Leggings Project

--- ALWAYS ACCEPTING DONATIONS!!! ---

Whenever I see a pair of leggings I think of my Makenzie and her skinny little chicken legs. 
Makenzie started wearing them shortly after she was born because she was tall and skinny and pants just never fit. Plus they were so dang cute. After our girl got sick and was admitted to the PICU she could only wear leggings. Those rooms are so cold and with all the machines those kids are hooked up to they cant wear clothes so leggings really are that much needed.  We changed her leggings everyday and the doctors and nurses would come check on what she was wearing each day.  They all had their favorites and got so excited when they would see her wearing them.  It kept Makenzie warm but it was also something fun.

After Kenzie passed away I knew right away I wanted to share our love of the leggings with as many other kids as we could. The thing that's great about the leggings is you can not only wear them on your legs but your arms as well and they can be worn by kids of all ages.  

The first year we did the leggings project we received an incredible outpouring of support. 
We donated so many leggings, blankets, hats and toys.
The years after have been the same. It an amazing tradition and the hospital has loved it.
We have donated over 6000 pairs of leggings, hundreds of blankets and a lot of other amazing gifts.
This project has spread all over the world. We have received packages from hundreds of people and we continue to receive incredible amounts of support.

We take our leggings donations Seattle Children's Hospital in Washington through the year at some point and to Primary Children's Medical Center in Utah on December 13th of every year.  We will continue for the rest of our lives take leggings up there every year. Its a little thing that goes a long way. We ask everyone to help us in our project. Help us spread the word and help us reach our goal every year. If you would like to participate in the leggings project please email me at livingformrw@hotmail.com for the address to send all donations.
We are collecting leggings, blankets, hats and books every year.

Where can you get leggings?
You can buy the leggings at just about any baby boutique. You can buy them at other places like walmart and target or you can order them online at places like babylegs.com or mylittlelegs.com

Will you take used leggings?
We will take gently used leggings as long as they don't look used. If they are even a little off colored we wont donate them to the hospital. We want them to be as nice as possible.

What kind of blankets will you accept?
We will take any blankets you have. We ask that if you make quilts to not tie them. The hospital uses most quilts for the kids to lay on and if they have the ties it leaves weird sores on those kids who don't get out of bed much-- like Makenzie-- 

Will you take used books?
Definitely. We are not picky about our book donations.

What kind of hats are you looking for?
We like to donate little beanie/caps for the NICU. So we would like them to be tiny and as soft as possible.

Where can you get the knee high socks that you can make into leggings?
I always get mine at Target because they are pretty cheap there ($2.50 per pair) but you can get them just about anywhere that sells socks. We loved socks that are funky designs, bright colors and different but we also love solid simple colors. Get whatever you want.

How do you make leggings?

Step 1. Find a fun pair of knee high socks.

Step 2. Cut off the heels and toes like so.


Step 3. Discard the heel & toes.

Step 4. Using the lower foot piece turn them inside each other wrong sides together. This will be the bottom cuffs.


Step 5. Now just place the leg pieces into each cuff like so.


Step 6. Then sew around using zig zag stitch. Make sure you sew all 3 layers. That is where I make all my errors.

Step 7. Turn them out the right way and you have a new pair of leggings or armlings.


Are these not the easiest, cutest things ever?!  They are so perfect for all those kiddos at the hospital. It can be a little tricky the first few times you make them --- okay lets face it I have made hundreds and still have a little trouble at times --- but once you get the hang of it, they are so much fun.If you don't like this pattern feel free to find another online. There are lots of ways to make these and I am happy if you find a better way to make them. 

If you don't want to sew them that is NO problem. Send them to me and ill get them done!