Easy Up and Down Pants with Pockets

My son LOVES pockets. Mommy and Daddy like to put their hands in their pockets, so he is currently only wearing clothing with pockets.

I made these for him yesterday, and think they are a good first pass at hidden side pockets.


I used my favorite pants pattern (Easy Up and Down Pants) in natural colored hemp fleece. I used a band of white lycra for the waist instead of a band of the pants' material with elastic inside. I cut it to 15 1/4" because I have an underwear pattern (from That Darn Kat on Etsy) that says that is the length for 4T and it seems to work for him.

I used half of a precut flannel wipe square from Wazoodle (8" by 8" with rounded edges) for the pockets, eyeballing his hand size (no need to wake the poor fella').

 To make the pockets, I first cut the square in half, then half again (to make 4 pockets). I took each of the smallest pieces and stitched around three sides. When it was time to sew the side seams of the pants, I placed them two inches from the top, and stitched the first 2". Then I stitched each side of the pockets separately, making sure what would be shown from the front was a nice seam and all raw edges stayed inside. Then I stitched down the rest of the leg. I have been double-stitching pants lately, finishing the edges with a zig zag (you could also use a serger). When finishing these side seams, I went down the 2", then around the pockets, then down the leg.

Just like Daddy!

He seems to like them, although the pressure from his hands was taking the pants down a little at the waist and we had to tug them up a few times.

I also made two other pairs of pants with pockets.  The one on the left is sweatshirt fleece and the other is cotton.  The white one has pockets on both upper thighs and a pocket on each side of the rear.  I finished the pockets and hem with a zig zag (and no turning), creating a bit of a lettuce edge.  These were the pants he insisted on wearing this morning, although he got a, "she is so cute!" this morning (we paired it with a Patriots sweatshirt and Raiders hat-- not the most feminine, I thought).

The last pair was set to be his favorite (guess who chose the material).  Hard cotton makes the pattern sit a little tighter across his legs, which is ok because he doesn't fill them out, but the pockets were too low!  They have been sent back to mommy's office for re-working.

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