How to Sew PANTS!

Wondering How to Sew Pants? Here’s a tutorial using something you already have as a pattern… pants!


See we make boy stuff! I can’t believe we’ve never posted any pants. It kind of makes me feel bad for boys, all never being able to wear dresses. Or I guess it makes me feel bad for moms of boys, HA kidding! Boys are great, you’re so lucky, yadda yadda 😉

Anyhoo, I made these for Scarlet with a flat front, but that’s not required, this is just your basic how-to-make-pants beginner tutorial. You can totally do this. You can even make some pajama pants for dad if you have enough fabric. Flannel lounge pants would be so comfy. Easy Peasy.

Get the full How to Sew Baby & Toddler Pants Tutorial after the jump…


How to Sew Pants for Babies and Toddlers
These pants are made with lovely Majestic Oak cotton fabric in Grass by Joel Dewberry.

Instructions for How to Sew Pants!

1. First you need to make yourself a pants pattern. That’s easy! Grab a pair of pants that fits your wearer and fold them in half. Lay them on the wrong side of your fabric against the fold (or if you’re smart you’ll do it on freezer paper or butcher paper so you can save the pattern pieces)

Now trace, adding about 1/2″ to the sides, and inch or so to the bottom of the leg, and about an inch and half at the top. Make sure you stretch the waist out when you’re tracing that area so you have enough fabric:

2. Cut that out. Trace it into your fabric again and cut another piece:

3. Now you’ll have two pieces. Lay them right sides facing so they are all lined up and pin the curved edges like so:

With a sewing machine, Sew the curves up with a 1/4″ seam allowance and finish the edge by serging, sewing with a zig zag stitch, or cutting with pinking shears.

4. Now with your pieces still inside out, bring the seams to the center and pin the inside of the leg pieces together at the crotch seam:

Sew them with a 1/4″ seam allowance and finish the edges:

Are you with us so far? You almost know How to Sew Pants!

7. Now let’s hem our pant legs. This is a good time to try your pants on your model if your model will allow it. Fold in 1/4″ and iron, then another 1/2″ and iron, then sew in place all the way around:

8. Now you just want to check the height of your waist. You’re going to use about 1.25 to 1.5 inches to create your elastic casing, so if you cut your pants too high to fit your kid, you can trim them now (or try on your model, that never hurts, though it’s almost never realistic that they will model for you, i know).
I added some grommets, which you can skip, or you can use to create simple drawstring pants. However these pants are just faux-drawstring:

Fold the waist down 1/4″ or 1/2″ and iron:

Then fold down another inch and iron:

Sew your casing in place at the edge with a straight stitch all the way around, leaving a hole near the front seam, back stitching at beginning and end:

Now you have options.

9. If you added grommets you can run a drawstring all the way around and just have drawstring pants. If you didn’t add grommets you can run a strip of elastic (about 2.5″ longer then your kid’s waist measurement) all the way around and have basic elastic waist pants. For these I did a flat front with a faux (decorative) drawstring tie. To do this, grab a piece of 3/4″ no-roll elastic (no-roll is not required but WAY more comfy for your kid and much more pleasing to take in and out of the dryer without having to mess with the waistband to get it to lay flat). It should be about 2.5″ longer than half the measurement around your child’s waist. Feed the elastic waistband through the casing with a safety pin, all the way around and out the other side:

Push all the gathers to the back of the pants before releasing the end of the elastic. Get it settled in the middle of the back of the casing, then sew it in place perpendicular to the casing seam:

So now your pants look like this:

If you didn’t add grommets, go ahead and sew the hole closed and you’re done.
I added a tie with some fabric pom poms I hand sewed to it:

DONE!

Once you master this basic trousers project, you could add pockets, buttons, belt loops or even a zipper. You could also try a lightweight denim or linen fabric.

So just a note: the thing about pants is, they require a better fit than say, a skirt. So your first try, your pants might fit a little funky, be too tight on the thighs or bunch at the waist. That’s okay. You know your kid, you know his/her body, just make a few adjustments and create a new pattern that you know will look good on them. Like my friend Anna says, her kid can’t wear skinny jeans. Scarlet can’t rock capris. Make a few pairs and you’ll know exactly what fit is comfortable and flattering for your kid forever on, your kid will get bigger but the pants style will stay the same. So don’t be discouraged if your first pair isn’t perfect, it never is. OK, GO MAKE SOME PANTS!


oh, and then send us a picture.

