Diapers to Pull-Up Undies Tutorial

A couple of months ago when my daughter was still potty training, we had a whole stack of diapers which were fine for the nighttime, but during the day they just weren't convenient. Our supply of the pull-up variety was coming to an end, yet I couldn't see buying more when we had so many regular diapers left. Enter my diaper to pull-ups conversion. It goes something like this:

All you'll need is a pair of diapers, a sewing machine, regular thread and elastic thread.

First, put the diaper on your child and mark where the tabs come together so that when you take them off and sew them, you'll know the proper size of the undies-to-be.

See this white tab right here?

This is the one with the stretch to it. We want to keep this and we'll sew along the side of it.  (I've showed you the right tab here, but in the next picture I'm actually sewing the left first...sorry about that.)

Leave your tab attached in the spot that you fastened it when you fit your child in the diaper.  All you're going to do is sew the actual tab section to the diaper.

When you sew it, you will want to use elastic thread in the bobbin.  Hand-wind your bobbin with elastic thread, place it in the machine like normal, and you're set to make a pair of training underwear.  Make sure to back stitch as well.

Jumping ahead just a bit, I want you to see how it will look on the outside when you have it sewn up.

Now let's go back.  When you flip it to the inside, sew along this portion of the diaper.  If it starts to get confusing over what part goes where, just look at the front again and remember all you really need to do is sew the tab down and allow the stretchy tab to do its job.

Here are the inside tabs that you won't need anymore. Actually, they'll just kind of get in the way, so you can snip them off.

The final product is here. You can see that they don't have to be perfect. Again, the main point is that you stitch that outside tab down and allow the stretchy flap to stretch as much as it can. By using the elastic bobbin thread, you've also established a little more "give".

Now your big boy or big girl is all ready for potty training and you just saved some money.

If, by chance, you STILL have diapers left over (various sizes are kind of good), they make wonderful hot and cold packs. Run HOT (but don't burn yourself!) or COLD water into the diaper just until they're saturated, but not too filled up. They're awesome because they hold the temperature quite a long while, don't leak, and don't cause your clothes to get wet. FYI: Nursing Moms, they are so great for blocked milk ducts!

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