Questions about plastic pants

[Ecto]

Alright, so I'm currently trying to order a pair of plastic pants right now but I'm having a few problems:

1. How do you measure crotch width? All I can find out on google is it's the space between your legs. Easy. Problem is every time I measure I get a number that's way too small. From what I can tell I should be ending up with a width of about 10-12 inches but I'm getting a width of 7 inches. Then again I think the measurement is supposed to include cloth diapers, but would they really add three inches to the width? I've tried measuring over an abena x-plus and the difference in measurement is maybe an inch at best.

2. When buying plastic pants and you're stuck between sizes should you opt for the larger or smaller size? Reason I ask is that I have a waist of about 30" and leg thickness of about 21" (and apparently a crotch width of 7"...) and there's two sizes that match that: the site's small has a waist that stretches from 22-40", leg goes from 16-23", and crotch width of 11". The medium is 24-44" waist, 17-25" leg, and 12" crotch width. Normally I'd just go with the larger size but I've heard that with plastic pants it can be better to go with the smaller size in order to reduce the risk of leaks.

3. Are there any drawbacks/advantages to using snap-on vs. pull-on plastic panties? I'm probably going to buy a pair of snap-ons but I'm wondering if there's a greater risk of leaks with those or if snaps on those things have a tendency to pop off.

 

[daria7483]

1. I'm not sure, but don't worry about it too much -- just order the pair that otherwise meets your sizes. There's no way my crotch width is that wide either but I guess they assume you wear very thick cloth diapers.

2. Go with the larger size. You don't want to have the elastic digging in too much, and if you're in between, then you shouldn't have a problem with them being so big that there are gaps or anything.

3. Not really sure. I've always bought the pull-on kind but the snap-on do seem to have a certain appeal.

 

[Trevor]

Sizing does vary a bit from one manufacturer to the next, but I've never been completely screwed by the difference. I would agree with Daria and opt larger if you're on the fence between one or the other but you sound as though you'd be well-served by Medium. As for snaps, I have found the snaps themselves to be very reliable. They're maybe a little less so with regard to wetting. One of the nice things about cloth is that you have less to worry over for position in wetting since all parts are absorbant and snaps present a potential risk (lying on stomach), but it's not a reason to avoid them. You just need to have the right tool for the job.

 

[quattrus]

1) since I wear medium sized diapers, I opted for medium sized plastic pants, and they fit well over an abriform x-plus with 1 or 2 boosters (they're a bit large on anything thinner).

2) definitely the larger one, in case I need to add bulkiness to my diapers...

3) I currently have snap-ons and they work fine, I used them in a variety of situations and the snaps never popped off. If you wear disposable diapers under them, the risk of leaks from the openings within the snaps is nearly unexistant: if you're leaking from there it means your diaper is so saturated you'll already be leaking from anywhere else. Btw I want to to try pull-ons as well just to see the difference.

 

[ballucanb]

Bad move on the medium size, you need the extra room, I wear a medium size, so the last time I got some plastic pants, I bought a med and a large, and the large fit much better than the medium, the med. was too small with a thick cloth diaper and it caused gaps at the legs.

But if the deed is done you can always sell them, to someone smaller.

 

[wetatnight]

hello ecto
I wear plastic pants over my adult diapers at night and I have a 40 waist and wear either a adult medium or adult large diapers depending on who makes them some run smaller then others. but I wear a size Extra large plastic pants
plastic pants have to be bigger to accomidate different thicknesses of diapers and be able to act as leakage barrier.
many websites that sell plastic pants have a size chart on them
and waist or hip size wich ever is wider and the size of the biggest part of your thigh
has to be measured for the leg openings
with diapers and plastic pants if in between sizes go to the next larger size
if plastic pants are to small they'll ;eak or be uncomfotable or rip apart

 

[Darkfinn]

I've got a few pairs of pull-on plastic pants. I find that in my case the medium size works well over a thin cloth diaper or a thick disposable. I'll go up to the large size if I'm wearing layered cloth diapers. I've even got one pair of XL size if I decide to go super-bulk.

