I’m so excited to share this Cedar Pants front pocket hack with you! The front pockets give these a more traditional jeans look, and is pretty easy to do, especially if you’ve already made your own jeans. In this tutorial, I share how to hack the Cedar Pants by Leila Makes to have front pockets by using the pocket pieces from the Matchbook Jeans by Daughter Judy, and show step-by-step how to sew the front pockets.
If this is your first time working with denim, or making jeans, you may want to check out my article How To Sew Jeans where I share my helpful tips for working with denim and an overview of the process of making a pair of jeans. I also have a review for the Matchbook Jeans if you’re wanting to sew a more traditional pair of jeans.
Below is a Table of Contents if you want to skip around to certain steps:
The Pattern
The pattern I’m hacking in this tutorial, is the Cedar Pants by Leila Makes. I wasn’t sure if this pattern was for me, but bought the pattern anyway when it released. The multitude of pockets are really cool and practical, but I wondered if I would like it on myself. I really like the style of the Rudy Jude Big Baby Utility Jeans, so I thought I could hack the Cedars to look similar – they already have the elastic back – so I decided to go for it and make a Rudy Jude inspired pair of jeans.
At the time, I had recently made the Matchbook Jeans by Daughter Judy, and thought I could used the pocket pieces from those to hack front pockets on the Cedar Pants. It worked! Love how this first pair turned out and I wear these quite a bit – the elastic back is really comfortable and I love the shape of the legs.
I picked the Matchbook Jeans pocket pieces because the front pocket opening is slightly larger than the Worship Jeans, which I have also made. I also like how the pockets are anchored at the center front to keep them from bunching up. You could also use the pocket pieces from another jeans pattern, or try and draft your own using the measurements I provide for each pocket piece.
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Some Things You’ll Need
- Paper to trace on – I just used regular printer paper
- I’m using my trusty 12″ x 24″ quilting ruler throughout this tutorial
- Measuring tape
- Coordinating all purpose thread
- Fabric scissors
- Fabric and notions required needed to sew the Cedar Pants in your size.
For reference, I made a size 10 for both pairs (waist: 29.5″, hip: 39.5″), and I used denim for both of my Cedar Pants. The dark pair are made from a 10oz non-stretch indigo denim from Blackbird Fabrics and I’m wearing them with a Liliana Dress hacked as a top. The floral pair are made from a floral denim from Hobby Lobby (unsure of the weight…maybe an 8oz?) and a Laurence Top.
Let’s get started!
Step 1: Prepare Pocket Pattern Pieces
Let’s start by getting the pocket pattern pieces ready. There’s a few steps, but hang in there, it’s not hard!
Like I mentioned above, I’m using the Matchbook Jeans pocket pattern pieces to use as a guide when tracing. The pattern pieces I’m using are the front pocket facing, palm pocket bag, and knuckle pocket bag, and the front pant piece.
Front Pant Piece
Start by tracing the Cedar Pants front pant piece onto new paper. This helps preserve the original pattern piece in case you need to go back to it. You don’t need to trace the entire front pant piece, just trace down to about 3″ past the front crotch curve (I traced down to the first notch on at the center front). Transfer all markings as well.
Take the Matchbook Jeans (or other jeans pattern) front pant, and place it over the newly traced Cedar Pants front pant piece (you can also used the front knuckle pattern piece for this). Trace the curved line at the top – this will be the opening for the pocket. Keep the area past the curved pocket opening there for now, we will cut that part out later.
Measurements: The top right of the pocket opening starts 4 5/8″ from the side, and the bottom left of the pocket opening starts 2 1/2″ from the waist.
Cut around the outside of this new Cedar Pants front pattern piece. We’ll be using this again, and tracing it a couple more times to make the pocket pieces.
Palm Pocket Bag
We’re going to start by making the palm pocket bag piece. This pocket piece faces the palm of your hand when in the pocket, and we’re going to extend the center front to reach all the way to the center front of the Cedar Pants. This anchors the pocket, and keeps it from bunching up when wearing.
Measurements: The center front of the palm pocket measures about 4 1/4″ and the side measures 9″ down from the waist. The bottom curve connects those two measurements to form the pocket.
Take the Cedar Pants front pant piece and trace it onto a new sheet of paper. You don’t need to trace all the way down, just enough that the palm pocket bag piece will fit.
Place the palm pocket piece on top, lining up along the corner where the waist and side meet. Make sure the keep the shape of the waist and side the same, and just borrow the bottom curve of the palm pocket piece. You could also freehand this line by using the pocket piece measurements provided above.
