutorial.html
http://everythingyourmamamade.com/2008/01/21/make-your-own-baby-leg-warmers/

Here are the leggings I made.  Yes, I went a little overboard and made 13 pairs.  This little girl is going to be stylin'!

I only made cuff bottoms on 3 pair- I just really really liked the lettuce edge better.
Some tips if you make your own:
1.  Find cheap socks.  I found mine at Kmart.  I used girls' knee high socks.  I also looked at Walmart, Target, the dollar store, and Kohls- they did not have cute socks for less than about $6.  I paid $1.99 for most of these pairs but found some on clearance too.  It averaged out to $1.40/pair!!  Online these leggings go for $10-12. I'm sure when it's not 105 degrees outside, more stores will have knee high socks stocked.  Toe socks would also work quite well I imagine.  (Ooh, Christmas leggings!)
2.  The name brand leggings are 21cm long for newborns and 33cm long for their regular size.  Mine all came out different sizes depending on the socks, but they were all in that range.
3.  Next time I will make the cuffs a smaller diameter than the legging part.  I just didn't care for the way they turned out.
4.  When doing the lettuce edge, go around twice.  It just makes a nicer looking edge.  Each pair takes about 15 minutes total (including cutting and sewing).  Super easy!

Ok, so then I had all these extra sock pieces left.  What to do, what to do.  An idea hit me!  I'm sure this has been done before, but I seriously came up with this on my own without looking at any tutorials.  It actually worked too!  I decided these leggings would look super cute with a jean skirt, so I whipped one up using some of Josh's old jeans, some elastic, and one of my old tank tops for the waistband.  Then (and here's where the wheels started turning) I added a button on the front and made interchangeable appliques to match the leggings.  Each applique has a button hole so you can swap them out!  I'll let the pictures explain:

Jean skirt with button

Little pink flower applique

Little heart applique

Here's a look at all the appliques I made.  Not all of the socks could be used, so I made a simple white applique from the tank top so there is always something to put over the button.  I basically stuck to 3 simple shapes since this was my first try and I had no idea what I was doing.  The butterfly was a bonus shape since all I had to do was sew around the design on the sock.

Here are some outfits put together

So cute, right?  So easy!!  Don't you want to whip some up right now?  I'm not super satisfied with the jean skirt itself, so I'll probably make another one with ruffles or something.  Of course, you could just add a button of the same size to any skirt and voila, 13 new outfits!  Overall, I guess it wasn't too bad for a whole bunch of first-time projects. 
I also made 2 hooded towels and a pacifier clip like I have done in the past.

So that's what's been keeping me busy lately.  What projects have you been working on?
(Funny side story:  Josh is so super smart, way smarter than I could ever hope to be.  His vocabulary is wonderful, while mine is stuck in about 5th grade.  Get this, I taught him a new word this week- applique!  I was quite proud of myself!)