nice and shiny: I'm knockin' on the doors of yo Humma Humma

Back in 2003, I thought that black cropped leggings with a denim skirt was just about the coolest look ever! But times have changed, and not only is that look very unflattering (major leg stumping!) but by now it's tres outdated. Basically, the cropped legging just doesn't do it for me. I require all my leggings to be full length, which isn't easy as my legs are pretty long (oh, woe is me).

I have these pair of leggings with a really funky pattern but unfortunatly are cropped.Usually I would just cheat and stretch them over my ankles, but with these the fabric just won't allow. So to salvage these leggings I thought I'd do a little DIY...

I decided to put a piece of fabric over the knee area, to extend them and also to make them a bit more interesting. I like how they look like kneepads! I took pictures along the way as I was making them my camera is really screwed up and it deleted them! I don't know how that happens but it did, so here's a drawn tutorial for the project!

1) Grab those nasty cropped suckers and put em' on. Use tape to mark out where you want your "kneepads" to begin and end.
2) Take the leggings off and lay them flat on a table. Cut a straight line on the top tape line.

3) Measure the length between the 2 pieces of tape.

4) That measurement will be the width of your "kneepads". Cut 2 rectangles of fabric, long enough to go around your knees. Try to pick a fabric with the same elasticity (stretchyness) as your leggings.

5) Fold the rectangle in half (good sides facing in) and sew a straight seam down one side. Make sure it's not too tight or too baggy for your leg, it will depend also on the stretchyness of the fabric.

Take off the tape and flip your leggings inside out. Now pin the pieces togther all around the circumfrence of the knee area.

6) This picture is the best way to show where the seam should be. The pieces should be facing good sides together, then just them flat on the sewing maching and sew all the way around.

Flip them right side out and your done! I love them, they're very M.I.A, nu-rave. Which is all good with me!

I made a few mistakes along the way, but they still look decent in the end. It's not a hard project, but I'm pretty impatent so I tend to rush and be careless! So even if you're not the best sewer, you should definately try this out!