Thursday, May 27, 2010

DIY: Bum Panel Pants For Cloth Diapers

Elliot's had a bit of a problem lately.  See, he's a big guy (27.10 pounds at one year) made even bigger by his awesomely huge cloth diapered bum.  But, even though he's the size of a two year old (he literally wears 24 month clothes), he's only developmentally a one year old. He's still crawling and moving like a one year old.  He still needs stretchy one year old pants made out of soft, knit fabric.  But all of the pants made for 24 month olds (toddlers who are up and running around and have shed most of their baby fat) are made out of denim and stiff cotton.  There's no stretch to them at all.  Can you imagine how uncomfortable it would be to try and crawl in jeans stretched tight around a gigantic bum?!?  So, out came my sewing machine.  

True to the Mixed Baby Greens philosophy, I went to the thrift store and got a bunch of men's x-large solid colored t-shirts and cut them up to make repurposed pants for Elliot.  There are ton of how-to blogs and websites that tell you how to do such a thing.  Here's my first try:


Cute, stretchy, and comfortable, but not too roomy.  So I tried again:
This time I added an extra bum panel.  This seemed to give Elliot just the extra room he and his cloth diaper needed (what do you think...? Is this the launch of my Baby Got Back line??).

I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that Elliot was interested enough in my sewing that he wanted to sit on my lap and watch. 
A future sewer in the making??  Oooh, I do hope so!

2 comments:

amuma Deb said...

These pictures are amazing. Such focus. I am the happies Amuma ever to know my grandson loves sewing machines. I'm saving some great knitted fabric for you. I found it while cleaning last night. What a perfect idea to purchase old men's t-shirts. They sell very little knitted fabrics any more. What a great idea.

Unknown said...

Even though I rarley sew these days, I too come from a long line of sewing. Elliot's Great-Nana made all of our clothes for me and my sibs while growing up and I made all of Malia's when she was a child. And his Auntie-Granny is still the all time seamstress.
Wouldn't it be amazing if he follows in the family footsteps of both of his Grand-Mothers!!