Making Sleeves

This is not my original idea and I am sure if you google you will find other tutorials but I thought I would share how we make our sleeves.

Junior hasn't worn long sleeved shirts for years.  He gets hot easily and is often at doctors appointments so it is much easier to use short sleeve shirts with sleeves added.  When he was younger we used Baby Legs , leg warmers, as sleeves.  As he got a little bigger the baby legs no longer worked and we happened upon another place that sold a bigger version.  I knew those would not last him forever as he grew so was thrilled when someone showed me how to make my own sleeves for him out of long socks.
This is Junior wearing a pair of "sleeves" at a doctors appointment.  These are great at appointments because they can just be pulled down for things like taking a blood pressure.  

Our biggest problem now that Junior is bigger is finding long enough socks to work.  Regular knee socks are no longer long enough so we need "over" the knee socks which are difficult to find in patterns that are not too girly.  Yesterday at Joann's craft store I found a selection of St. Patricks Day over the knee socks and one of the pairs would work for a boy.

To start we cut the foot off the sock.

 Then cut the toes and heel off so you are left with just the middle.

Fold that piece in half. You now have a loop with the cut edges together on one end. 

 Slide over the cut end of your sock with the cut end of  your loop from the foot of the sock pointing up.

Stitch around the sock near the top.  Fold up so the cut edge no longer shows and that is your cuff. In this picture the bottom sock shows the sock with the "cuff" and the top sock is the opposite end that will be at the top of the arm when worn.

 Junior wearing the sleeve.  These "over" the knee socks make the perfect size sleeves for him and are not too snug.  They are slightly long but not enough to be an issue and will allow for some growth. 

Another pic of him with his sleeves on.  In this pic he was helping make rice crispy treats.  The mask on over the trach is just in case he coughs while we are mixing everything.