potty training part 1: undies

Oh, how I love potty training. It is about to consume my life. I am not in a hurry to deal with that, but if we don't do it soon it's going to be a battle of wills from hell. So, I'm starting by making undies and easy-up-and-down pants.

***Future apologies for the embarrassing underwear pictures to my adorable daughter. I am totally taking advantage of the fact that she has no idea I'm doing this. If I tried this my older kid, it wouldn't go over so well. :)***

First, the undies. I decided to use cotton interlock for the main part. A lighter jersey knit may be better, but I don't have any in my stash at the moment. I've been so used to making pants that fit over a diaper, I had to rethink the pattern. I decided to make the waist measurement slightly smaller than my kid's waist (16 1/2") so they would fit snugly, and I cut the waistband at 16" wide by 2" tall and I came up with this.

Well, it works ok, but she gets a little bit of a plumber's crack going on so we need a little more height in the back. They're also a little looser than I would like in the waist, and the wide crotch and snug leg hole ribbing kind of pull the whole thing down. I would show a picture, but I have to draw the line at crack exposure, so you'll just have to trust me.

Take two.

I took the pattern used above, made another pair of undies and left off the ribbing around the legs so I could cut the leg holes to fit better. I also added an extra inch to the back waist ribbing (after I removed the original band and recut it) so they would come up a little higher on the waist. It worked, though they weren't quite perfect. They needed more room for the belly in the front, and even more height in the back. I forgot to write down what I changed and life happened for a while, so I kind of had to start over.

Take three.

A week or two later, I had a chance to give it another go. I remembered I needed height in the back, but wanted to test the boy-shorty pattern again, so I just added another inch in the back. It looked like this. The top half is the front of the undies, and the bottom is the back. You can see how the front (top) is curved inward to go around the buddha belly, and the back (bottom) curves outward to go up in the back and cover the crack.

This is what they look like, and on the babe.

You can see here how the legs are pulling the undies down from the waist, and I think that could be uncomfortable, so I temporarily abandoned the boy short concept, and tried again.

Take four.

Finally. I made another pair, and as before put them on before I sewed the leg bands. I drew lines with a fabric marker on them while she was wearing them, and cut the leg holes to fit. I also decided to make the waist band three inches high instead of two (when folded, it adds 1.5 inches to the waistline). I also decreased the width of the waist band to 14" so they hug a little closer. Success!

Here you can see the boy shorty ones compared to the ones that fit. You can also see that I was too lazy to change my serger thread back to white. I had way too much width in the crotch, and too much length from waist to leg hole. I do want to tackle the boy shorts again but for now this pattern will do for potty training undies.

Here's the final pattern. I would have never guessed this shape would make underwear that fits, but it does! I didn't write it on there, but this is meant to be cut on the fold where the fold is lined up with the longest side. I increased the dip in the front waistband to about 1/2" (bottom) to allow more belly room, and you can see I kept the added one inch height in the back (top). I put some measurements on there to give a general idea of size. My little one has a 16 1/2" waist, so this could actually be even narrower for a snugger fit. For the waist band, I used a 14" wide by 3" tall piece of ribbing, and for the leg bands, I used 9" by 2" pieces of ribbing, allowing about a 3/8" seam allowance. I think these should fit boys too, but I haven't had baby boys, so I really wouldn't know! But, you could make the front straight across instead of putting the dip in the middle to give a little more room in the front.

It's really simple to put together, you just fold it in the crotch and match up the side seams right sides together, sew the side seams with a 3/8" seam allowance, then sew the bands on the waist and legs. If you've never sewn a band on, there's a good tutorial for using a sewing machine at Made By Rae or with a serger at Indiesew. They are both for necklines, but the same rules apply. Or, if you want to make it even easier, sew the leg bands on before you sew the side seams. The leg holes will just barely fit around my serger's free arm (I had to go look up in the manual what that thing is called), so I did the leg bands after to eliminate the seam in the band showing. For the bands,I used a cotton poly rib from Joann's remnants basket that was kind of thick, but very stretchy and recovers well. I'm going to experiment with using other fabrics for the bands that are less bulky so she can wear them under leggings in the winter. I don't think cotton jersey or interlock will have enough recovery to survive the ups and downs (haha...), so I'm thinking a lighter weight poly blend or a baby rib. I thought briefly about leaving the leg bands off, but wedgies would be inevitable.

**Update** I added another inch to the sides and back for more room, but left the depth of the dip in the front the same, and the size of the cuffs and waistband the same. These fit even better. I also added two layers of birdseye and one layer of flannel to some to make training pants, like this:

As you can see, I had a hard time lining it up just right in the front, but it works! You could also sew a layer of PUL to make them more leak proof. These catch leaks, but won't hold a full-on pee.