Tutorial: RETROFITTING PANTS TO FIT THE CLOTH DIAPERED BUM

Cloth diapers can sometimes cause pants to fit snugly or pull strangely at the crotch. (Not true with all babies or with all pants.) We found this to be especially true on our chubbiest baby.  As much as we wanted all the cute pants to fit we have found that some of them just  never quite came up over the diaper well enough.  But this retrofitting process didn't start with my baby...

This process was designed this past Christmas when I visited my mother.  I had bought a pair of pants that didn't fit me earlier in the week.  The pants were lower rise then I liked and I kept having to yank them up to cover me properly in back.  The pants were also a bit too long.  I felt if I could get these pants to just pull up an inch then they would fit better all around.  But you can only pull pants up so much?!?  The crotch has its limits!  Is there anything to be done for the crotch?  Of course my mom who is a seamstress first class, said there was no way.  And truthfully there is no "proper" method.  But I am all for breaking the norms and being inventive.  I said well lets try.  The pants aren't doing me any good like this.   We let out the seams as described below.  Tried the pants on inside out and other than the strange gaping hole in the crotch the pants all the sudden fit perfect.  Then we pinned and recreated a new crotch seam and viola the pants are now some of my favorite to wear.  A month later, I said I wonder if these would help my baby's pants fit better and here is the result.

This tutorial is designed to help the novice or experienced seamstress retrofit a standard pair of pants to fit with ease over a cloth diapered booty. The process will lengthen the rise, allow the pants to fit better over the diaper without being super snug and it may shorten the pants just a bit as you are able to pull the pants up to the right height on your baby.   

Here are the pants inside out.  We are going to lengthening the rise of the pants to give the pants more room to fit over the rise of the cloth diaper. This process will also shorten the pants a bit so be sure your pants have a little extra length.	We are going to focus on the crotch seam.  Go ahead and open up the seam at least 1 to 2 inches down each leg from the center rise seam. The longer you need the rise the more of this inside leg seam you will want to release.
Take the opened up seam and make it "kiss" in the opposite direction.  This will bring the leg openings from each side together.
Now we are going to pin for a new crotch.  Mark or pin in a large curve.	Here is a close up see the little bunny ears created.
Sew along your new curve.  Back stitch over the center seam in the crotch for strength.  If sewing on fleece or knit fabric be sure to use a knit stitch. If your machine does not have a knit stitch you can use a large basting stitch and sew the stitch twice. Note: I would like to say that I chose white thread to make it easier for you to see the seam but reality is that was just the color thread already in the machine.  :)	Trim off the excess little "ears" to a standard seam allowance.  If my serger had been threaded, I would have serged this.  Since the pants are fleece and will not unravel I cut the excess off and left it.  With cotton pants you would want to serge or zig-zag your edges.
Same pants, now with a longer rise.  They now come up over the diaper.
Here is the diapered booty with pants on that fit!
Don't they look great!