Cloth Pull-Ups

The other day I came home from work to the news that my two and half year old son had peed on the potty at school. I was so excited I ran out and bought a new potty seat, extra pants and thought about buying some pull-ups. But as I stood there with the package in my hand, I had my usual thought.....I bet I can make these.

I never used cloth diapers when my kids were babies. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't imagine all the extra laundry and work, and truthfully, I was never fully convinced that the extra water usage was better than the extra trash. But, since we're all better rested now, I figured I'd try out making some re-usable training pants.

I bought a great pattern for kids underwear from That Darn Kat. I first saw it here at Noodlehead.

I modified the pattern by adding a layer of PUL (which is a PAIN to work with) and 4 layers of cotton flannel to the front.


I sandwiched the layers and basted along the edges to hold it in place.

Then, I basically made 2 pairs of underwear, using the PUL panel for the outer and and just plain cotton for the inner. I put them together with wrong sides together and right sides facing out, and finished the waist and legs like the pattern describes.

This is far from my best handiwork, so don't look too close. The last pair I made I widened the waist band and finished the legs by putting the ribbing around the layers and stitching all at once, kind of like you would with bias tape.


The boy was surprisingly excited to put them on after not taking a nap yesterday, and the best part....they actually work. Which means they work as far as holding all the pee in. And, he felt wet, which was part of my desire to make these. I think actually feeling wet helps them learn when they've peed and helps them want to use the potty.

We'll see.....

Oh, and here are the girl, non pull-up version I made for my daughter. They are soooo cute and a great way to use up scraps.