Wednesday, January 13, 2010

toddler/boys boxer-briefs!

Look what I made tonight:

Cutie patutie boys underpants from old baby clothes!
Start to finish, including cutting time, I can whip one of these bad boys out in less than 10 minutes! (rereading this after posting, this sounds really dirty!)
These would also work as "boy shorts" for a girl... with girlier fabric... I just wanted to use D's old baby clothes...
Tutorial:

Materials:
*a knit cotton t-shirt that is too small (I used 18mo, 24mo, and 2t shirts for my size 6 3yo boy)
*scrap of cotton knit with Lycra/Spandex (same thing... the easiest way for me to tell if there's lycra/spandex in a cotton jersey is by stretching it... plain cotton=not shiny, lycra/spandex= shiny when stretched.)
*scissors, sewing machine, thread etc.

Start with the T-shirt... cut it apart just below the armpits, straight across.

The bottom of the shirt will be your boxers, the top will be cut apart even more to make the crotch gusset
(this tute is illustrated with 2 different pairs of boxers... I made the striped one first, then made the red one to get extra pictures of things I missed the first time)
So:
Using the leftover top of the shirt, cut out a crotch piece. (if your kid is chubby, make it wide, if your kid is skinny, make it narrow. I'd aim for about 3" by 7", (but it's better to cut a piece that's too big, as big as your shirt will allow, and then cut down later, rather than cut a little piece, and have to piece together the crotch)
You can see the outline on the red shirt of the crotch piece... cutting that gave me 2 matching pieces (one from the front, one from the back). The striped shirt had the front collar placket, so I could only get one crotch piece from it... I supplemented with a part of a sleeve from another cotton shirt...)
*Try to make sure the crotch pieces are 100% cotton (avoid baby yeast infections!!!)
so now you have the bottom of a shirt, and 2 matching rectangles...

Cut a strip of the cotton with lycra/spandex that's 2-3 inches long (I like thicker waistbands for my son, they're easier on him) that's 3 or so inches smaller than the actual waist measurement (rough guideline: I'd cut 15-16" for a 3-5y/o, 16-18 for a 6-8 y/o)
sew the strip into a band, right sides together

This will be your waistband, and the lycra/spandex will provide enough elasticity that you don't need to actually put itchy elastic in the underpants! Fold the waist band in 1/2, wrong side together, so the seam is in the inside, and you have a ring.
Pin it to the cut/unfinished side of the shirt bottom, matching the waist seam with one of the shirt side seams, matching the 1/2 and 1/4 points of both. The shirt bottom should be bigger than the waistband, and you will have to stretch the shirt to match the waist band as you sew.

Ok, now it should look like this: (you could stop here and have a toddler tube top, I suppose)

Now fold it in 1/2 like this:
Grab your scissors and cut out a little crotch "J"
I just freehanded it, but if you've never made pants before, cut out a little J shape that's about 2" high. (maybe start with 1.5" and cut off more if needed...

Here's what the red pair looked like when I opened them up:
They look underpants-esque already, don't they?

Now go grab those crotch gusset rectangles, and serge/zigzag them, right sides together, on the NARROW ends, like this:
Turn the gusset right side out, and zigzag a little topstitch on the narrow ends like this: (don't worry about making the beginning/ends look good, they'll be covered in the next step)
Pin one long side of your gusset to the curve on one side of your boxers, right sides together. I find it easier to pin on the gusset side. First put the edges together and pin each corner, then the middle, then the 1/4 points, like so:
Flip them around and sew the other side, again, right sides together, pinning on the gusset side.
Clip threads, iron (if you care, I didn't bother, obvi).
Flip them right side out, and admire.
Wasn't that easy?!?!?!
Here's the set I made tonight... all have the same waistband fabric, therefore, obviously, they're a "set."



16 comments:

Anne said...

This is brilliant! And I bet that old knit is sooo soft...

I blogged your tutorial on Craft Gossip Sewing:
http://sewing.craftgossip.com/tutorial-little-boys-boxer-briefs-from-old-t-shirts/2010/01/14/

--Anne

Cynthia said...

This is neat, I think I am going to try this and make adult/girl boy shorts. This method seems real easy. Thanks.

Tinna said...

you´re a genius!!!! i´ll definitely make a few pair of those - it´s brilliant. thanks for sharing! greetings from iceland, Tinna.

Michelle said...

Thank you for posting this! I have been wanting to do this exact thing for my son and even have the right shirt ready to go...it never occurred to me to use lycra/spandex for the waistband, but I have some of that here and won't have to buy elastic for these now. Thanks for the tutorial!

Unknown said...

YAY! Re: the lycra/spandex, if I were making these again, I'd make them a little tighter... My little dude was smaller than I thought, so my measurement suggestions might be a little off...

unjugetito said...

I bought a book, paid for several patterns and all me underwear seem to morph into alien beings. But I just followed your tute and I HAVE UNDERWEAR!! (well my son does) but I'm so proud I might be letting him streak the neighbors :) and u r my new best friend

Unknown said...

YAY! I wanna see pictures!
My son has gone commando since potty training, but FINALLY wears these, so I'm thrilled that everyone else seems to have success with them too!

leaner said...

Perfect! Oddly I am looking for a girl, its impossible to find boxer brief-style panties for a girl (without spending a fortune on Etsy!) I LOVE this pattern, and am totally making her some cute girlie ones soon.

leaner said...

Love these! I made three of them today from fabric and it took me about an hour.

Ags said...

They look great, you did a fantastic job! And thanks for the photo tutorial, just what I was searching for!

heather said...

awesome! i was just searching for some ideas on toddler boxers... i love what you've done! my little guy requested "dark blue with white polka dots... just like daddy" so i've been dying some plain white trainers. but i'd love to do some boxers, too! thanks!

The Keevy Family said...

Wow!! Thank you so much for this tutorial. It was so easy to read and understand. I've been looking for a pattern for awhile and this is definitely one to try! I love to upcycle old clothing and this is brilliant!!!

Jane

Anonymous said...

Hi, I am trying to find some undies for my potty training 2yr old son who is requesting undies with stars...had no idea how hard this would be! Would you be interested in making him some? How much would you charge? Thank you, Natalie from VA natmote@aim.com

Unknown said...

Great creativity. I was looking for such undies. Thanks

BhutcA said...

I'd really want a 18-20" boxer briefs being high waisted! I'd really want a fly on the front! Too want one being a double dark blue line waistband with decorative prints! Others in solid colors with a double dark blue line waistband! One being all solid dark blue!

BhutcA said...

While I'd really want boxer briefs that are 18-20" to wear being high waisted for me to wear! I'd want a fly on the front of my new boxer briefs to open to pee! Must be a double dark blue line waistband! Must be solid colors with a double dark blue line waistband! One must be all solid dark blue!