Leggins/Stockings/Tights for warmth/Sleeping

Also, it should be very lightweight of course! And if I can wear them under my shorts in the daytime for freezing days that would be great. This would take the place of my long underwear base layer that I almost never use.

Perhaps cycling leg warmers. They come in different fabrics and thickness, although most feel like spandex. But not all. My favorite for warmth are made by Craft. They feel like standard midweight to heavy weight thermals and weight 3.2 oz on my scale.

Fit is key for them to stay in place. Which makes me think cutting the legs off standard thermals they won’t stay in place. But I haven’t done it.

I second cycling leg warmers.
Montbell also sells their zero-Line base layer as leg sleeves. Or at least here in Japan. They come with an extra bit of non slip elastic on the top against slippage. I used to have them and they’re super nice.

Sadly after getting injured and proper rehab (tons of squads) they really don’t fit anymore. I might also try the Craft cycling sleeves (should definitely fit), but I’m first going to try the cut off route with some other tights.

This isn’t quite what you are thinking of, but I thought I’d share what I’m up to now. Back in the ’70s fishnet base layers were the big deal. They worked, as they trapped your body warmth between your skin and a snug fitting regular base layer. A couple of months ago I bit the bullet and bought two Brynje fishnet tops – one a long sleeve merino, and also a polypro short sleeve version. While snowshoeing, I wore an Ibex Indie hoody over the merino one, and then a medium weight synthetic parka over everything. I was so toasty that I had to unzip the parka so as to not overheat. I thought of doing the same thing for my legs, but my clothing budget was already depleted.

Then, a couple weeks ago while wandering in my favorite open space, I came across a young lady walking her little dog. She was wearing a pair of the currently fashionable mesh tights. The size of the mesh grid looked perfect for what I wanted, so I asked her where she bought them. She didn’t remember, but it was online somewhere. The key thing is that they cost just  $11 + shipping for FOUR pair with various sizes of grids. My google took me to Amazon’s “Dreshow Fishnet Stockings”. Bulls-eye! With my one-month trial of Prime, I got free 2-day shipping.  A few days ago I wore them on a cool day, with a pair of 115 wt. BPL long johns over them and a pair of wind pants. My legs were noticeably warmer. When I took them off when I returned home, the tights showed no sign of falling apart or wear. So I’m thinking that they might work nicely (but I consider them somewhat disposable). The key thing is that one needs to have a second base layer over them to achieve the warmth effect (merino is good, as it wicks away any body moisture). These tights have feet in them, but it is easy to take scissors to open them up. Also, they stretch beyond belief, so one size fits all. I expect that you could easily roll them down to your ankles and store them in your Dirty Girl gaiters to keep the chipmunks from thinking you’re weird. Of the four different size grid designs, only 2 of them will work for this purpose. The 2 with the larger grid patterns will become gifts to my lady friends so that they can look hot at parties.

There might be some way that you can incorporate this concept into your intended purpose. By the way, the pair I used weighs less than 1.0 oz.

I made my own. I bought a fleece sweater at the thrift shop, cut the sleeves off, rolled the tops of the sleeves over and stitched a channel, threaded some elastic through and voila! My favorite piece of gear. I even use this in my daily life to ride my scooter to work. I can wear them on my arms or my legs.

Seriously, it’s my very favorite piece of gear and I never go on a trip without these things. I can even just let them flop around my ankles and cover my feet as sleeping “socks.”

I’ve done the same thing with a pair of pants. I just cut off the legs and sewed a channel, threaded in some elastic, and now I have lighter weight leggings, too.

You can buy dancer’s leg warmers in all kinds of lengths, weights and colors and some are dirt cheap.

That’s been my quest for some time too. I’ve tried several different pairs of thin leg warmers/coolers as I have a climashield pants for very cold temps. The problem is some of them don’t stay put when walking so may need a garter belt ;). I like them light colored so I can roll them down just below the knees and leave it on all day for sun protection (with some elastic band to keep it in place). I had those on my last trip https://www.campsaver.com/outdoor-research-activeice-sun-legs.html. I’ve recently got https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072KRLJDS that are light, thin and stretchy and they look promising

Heh heh Gary…your secret is safe with me.

I’ll second (third?) the cycling leg warmers, although that is probably the most expensive of the options so far mentioned.