 

[PFD]

I like to wear a diaper one size larger than I need. A large fits me well, according to specifications. I like to wear an extra large, however. There is more room for air and it's more comfortable. At night I wear a terry-lined plastic pant over my disposable. I wear a size again larger, in this case an extra-extra large. No wet sheets for me!
Try this method and see if it works for you.

 

[cpndl]

I like to wear a diaper one size larger than I need. A large fits me well, according to specifications. I like to wear an extra large, however. There is more room for air and it's more comfortable. At night I wear a terry-lined plastic pant over my disposable. I wear a size again larger, in this case an extra-extra large. No wet sheets for me!
Try this method and see if it works for you.

I'm curious where you got your terry lined plastic pants. I am looking to buy some.

 

[PumaPunku]

If medium is what you wear in diaper size, I'd tend to think medium on the plastic pants too. That's the size I wear with 33" waist.

If you favor a looser fitting diaper, or bulk up then adjust accordingly.

When in question, I order one of the size I think will fit based on the measurements. If that works out, I know I can order more. Only one time did it not work out with that method.

Let us know how it works out for you when they arrive.

 

[ade]

muchly, buying placky-pants is a case of trial and error (for fitment) as it is with dispies. one trick is to buy a larger size than you think is suitable and then just tighten or reduce the elastication (easier with standard elastics than the posher 'comfy' type).
or you could simply make your own from any type of plastic/vinyl material you can find (up-scaling a baby design can work here).

 

[Ecto]

muchly, buying placky-pants is a case of trial and error (for fitment) as it is with dispies. one trick is to buy a larger size than you think is suitable and then just tighten or reduce the elastication (easier with standard elastics than the posher 'comfy' type).
or you could simply make your own from any type of plastic/vinyl material you can find (up-scaling a baby design can work here).

How would you go about making your own?

Anyway, I went ahead and ordered the medium size, so I'll report back on whether or not it fits when I get it.

 

[ade]

How would you go about making your own?

to start, the simplest way is to reverse engineer a pair of babies' placky-pants. then, you need only up-scale the design and select the materials of your desire. machine or hand-stitch as you wish.
i hand-stitch all my home-made stuff. not made placky-pants for ages but, here's some of my recently made trainer pants (very similar):

as worn:

and my very lastest and fashionablest:

all the waterproof materials were sourced from waterproof bed-sheets; the latter being seriously noisy......and this coming from someone who'll crinkle his arse around town all day long. i may make some standard pants out of that material, for use with trad' nappies.
i opted for the fabric elastics (cut from some cheapo undies) as a comfort choice and because the intention is not to wet in those garments.
the cut of the garments was derived from normal, my size, clothing and not from babies' clothes.

 

[ballucanb]

Those pants are really nice, I wish I could make stuff that nice, if you ever decide to go into bussiness makeing those I would be interested in buying some.

You do very nice work.....I think I would wear those all the time,,,B

 

[fifigal]

I,too,would be interested in buying them,but they would have to pink and have some frills and lace added to the waist and leg openings.

 

[Ecto]

Alright so update time: I got the plastic pants several days ago but only had a chance to start wearing them with diapers back on like Monday night. They're a bit baggy on me which would probably be fine if I had a bunch of cloth diapers laying around but all I've got is disposables (cloth would be too hard to hide). They still work well enough though I think, but the next pair I get will be smaller so I can get a better fit. On the bright side though I have a pair for whenever I finally get around to being able to bulk up on cloth.

 

[ballucanb]

If you stuff your disposeable you will need the room also, right now I use 2 stuffers, if I go to anymore I have to size up the disposeable.

A little bigger than you need is good for plastic pants, you can always add stuffers to make a nice puffy diaper.

 

[Lil Snap]

cpndl

I got a pair of terry lined pants from babykins They are a polyester pant and are super durable. My favorite pants are the nylon pants. I think I remember wearing some like them when I was little.