t-shirts into toddler's undies

I've seen a lot of blogs and websites write recently about making underwear out of old t-shirts. I thought it was a great idea and downloaded a few patterns, but I changed them so much that I'm sharing my own directions. Click here to download my PDF pattern for a 2T girl size. I honestly don't have any other sizes or a pattern appropriate for boys, but I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to modify the pattern. As my little girl grows, I'm sure I'll post larger patterns.

So, I had this t-shirt that my husband gave me not long after we first got together, before he knew that a size small t-shirt is not going to fit me! It is a free-trade shirt from the Italian distributors CTM and very dear to me, which is why I never gave it away. But I figured a good reincarnation would be for my newly-potty-trained daughter's undies. I managed to make two pairs from this shirt.

1. First print out the PDF. Excuse how crude it looks, but that's the scan of my actual pattern pieces, which I cut out of cereal boxes. There are three pieces: the back, the front and the crotch. The front didn't fit on one page, so you'll have to line up the two parts of it. When you cut the pieces out of the t-shirt, make sure you cut them so the stretch of the t-shirt (going across) will stretch around the waist of the undies. Don't place the pieces sideways on the t-shirt because the finished product won't stretch right (which is why we like making undies out of t-shirts and not regular non-stretch cotton). Mark the dotted lines with chalk.

2. Place the front piece good side up on the table, then put on top of that the back piece bad side up and finally the crotch piece bad side up. Position them like in the photo so that the dotted lines match up and pin. Sew a straight stitch along the dotted line.
3. Put the sides of the front and back pieces together, good sides facing each other on the inside, so that the dotted lines match up. Pin and sew a straight stitch. You might want to reinforce with a second line of stitch.
4. Try the undies on your child. They should be slightly loose. If they are ok, trim the edges on the sides.

5. With the underwear inside-out, pull the crotch piece up so the good side is showing. Iron the seam flat and pin so that the bad sides of the crotch and front are facing each other. The edges don't have to match up absolutely perfectly, but you might want to trim the edges at the seam so it makes a nice curve.
6. Take some 5/8 inch FOE (fold-over elastic). I suppose you could also use 1 inch (which is what is generally used for making diapers), but the 5/8 inch is not as bulky and is softer. If you've never used FOE, I highly suggest doing some practice pieces before trying it out on your precious undies. Amy from Angry Chicken has a good (and amusing) tutorial on sewing with FOE. The only difference is that while you normally want to stretch the FOE as much as possible while sewing it, you don't want to with underwear or you're going to cut off your little darling's circulation. And I know you don't want that! I suggest doing the leg holes first, being careful to line up the crotch and front pieces nicely, stretching the FOE just a tiny bit so it's just VERY slightly gathered. When you do the waist you're going to stretch it even less, so it'll feel as if you're not even stretching it at all. Just a tiny, tiny bit so you won't even see any real gathering. I sewed in a size label, too, so I won't get all confused in the future when there are different sizes of undies floating around.

7. Put those lovely undies on your lovely child. If they're a bit loose, it's not a big deal. But if they're even a little bit tight, just do everyone a favor and break out your seam ripper and do the FOE over again. I had to do just that when I was making the pair pictured above. It's a pain, but you really don't want tight undies.

With this t-shirt I didn't need to add any embellishments, but I did with other pairs I made. You can add appliques, patches or use fabric paint. Go wild! It's so much fun having one of a kind undies!