First off, I’m very excited to to announce that we will be having a new baby girl in six weeks! Our four year old twins have been having a great time helping us get ready. We’ve been wanting to make some baby booties for weeks now, but haven’t gotten around to it. Then today, I thought I’d try just turning my old socks into baby socks. I was surprised how well it worked! And it took about 60 seconds to make them. Now I’ve got to find more socks! My wife thought they could make cute little baby gloves too. There are photos and instructions below if you want to try it out!

1 – Turn sock inside out, then using the diagram in the image, sew two seams down the sock. (My baby socks were about 4″ in length.)
2 – Cut out the two baby socks, making sure to leave some space around the seams from step one.
3 – Turn the two baby socks right side out. Done!

97 Responses
  1. Secret Mommy

    Does the brilliant simplicity of your projects never cease? Goodness your brain makes me jealous. :) And congrats on that newbie!!!!!!

  2. Rebecca and Andrew

    WoW! Your brain amazes me. I don't sew, even just a little bit, but what a wonderful idea. I will share this idea with others!

  3. ayearabovetheshop

    Aw congratulations Joel. Just celebrated my baby's first birthday today. Look forward to some new baby inspired play.
    Miriam
    x

  4. Kate @ An Amazing Child

    Congratulations on your new little one. I love these little baby socks, I've made them as mittens and they turn out beautifully. You can also use the sleeves of old jumpers (sweaters?) to make some mittens for the twins. They could help.

    All the best :)

  5. Poorvi

    Oh, that's so neat! I am inspired! They look adorable! and so super simple. I so didn't know you were a guy behind all this. More impressive! :)
    Congratulations on your daughter.

  6. 'Joyce'

    Congrats to you and your little family in anticipation of your new little daughter. How exciting.
    Wow, love the socks, it don't get much simpler than socks for bubs. They will be much warmer than store bought baby socks too. I always found baby socks rather thin. Thanks so much for sharing and enjoy the rest of your week at your place.

  7. Frances

    A new addition, how wonderful!

    My little guy still wears "socky mitts" at 2 1/2. This is ok with me because they stay on better (the cuffs go under his coat), but for Canadian winters it meant I spent $13 x 3 for really warm wool socks. Of course I had some of my own to cut down…but I didn't think of it. You bet I will for next year!

  8. Yvonne

    Yay, congrats! We have seven-year old boy-girl twins and a baby boy due in about 8 weeks! How wonderful.

    (We're the ones who had the "stylish" cardboard animals and robot posted on Facebook.)

  9. Joel Henriques

    Thanks everyone! Yeah, we're really excited about the new baby. If anyone has any name ideas for her, give them to me in the comments here!

    And yeah, these baby socks were basically the result of laziness and finding a short cut. Ha. Of course I'm not the first one to think of using socks for this type of thing, but it sure is fun.

    Frances – I've got to try some toddler gloves! Nice. My kid's gloves never stay on, because they're too bulky. I'll have to get out some of my sturdy winter socks and try this out!

  10. Joel Henriques

    Wow, I knew asking people here was a good idea. Carlota is great! Yeah, we really like Orion for a middle name, which is also a good strong sounding name I think. Nice!

  11. Coxy Fish

    Great news, and yes even right from the morning! Very happy for you and your family!)))

    How about the names – Anna, Lisa, Sarah and Irene?

  12. Jessica

    Congratulations! Love the baby socks…I have to start buying my husband some nice Paul frank socks so I can use them when they wear out!

    Well, with Jack and Tess, you need another one syllable name, I declare! Maybe with a new vowel. Hmmmn…actually, a name ending in y or ie might be cute. Solly? Lottie? Oh! I know! Bunny!

    Good luck! :D

  13. naomi

    Wow, what great news- congratulations!
    Baby socks are very cute, you will have to give us a modeled shot in 6 weeks :)

  14. Mary

    I stayed up super late reading ALL your back posts. I LOVE your blog. My little girl is named Julia North, but Helen and Clare were high on my list too. My name is Mary Star, so I'm a big fan of Orion for a middle name.
    I just posted a blog entry on how to make a simple Crinkle Cloth toy for a baby, so feel free to check it out.
    http://goingtothefarnorth.blogspot.com/

  15. McdsM

    Chez toi, 'Les choses de la vie'sont simples, pratiques et pleines de vie colorée …
    Bienvenue à ce bébé!

  16. mami4girls

    Cool idea! A shame I didn't have it when my girls where little. I always had really little babies…
    Greetings from Germany

  17. Karen

    Hi Joel

    Congrats to you and your lovely lady and kids on the upcoming edition! Personally I've always been a fan of the names Aston and Bronte for girls so feel free to use them if you like!

    I was the person who got 'DIY Father' onto your blog – it's really great to see your amazing ideas passed on to a whole bunch of dads!

