Sunday, February 3, 2008

Wool-in-two training pants made from recycled sweaters

I made a friend of mine some covers using the wool-in-two trainer pattern. She uses flats so I did not add any snaps, she plans to simply lay in her flats after folding them up.

I actually ended up cutting off the cuffs from the bottom left one and adding cuffs just like the others. I just didn't like the way the sweater cuffs looked. I think these trainers are so cute I just can't wait for them to dry so that I can send them to her.

I followed the instructions written on the pattern to reduce the rise of the pattern. I only serged the top raw edge and then folded it over by 3/4" and zig zaged to form the elastic casing. I did not fold it 1/4" and then another 3/4" to hide the raw edge as I instructed in the original tutorial.

Instructions on the pattern:

Note: If you are using a recycled wool sweater or very thick wool and don’t want to roll under the raw edge, when making the elastic casing, you can remove ½” off of the top AND bottom of the WITTP pattern once it has been taped together. In this case, simply roll over the raw edge by ¾” and zig zag the elastic casing closed.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for all the tutorials. I actually just made two pairs fo the wool in two training pants and I love them. Thanks again. I love all the tutorials
Brenda
workaholicgreenmomma
Seattle WA

Green Momma said...

I'm glad they worked for you!

I just realized that the snap placements are a little off on the soaker. Did that cause a problem for you? I'll update the pattern as soon as I can:)

Anonymous said...

Are the seam allowances already included in the pattern? Also, what kind of snaps are you using?
Thanks,
Maria

Green Momma said...

Yup, 1/4" seam allowances:)

I use poly acetal resin snaps put on using a snap press. Have a look at www.verybaby.com or www.thesnapstore.com.

Anonymous said...

Thank you. I think I'll try to use buttons, at least for the first pair. The press seems a bit expensive, unless one uses it on regular basis.

Maria

Green Momma said...

Yes they are expensive but so fun and handy. I use mine for lots of things, fixing pants, bibs, diapers,....

I would love to see pics with the buttons - such a great idea!!!

Elin said...

Hi!

Thank you so much for this pattern.
I made a mix between this pattern and the leak proof one, and used 100% merino wool and reused old premature prefolds that I bought when our tiny daughter was born.
My daughter is 2 and the 2-3 size was too big, so I did the rest in size 1-2 and used the 9 months size for the liner. It was perfect.
Thank you again. It was way easier than I thought. Great pattern and easy to follow instructions.
Elin

Green Momma said...

I'm so glad that this pattern helped you out! Yeah for recycling:)

Lori Howlett said...

I found some wool pull-on covers (size 000) at a market stall for 50 cents recently which look just like the wool part of the training pant in this pattern and have made my own boosters to sit in, but was holding off on the snaps, but now I see this I think I will go ahead and put them on!! I use these for night-time (as a back-up for if I miss her cues) and the booster just keeps shifting and is annoying to get back into the right spot. Will be doing some snapping today!!

Amelia Grace said...

Thanks so much for this tutorial!! They are amazing. My first venture with wool and now I'm hooked. I made 4 pair of trainers and 2 pair longies from 2 lambswool thrift store sweaters.

I recycled all of our old receiving blankets for the inserts and also used a layer of microfiber in each one for added absorbency.

Anonymous said...

On her blog, Katrina recommends making a waistband for her soaker and using 1 size smaller than the body size if the sewer is using a wool interlock/spandex blend. Would that work for your pattern as well? Would I just have to take some height off the top of the soaker--e.g. for a 1" waistband, remove 1" from the pants (and make the waistband out of a rectangle 2.5"x(top of trainer measurement) = 1" waistband with .25" seam allowance? Thanks!! - Emily

Green Momma said...

I have never used that type of measurement so I can't say for sure but it is worth a try. If the waistband is too big you can always pick it off and then make it smaller and sew it back on...

To adjust the rise of the trainer you should measure the rise you would like to have and then subtract from the back and the front of the pattern, then add in the measurement of the height of the waistband x2 because the waistband will be folded in half plus x2 the seam allowance.

For example:

If the rise you want is 16 1/2" but the rise of the pattern of the trainer is 18" then you need to take 1 3/4" off the back and 1 3/4" off the front. This will leave the pattern at 14 1/2". That leave 1/4" seam allowance at the front and back. Now the waistband will have a height of 1 1/2" but it will be folded in half lengthwise so the pattern will actually have a width of 3", then you need to add in the seam allowance for each side of the waistband so you need to add 1/4" to the top of the waistband and 1/4" to the bottom. The total height of the waistband will be 3 1/2", folded it will be 1 3/4", sewn in it will be 1 1/2". The total rise will be 16 1/2".

I hope that was not too confusing! Please write back if you have more questions:)

Emily said...

Thanks for the quick response! That makes sense... I think we said the same thing only you gave more details. :)

One more question, actually. The wool-in-2s and a combo of [tiny trainers (non-waterproof)]+[tiny trainers made of wool interlock but with no soaker pad] would do the same thing, right? Absorb misses and contain moisture/be woolly and amazing? I got the idea for pairing cotton-type undies with a wool undie-shaped cover from the Continuum Family store, but figured I could just make my own. But then I saw your wool-in-2s and am trying to decide which system to use. Can you think of any advantage to using the 2-pair combo instead of the wool-in-2s?

Thanks again! --Emily

Green Momma said...

Emily,

I think using cotton undies plus a wool cover would be slightly less absorbent because the undies would not have multiple layers of material to absorb misses in the wet-zone. The benefit of the wool-in-two trainers is that the soaker has many layers of cotton to absorb a miss. You could add many layers to the underwear in the wet zone if you wanted?

You might find that the underwear plus wool cover option could cause less shifting since the underwear will fit snuggly, however it will probably be more bulky then the wool-in-two because there will be more fabric around the hips where no absorption is needed.

Hope that helps!

Rebecca

Emily said...

Hi Rebecca,

That makes sense, thanks! I think what I'll do is size the wool covers to fit over trainers--I can then always add snaps and the soaker pads if I want--and either make or acquire the trainers/padded undies.

Your insight is much appreciated.

Emily

aa said...

Hi,
I dont have any sewing experience and would like to start sewing for my son especially the training pant.Pls advise what type of sewing machine i should buy,thanks.
cj