Potty Training.....

No, we haven't actually started that fun and exciting chapter of twin life, but I am gearing up!  I bought a boy set and a girl set of the standard padded training pants.  They cost about $7 for 3 pair.  For twins, that equals $14 for less than a day's worth of training pants....  not cool.  So, I googled training pants patterns.  That is my typical response to overpriced sewn goods, so that is not a big deal.  But, I found a great tutorial for it, and that is awesome!  Here is a picture of "mine" with a store bought pair.

Of course, I made my first pair pretty much like the tutorial instructed me to do, with the exception of using fold over elastic for the leg and waist holes.  I think they turned out okay, but I wanted to make some changes since I have a "few" more pairs of these to make.

Instead of adding the edgings and then finishing the seams, I sewed all of the seams and then added the elastic.  This seems to work just fine with the fold over elastic.

After making the first pair from an old shirt, I knew that old tees would be perfect for the outside of these little babies, but I had to think for a minute about what to use for the absorbent middle layer...  Then it hit me!  Cloth diapers.  The ones that D and M spit up on for all of their little baby fun and excitement could now be reused and get peed on.  The cloth diapers provide 2 or 3 training pants worth of padding, depending on how long the diaper is.

I had a night with no one else home, so I sat in front of the TV, watching the last season of ER, cutting out training pants.  My stack of pieces didn't get as huge as I had hoped (I hadn't seen most of the last season of ER yet, which is why I bought the DVDs in the first place), but I got a good start on our training pants stash, as you can see two photos up.

The next time I had child free sewing time, I ran all of the seams in the serger!  I do love my serger.  I know that I can live without it and still make all of the stuff I make, but it makes it so much easier.

Next up, lots of fold over elastic.  Before this venture into potty training preparedness, I had never heard of the stuff, but found it in a tutorial for making regular toddler underpants.  I googled fold over elastic, and realized what a good thing I had been living without.  It finishes edges and puts the elastic on stuff at the same time!  I don't think I will use it on everything, like pants and such, but I can see it on some skirts maybe.  Underwear, definitely will have fold over elastic, if I am sewing it!  It reminds me of a super multi purpose bias tape, and I guess that is a good description of it.  Anyway, after the googling and realizing that my sewing room lacked this awesome supply, I went to Joann's, with a coupon, and bought some of this sewing candy!

I tried the store bought variety on the little ones, and then I also tried my original sewn pair on M, just to make sure that I had the measurements right.  I would hate to make a ton of training pants that don't fit my kids!  I was planning to insert a really cute picture of the little ones running around in the underwear, but I don't want them to have any good reasons to hate me when they get older.  I am pretty sure underwear-only pictures online might give them good reason.

Looks good, so lots of cutting of elastic, and lots of sewing.  Again, this happened at a relatively child free time.  (Naptime, anyone?)

I think we are well on our way to having all of the training pants that they will need.  Now we just wait until they show some interest!