    Thanks for being such an inspiration – my husband and I will DEFINITELY be making these for our son Archer – especially his holy socks which have no better use!

    Take care and enjoy the sleep while you can!
    Karen

  18. Harry

    Adorable little socks! Also I am obsessed with names so will email you a list today…Congratulations again!

  19. Simsalabim

    congratulations!! it looks you have the same date for a baby as I do, I love your blog, and I was wondering, how long Ill have to wait, till I can start to use your tips to play with my first and small one.. and NOW Im sure, you will have briliant ideas also for very small babies, so Im double happy for you! :)
    have a wonderfull day, greetings from Czech Republic!!

  20. Annette

    Congratulations! How exciting.
    I happy for you but also, on a more selfish note I'm curious to see your ideas for babies as I'm going to be an aunt in a couple of months and am already looking forward to showering little niece/nephew in self-made presents.

  21. ErikaF

    if we were going to have another baby (which we are not) i would have gone with Zane for boy or girl or Asha for a girl. love the sock idea. love fast & easy projects!

  22. T.J.

    oh my goodness what a fabulous idea! And with a second little one on the way and lots of socks with holes, I'm totally gonna use this tip!

    Congratulations to you :)

  23. Maiz Connolly

    Hooray, Joel!!! Such great news! I was just talking to the boys about what their names would have been if they had been girls (Rosa, Pippa, Luisa.) Here are some others for your list: Chloe, Anna, Lola, Etta, Rita, Olive, Lou, Flora, Mae, Nora, Audrey, True, Ruby, June, Kate. I have about 100 more if you want 'em (I tried to pick some that might go with the short and classic style of Jack and Tess.) I never got a chance to use any, of course. Orion is a beautiful middle name, and her little socks are darling!

  24. Joel Henriques

    Wow everybody – Thanks so much for all of these fantastic names! I love this help! Thanks for everything else too!

  25. Julie

    There is no end to your genius! I have a Ruby and an Iris. If there was to be a third daughter, chances are she would be Tilda. I almost forgot how much fun and how totally consuming the naming process was for us. Congratulations!

  26. Joel Henriques

    Thanks!

    Jackie – I just used a regular sewing machine with a straight stitch. You don't need a serger at all.

  27. Jackie

    That sounds so simple, but leave it to me and I'll find a way to mess it up. The reason I asked about a serger is that the material is stretchy and I wonder if that would affect the stitching (I don't sew at all, but this project may just be the kick in the pants that I need to get started).

    Thanks for the inspiration!

  28. Joel Henriques

    Yeah, I actually wondered how well it would work with regular thread too, as opposed to elastic type thread (I think there's something like that. I'm pretty new at sewing too.) but yeah, there's enough stretch in the socks, that one seam of regular thread doesn't effect the stretch at all. It just works. You could even sew them by hand and it wouldn't take long at all.

  29. Anonymous

    Toutes mes félicitations pour cette future petite-fille qui aura la chance de profiter aussi des merveilleuses idées de son papa. Cette chaussette me fait penser aux muppets que mes élèves de CP ont rélisées cette année. Si je trouve une photo je vous l'envoie. Bonne chance à la mystérieuse maman, toujours invisible. Merci pour la sobriété de votre blog et la simplicité de vos réalisations.

  30. nath46

    Félicitations pour ce petit bébé à venir… Quelle joie pour vous et les jumeaux !
    Prenez soin de vous.
    A bientôt !

  31. Tanya

    wow! congrats on a new addition to your family! Love the Baby Booties! I used to make baby leg warmers from my old socks!

  32. Oontje

    Congratulations on the new baby girl!
    We"ll definitely try the socks. Pitty we don't have them in flashy colours like yours.

  33. Catherine Hansen Peart

    Wow, I totally missed that line about the new baby the first time I read this post. Congratulations!!! Love these little baby socks. Genius (yet again…). :-)

  34. Flaming Nora

    Congratulation.s Must say you sure have got some milage out of those socks, didn't they pop up in a painting not so long ago? Beautiful idea. I'm always resizing and cutting up our clothes so they can travel down the family. Latest was turning two of my old t shirts (blk and orange) in to a tiger top for my 3 yr old.
    I love the name Scout, from "To kill a mocking bird" and if I had had a girl would have called her that, or Lottie.

  35. MUS

    this made me smile :)
    have to try this for our little new born…

    and congratulations on the new baby girl!

  36. One: I am so thrilled for your family! What a fantastic time of year to be having babies!
    (My little Pepper will be a mere 9 weeks older than yours.)

    Two: I am so thrilled for me as I suspect we will be seeing more baby crafts! hooray!

  37. That’s great idea:) I made a trousers from sportsweater, actually I used just sleeves:) Oh and congratulations!:)

  38. Very cute idea. My son hates the seams in socks that land right on his toes… I haven’t figured out how to make socks with a seam though…. I might try this to see if it helps at all…