How to Sew Pants: Two Dozen Free Patterns and Tutorials

sewing pants

Need to cover your butt?

I’ve got you covered! Check out this list of my favorite free pants patterns and tutorials. To make the project even freer, use your own stash fabric or upcycle fabric from other clothing or housewares. Fun fact: vintage sheets make THE BEST pajama pants on the planet!

1. How To Draft A Pants Pattern

If you have any desire to draft your own patterns, or even modify any of the patterns below, then start here! Drafting a basic pants pattern isn’t as hard as you think it will be.

2. Bell Bottom Yoga Pants

You do use your own pants as a pattern here, but you’ll make a LOT of modifications to turn them into bell bottoms!

3. Children’s Fleece Pants

These are a great choice for cold weather! The free downloadable pattern covers sizes 3m-8.

4. Children’s Elastic-Waisted Pants

This is a good basic pattern for kids’ pants. Change out the fabrics and patterns, and you could make your kid’s entire bottom-weight wardrobe from just this pattern. It covers sizes 6m-5.

5. Children’s Pajama Pants

When working with cotton fabric (vintage sheets are terrific for this!), try this pattern instead of the fleece one above. It covers sizes 6m-8.

6. Drawstring Pants

Does Martha Stewart even wear drawstring pants? She’s at least got this pattern and tutorial so that YOU can wear them!

7. Color Block Pants

https://www.instagram.com/p/fqAA1gnXN5/

Turn two pairs of identical pants in different colors into two different pairs of pants that are BOTH colors!

8. Harem Sweatpants

To build the pattern for these pants, you start with a comfortable pair of shorts, but after you’ve raised the waist, dropped the crotch, and added the legs, nobody will ever be able to tell that you didn’t start from a paper pattern!

9. Lounge Pants

You have to follow a completely different tutorial to make your pants pattern before you even start the tutorial for these lounge pants, but all of the clever, comfy details in these pants are worth the extra work.

10. Knit Lounge Pants

This tutorial has a couple of flaws–there’s only one size to the pattern and the author doesn’t say WHAT that size is, and the comments section is all spam and people begging to know what size the pattern is. But the fact that there is, indeed, a free downloadable, printable pattern makes up for it if that pattern happens to fit you! Eyeball the model to approximate size, and if you make it and it fits, let all the poor people who commented know what size it is!

11. Maternity Pants Conversion

This isn’t a pants-from-scratch tutorial, but instead a tutorial to turn a traditional pair of pants into a pair of maternity pants.

12. Linen Culottes

Linen is actually a super sustainable fabric, and we should all be replacing much of our cotton consumption with it. These DIY linen culottes will give you a start!

13. Pajama Pants In Every Size

These wide-legged lounge pants have a free downloadable and printable pattern for every size from XXS to XXL.

14. Paper Bag Pants

A drawstring waist makes these pants quite comfortable, and a free downloadable and printable pattern mean that you can make these pants for someone else without having to crawl all around them with a tape measure first!

15. Shirred Waist Pajama Pants

If you’re looking for something a little different, check out this tutorial, which includes instructions for creating a shirred waistband.

16. Sweatpants

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsTe3H8HmJM/

Here’s a traditional sweatpants pattern that comes in sizes 6-24.

17. Tapered Tracksuit Pants

This is a free downloadable and printable pattern, although you do have to figure out how to print it on A4 paper.

18. Toddler T-Shirt Pants

My favorite thing about sewing for children is upcycling T-shirts into fun, comfortable clothing for them! The size for this pattern is technically a 3T, but kids that age vary so much and T-shirts are so stretchy that it’s worth measuring the pattern for yourself if your kid is anywhere near-ish that size.

19. Woven Jogger Pants

Lose the sweatshirt fabric but keep the comfort!

20. Wrap Pants

There’s still some sewing involved, but the trick of these pants is in the wrapping!

21. Vintage High-Waisted Pants

https://www.instagram.com/p/Be001YVlMUW/

The only time that I include a tutorial that involves tracing clothes you already own is when the tutorial then goes on to alter that pattern substantially. That’s the case here, where a traditional pair of pants is completely transformed into something that looks delightfully vintage.

22. Wide-Legged Yoga Pants

The interesting thing about this pants pattern is that it’s made by overlapping and sewing two rectangles together. It’s an interesting method, resulting in pants that look great while you’re doing yoga!

23. Yoga Pants

Even if you never do yoga, you still need yoga pants! This free pdf pattern comes in sizes XS-XL.

24. Zoot Suit Pants

These pants have a very unusual fit, reminiscent of old zoot suit bottoms.

Need even more ideas to cover your butt? Check out all my favorite free leggings patterns and tutorials!

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