Making Pants’ Pockets Longer- The Easy Way

Sometimes it’s the little things. Over the years, I’ve found many different ways to hack clothes and make them more functional. Today I made my husband’s awkwardly shallow pants pockets, into very roomy ones. It was quite simple and quick. So if your cell phone is falling out of your too small pockets or you just like to stand all cool-like with your hands in your pockets and are being foiled by the jean’s manufacturer (What were they thinking!?) follow along and I’ll show you how I did it.

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Making Pants' Pockets Longer

Tutorial

1. Using a seam ripper undo the seam at the bottom of the disdained dysfunctional pocket. Also undo a bit of where it is sewn to the side seam of the jeans.

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2. Cut a donor pocket from another pair of pants. I used jeans that I’d kept for crafting because they had too many holes. Make sure that the donor pockets are as wide or wider than the ones you need to add length to. Cut as much off the end of each pocket as you can while keeping the cut straight all the way around. Also cut the end of the pocket loose from the side seam, and un-stitch the inner jean pocket from it with the seam ripper if needed.

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cut off as much as you can of a donor pocket

make sure it is at least as wide as the pocket you need to extend.

3. Match the 2 pocket edges together, with inside sides together, and sew with zigzag stitch close to the edge. Trim any extra. You can iron the seam flat or iron and hand tack it down with some stitches if you’re concerned about the bulk bothering you.

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frankenpocket…

4. Trim off any extra pocket at the side seams, then sew the pocket to the edge of the side seam again.

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Done! It won’t look pretty when your pants are inside out, so use another pair if you ever go somewhere where you need to wear all your clothes inside out… like a crazy inside-out party or something… I don’t know. But now your cell phone should stay put and your hands will be happier.

Just a quick debate here you may be able to help me settle. I was shocked when my husband agreed to model the jeans for me, but even more shocked when he put his hands into his pockets like this:

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Who does that?! Hands all the way in the pockets? No thumb out? So, let me ask you to help settle the question. He claims only models stand like this with their hands in their pockets:

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Who is right? What do you think?

Also, I have been wanting but waiting to blog about the machine I’m sewing on today. It’s my latest vintage find and has many bells and whistles. But I’m still working on a couple of it’s more fun features. 🙂

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