If you are looking for more sewist projects for boys:

Reversible Baby Vest Tutorial w/ FREE Pattern

How to Sew A Bow Tie

Boy’s Brief Swimsuit: Baby Sunga! Free Pattern and Tutorial

DIY John John – Yay for boy stuff!

How to Sew a Cardigan Onesie

DIY Knight’s Tunic

How to Sew Pajamas from a T-Shirt

How to Turn a T-Shirt into Striped Jersey Shorts

Published June 2010, Updated October 2022

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74 Comments

I Wanna Try

Oh boy, oh boy…I want to make some of these for me, they look ubber comfy! Love the fabric, they add that extra touch to make them look like a lazy Saturday pair of lounge pants.

Reply
Marie Fo

Great, really ! I will make one for my baby… girl, because girls can wear dresses AND pants, how lucky !
By the way, I also published on my blog a tuto for a sarouel, very easy to make.

http://lesideesdedaphne.blogspot.com/

Just wonderful for babies… and so comfy. I will publish my pattern this week-end…

Thanks again !
Marie Fo from France

Reply
Kelsey

You have done it again and amazed me!!!! I love those pants and the tie with fabric pom pom's is adorable!!! Great tutorial and I will FOR SURE be making some of these for my toddler…and little girl who's due in 2 weeks!!!

Reply
Sandy a la Mode

YES! i am going to make some pants for myself!!! and maybe a pair for my nephew too, GREAT TUTORIAL! i will try this weekend, just gotta find some soft fabrics!!

Reply
Cheryl @ Sew Can Do

Thanks for the grommet idea for the drawstring. I HATE doing buttonholes but love drawstrings, so now I've got a quick & dirty way to have that look and it's way easier!!

Reply
Marie Fo

Thank you Jaime! actually, "sarouel" must be a specific word for these specific pants (like the one Jasmina wears in Aladdin !). It is used in French. How would you say in English?

Reply
NicsMommy

Im glad you posted this, I have been hoping you would do something for the moms like me who happen to only have a boy to dress…its nice looking at all the girl stuff i may never get to make. so this makes me really happy because my little man grows out of his pants too fast and these are seemingly easy to make

Keep the boy stuff coming PLEASE!!!

Reply
Sarah

It's 12:30 am… and I just {nearly} finished off my first pair of prudent pants for my daugher! what a fab tutorial – they turned out lovely! i'm off to the craft store tomorrow for the elastic and grommets to finish them off. thanks so much!

Reply
Poists

I made these for my son last night. Used a great blue print that I had bought with the hope of finding something to do with it.
He LOVED them and now wants pirate and cowboy ones.
Thanks!

Reply
Jaimie

I'm hoping to start some of these either tonight or tomorrow. We leave for vacation on Friday, but I'd like some extra comfy pants, as it is summer and we only have shorts really.

Reply
Jennifer

I made a pair for my son and daughter (4 & 2). I also made shirts to match. Thank-you so much for the tutorial, it was so easy to follow and I am still in awe that I could make pants!

Reply
Happy Homemaker And Momma

I love these!!! And ya-I have a boy-it is kinda hard-there are so many cute girly things..but dressing up a boy? Tie and shirt and dress pants-I have made a vest-but still….I so want a girl!!
(not that my boy isn't wonderful..but ya know…yadda yadda;))

Reply
Aubrey

My son's 3rd 'pirate' birthday party is on Saturday. I looked everywhere online for some reasonably priced pirate pants and vests for my boys (soon-to-be-3 and 4 years old). I had no luck. Then, I changed gears and found a post that showed me how to make the pirate vests with no sewing. The only thing that I have ever sewn was a pillow cover in home ec in the 6th grade, so it was right up my alley. I still didn't know what I was going to do about the pants, and almost gave up on that part of the costume until I found this post. I just made my first two pair of pants today! Yeah me! I am so proud of myself and so thankful for your wonderful and easy-to-follow tutorial. Thank you so much for helping this momma feel empowered to be creative in a whole new way. (BTW… I love the music on your site. If you don't mind my asking, from where do you stream it? Thanks.) –Aubrey

Reply
Aubrey

(Sorry about the music question. It was from another site. It is almost 1:30AM where I am, so hopefully you will give me a free pass on this one.) — Thanks again for the wonderful tutorial!

