With a recently potty-trained toddler and lots of road trips this summer I decided to take some precautions…with this DIY Piddle Pad!
DIY Piddle Pad | Potty Training in the Car
Why a DIY Piddle Pad? Because I really can’t think of much worse than having to sit in a soggy car seat for 4 hours- ick…
But… even if you aren’t potty training right now you could also whip one of these up for trips home from the pool- sitting on a towel is a little tricky in a car seat. And… they also fit in infant car seats which is great if your little one has infamous diaper blowouts.
This whole project takes less than an hour- well worth my peace of mind. I put it through a test run and it held about 1/2 cup before it started spilling over. If you want a little more protection I have some tips that too
Let’s get started!
Piddle Pad Materials:
- 1/3 yard terry cloth- the thicker the better
- 1/3 yard vinyl- I used marine vinyl left over from my storage bin project
Piddle Pad Step 1: Cut your vinyl to fit your car seat- remember you’ll have a seam allowance so cut it a bit bigger- I should have made my cut outs by the straps a bit smaller.
Piddle Pad Step 2: Cut a 2nd layer from your terry cloth- if you want extra protection cut 2 layers- don’t make a cut-out for the center buckle just yet. I also cut 2 small pieces as some extra protection by the buckle
Piddle Pad Step 3: With right sides together sew your vinyl and terry cloth together leaving a gap along the bottom edge
Piddle Pad Step 4: Turn right side out and topstitch around all the edges. Apply some scotch tape to the bottom of your presser foot to help it slide along the vinyl
Piddle Pad Step 5: Cut a hole in your terry cloth for the buckle and snip towards each corner of the opening. Fold back the flaps and stitch down. For extra reinforcement and to prevent fraying I went around the whole opening with a zig-zag stitch
Piddle Pad Step 6: With right sides together sew your flap pieces together around the curved edge. Turn right side out and topstitch around all edges
Piddle Pad Step 7: Sew in place with the terry cloth sides together. This will flip up between your tot’s legs to protect the buckle
Happy Travels!
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16 Responses
First of all, let me say that this is perfect & I love your blog. Finding a tutorial for a piddle pad was just what I was looking for! Thanks for posting it!
I’m not a master sewer by any means, but when I came across your blog on Pinterest, I knew that it was something I would be able to do…
Well, little did I know, sewing two different types of fabrics is more difficult that what I had assumed.
At my local Joann Fabrics, I wasn’t able to find Vinyl, but I did find PUL that was precut into 21×24″ square.
I pinned the fabrics together before I started sewing, but somewhere along the way, my fabrics began to move.
How did you tackle this problem?
There are a couple of things you can do to help the PUL glide through the sewing machine better. You can put a piece of Scotch tape on the bottom of your presser foot or purchase an inexpensive teflon presser foot. You can also put a piece of tissue paper (like you would put in a gift bag) between the PUL and the machine. After you finish sewing, just pull the tissue paper off. I hope that helps!
Great idea! I used a changing pad from Wal Mart that I already had for the waterproof part because I wanted it to be machine washable – I cut it in half and made two. I used the infant insert from the car seat as a template, and since it just had a slit instead of a rectangular cutout for the buckle, I just went with that and it works fine. I also made the cutouts for the straps as just a T shaped slit, but then cut a V above it so it didn’t overlap so much. Then I sewed the terry cloth to it with right sides out, and put bias tape around the whole thing, because I thought it might reduce bulk around the edges. It was a bit tricky to sew the bias tape around the strap and buckle slits but it seems to work fine. I can’t exactly say I’m looking forward to my son testing it out, but it’s definitely better than the blanket I had folded up in the bottom of the car seat before, in case of diaper leakage. Thanks for the idea, I wouldn’t have thought of it!
I used a shammy that I got from Dollar Tree as the absorbent part, and then I found a vinyl tablecloth on clearance at Walmart for $2.00! So here’s my first attempt at your piddle pad–the directions were great! I accidentally cut the hole too small for the buckle the first time so I had to fix it and restitch, but here’s my end work: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ZBoQUGnBPNTYiGccD14HEoB7uOwnGvclSh9Mn95xvlY?feat=directlink
genious, amy! seriously…such a great idea!
You think of everything! This is brilliant 🙂
I hadn’t really thought of putting a waterproof pad in the car seat, great idea!
If you don’t already have vinyl on hand, and do have a Joann’s or other chain fabric store handy, you can use PUL, which is thinner, easier to sew, and just as waterproof. It holds up better to machine washing than vinyl, too.
Aah, genius! I have a ton of PUL but no vinyl and was wondering if that would work. Thanks for a great tute!
PUL should work great:)
Brilliant! I definitely need to make one of these ASAP!
This is awesome! I need one of these since we are potty training! Thanks for the tutorial!
Amy, this is great! It’ll be the perfect accompaniment for the seat belt covers I stitched up a couple of weeks ago. Here’s a link to my post, in case you’re interested! Happy travels to you!
http://nightgardendesign.blogspot.com/2012/06/quick-and-easy-seatbelt-covers.html
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This is genius! I was worried about potty training because of a road trip, but this means I can go ahead!