Trainers for the little bug!

If you recall this post about my diaper sewing, and then this post about potty learning, you my have concluded that Norah decided she wanted to potty learn right after I made her a nice, new, squishy batch of diapers.  And if you came to that conclusion, you are correct.

However, we are still having our share of 'oops'es, espeically now that the potty is no longer a new, cool concept she is intent on mastering.  To help out with the oopses I've sewed her up a nice new batch of training pants.  And hey, who knows!  Maybe the production of a giant batch of trainers is just what she needs to keep her nice and dry. ;)

For your viewing pleasure, here they are:


I made her two of each design except for the owl pair - she has 3 owl pairs - for a total of 13.  What can I say, blue eyes looking up at you saying, "Owl undies, peeeese" cannot be ignored.  Here are a couple closer-ups of my favorites.





The inners and outers of these trainers are plain 'ole cotton knit.  I've used a rib knit with some spandex content for the legs and waist bands, so they will fit nice and snug and retain their stretchiness.  They all have soaker pads consisting of three layers of cotton flannel, which is (I hope) enough padding to keep a small accident from being catastrophic (pee running down the leg and into the shoe, anyone?), but not enough to feel padded like a diaper.

Now, the very best thing about these trainers... they unsnap.  This may not mean much to someone who doesn't have a small child in underwear or trainers, but to those that do, it means a whole lot - namely that you will never wrestle with your conscious over wanting to cut a nasty pair of undies off of a child rather than attempt to slide them off.  No worries, here.  Just unsnap, clean up, and go about your day.

Once I finished these up, I started wondering if these could be made with a waterproof material.  And so, I made up one last pair.  These last ones have a layer of PUL on the outside, which is a waterproof material.  I don't know how much it will actually help, as the leg ribbing is sewn right in between the inner layer and the PUL and will therefore likely wick like mad.  But, being trainers, they're intended to be taken off as soon as you know there's an accident, so maybe they won't wick too badly if I get them off her quick enough?  I'll be testing them out to find out.  I espeically like the star snaps on this pair:



These are all made from the Tinkle Time Trainers pattern.  It comes in sizes 18mo - 7 years, and also includes pattern pieces to make big kid undies as well as the trainers.  The pattern includes instructions for a pull up style trainer (no snaps - boo!), and a snap on trainer with one or two rows of snaps on each side.  I've made these with just one row.  These are relatively easy to put together, but did take me more time than I had anticipated.  The pattern is available for purchase here.  The pattern maker also has an overnight trainer pattern that's similar, but I haven't tried it out yet.

Now to see if these help the little bug stay dray!