Reply
Cap Creations

Thanks for this. I am actually trying them right now. I am a newbie at sewing and have one question. Is there absolutely no elastic at all in the flat front area? Thank you again!

Reply
Angelina

I just wanted to share that my tot loves the trousers I based on this tutorial – as ever I can’t help but go off pattern a bit but the simplicity of it was brilliant and I used up a small piece of fabric I bought in error for a cushion (slightly wrong shade of blue). Anyway I have just started a bloghttp://handmadewithhappiness.blogspot.co.uk/ and have linked this as the world just needs to know…you can make these in a nap time! Yay! And thank you 🙂

Reply
cut. craft. sew

[…] are a TON of pajama pant tutorials on the Internet and Pinterest.  Here is one that is the closest to what I did but I did elastic for the waistband.  Easy-peasy. […]

Reply
Crunchy Con Mommy

Super cute! I’ve been wanting to make PJ pants for my son, and I even bought fabric and a pattern from the store and just have been scared to try it…what’s wrong with me??? lol. Anyway, I have a feeling some tiny pants may appear under the Christmas tree this year 😉

Reply
Julie Stark

They look super comfy, I am going to make one for me too. I also think it will be a great template for a boy’s black dutch pants. Thanks for sharing!

Reply
Ohana

[…] a yummy breakfast, in a pair of comfortable pajamas, on a slow day? I made Hana these adorable pajama bottoms and she couldn’t be happier. Perfect for little hands, I made mini pancake bites and mini […]

Reply
Belinda

Thank you so much for posting this tutorial, I just made a pair of pants for my little girl. I’m not much of a sewer but you easy to follow instructions and photos made it so easy, they actually turned out really well and look like pants for once!

Reply
Linda

Thank you very much for this photo w/ text tutorial. Made a pants for my daughter using this tutorial, it came out just right!
I just started sewing and this was not that hard.
I’m gonna make some more….
Again, thank you very much!

Reply
srividya

Hi Jaime,
This Is the first time i have made something after seeing it in a tutorial. your tutorial is great and simple. i have made pants before but have never serged the seams so the seams rip open after some time which is awful and shows poorly on my sewing so i got discouraged. your tut taught me how to do it neatly. Thanks a lot.

Reply
Laura

Thank you so much, just finished my daughters first trousers using your instructions fab thank you 🙂

Reply
Louise

Thank you for your easy tutorial I have just made the most amazing pair of camoflage pants for my little boy cannot believe how good they look! Have only took up sewing this summer too!

Reply
samantha

sweet thankyou! might make some today – pair for 2 year old and matching pair for daddy and imminent baby 😀 x+x-x

Reply
karungi Susan

Thank you it is so so beautiful, i have ever done some sewing but i didnt finish the course but i would like to resume and the problem is no machine to use, am a single mum of three kids, from Kampala-Uganda, East Africa.
i really liked your creativity thank you.

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Emma

I want to thank you for a fantastic, easy to follow tutorial. I am new to making clothes and I thought that I would give this ago for my daughter using a pillow case, I do not have a sewing machine but i still managed to finish them in a week (I only get to sew in the evenings once she is in bed. They turned out wonderfully and I was even asked where i got them from. Thank you again.

Reply
Miriam

I can’t sew well at all. I always think I can though! I decided tonight that my 18 month old needed green pants (other than the ones we have!) for her Halloween costume so I made her some tonight with this tutorial. They aren’t perfect, by any means, but I’m excited that I could make some pants for her! I’m looking forward to getting better at it and making more. Thanks!

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Ana de Cuevas

Love the pants! Please I need something that explain how to make a blouse. Thanks!!

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