Cloth training pants are very useful when potty training children, and one can easily make quality training pants inexpensively. I find that the store-bought training pants are simply regular underwear with padding in the middle. Since I find the padding a little bit thin (or my children very productive!), I decided to make my own.

I purchase regular underwear/panties (size 2T) and sew a padding to the underwear. Here are the steps (click on images to view full-size):

Step 1: Cut the padding. I used eight layers of flannel and the size of the padding is about 2.5″ x 8″. Terry cloth can also be used.

Step 2: Finish the padding edges. Sew zig-zag around all the edges so they don’t fray. Make sure your sewing machine can sew through thick layers.

Step 3: Sew the padding onto the underwear.. For girls, you should sew the padding towards the back whereas the padding should be sewn towards the front for boys.

In addition to wearing the cloth training pants, I have my child wear a nylon pull-up pants which keeps accidents better contained and prevents soiling of their pants, for the most part. We use Alexis Feather-Lite nylon pants which, while no longer being made, are fairly easy to find on eBay and other similar sources.