Extend the palm pocket piece all the way to the center front and side of the Cedar Pants (see photos below).
You now have a palm pocket bag pattern piece! Transfer any notches, label your pattern piece, and cut it out.
Front Pocket Facing
The front pocket facing is the piece of fabric, cut from the main fabric, that sits behind the pocket opening at the top of the pants. The shape of the bottom curve of this piece doesn’t matter too much, it just needs to be big enough that it doesn’t show from the opening of the pocket.
Measurements: The front pocket facing measures about 6 1/4″ along the waist, and 6″ along the side.
Trace along the side and waist of the Cedar Pants pant front again onto a new sheet of paper.
Take the front pocket pattern piece, and line it up along the side and waist of the newly traced Cedar Pant front piece. Trace along the lower curve line, extending it to the side seam as needed. You can also draft your own pocket facing pattern piece using the measurements provided above.
Label and cut out the front pocket facing pattern piece.
Knuckle Pocket Bag
This is the last pocket piece, the knuckle pocket bag! This pocket piece faces your knuckles when your hand is in the pocket, and the top curve should match the pocket opening curve.
Measurements: At the waist, the knuckle pocket bag measures 2 3/4″, and the side measures 6 1/2″ down from the pocket opening. The bottom curve follows the same curve as the palm pocket piece, but then stops and goes almost straight up to the waist.
You can now cut out along the front curve of the Cedar Pants front pant piece – we need that front pocket curve to make the knuckle pocket bag. Trace the front pant piece one last time onto a new piece of paper, tracing along the side, front pocket curve, and a little bit of the waist.
Place the knuckle pocket piece on top, lining up along the front pocket curve. Trace along the curve, extending the line to the side as needed. You can also draft your own knuckle pocket bag piece using the measurements provided above.
Check Pocket Piece Curves
After drawing out all your pocket pieces, I suggest double checking that the bottom curve of the knuckle and palm pocket bags line up.
Place the knuckle pocket bag on top of the palm pocket bag, lining them up at the waist. If needed, trim off either of the bottom curves of the pockets to make sure that they’re the same.
You have finished all your pocket pieces!
Tape On New Front Pant Piece
Take the new Cedar Pants front pant piece and place it on top of the original pattern piece. Make sure everything is lined up along the waist, side, and center front. Tape on the new pattern piece at the bottom – I used washi tape so it’s easy to remove later.
Fold back the original Cedar Pants piece to expose the new front pocket curve.
Step 2: Cut Out Pattern From Fabric
You can now cut out the new Cedar Pants front pant piece, and the rest of the pieces you’ll need. I skipped the double fronts and all of the pockets for this version, except the new front pockets of course, and added some back pockets.
Cut the knuckle and palm pocket bags from a lining fabric. I recommend something lightweight, because the part of the pocket that extends to the center front will be sewn into the zipper, and you don’t really want any extra bulk there. The front pocket facing is cut from the main fabric – make sure to cut a mirrored pair.
Step 3: Time To Sew!
I will only be going through the steps to add the front pocket, but follow the Cedar Pants instructions to assemble the rest of your pants.
Sewing The Front Pocket
Start by finishing all the curved edges of the pocket and facing pieces with a serger (or zig-zag stitch).
Take the pocket facing pieces, and place them right side up on the palm pocket pieces. Make sure the pieces are lined up at the corner where the waist and side meet – I usually place a few pins here to keep the facing from moving. Pin around the curve of the pocket facing, and then sew in place with 1/4″ seam allowance.
Take the knuckle pocket pieces and pin them right sides together on the front pant pieces (or wrong sides together if you want the right side of the fabric to show on the inside of your pants). Line up along the curves at the pocket opening, and pin in place. Sew with a 1/2″ seam allowance.
Clip into the curve in a few places. Press the knuckle pocket pieces away from the front pant, and then fold them over to the wrong side. Press again, making sure that the pocket doesn’t show from the right side.
Topstitch along the curve of the pocket openings, first at 1/4″ and then again at 3/8″ from the edge.
Following the Cedar Pants instructions, add interfacing to the center front of both front pant pieces.
I had forgotten to do this, so I had to unpick the palm pocket to add the interfacing in.
Now take the pocket facing pieces and place them behind the front pant pieces. If you made notches, those should be lining up, but you can make do without notches by just making sure the pocket pieces lay flat, and are lined up along the side and the waist. Pin the pockets in place, but don’t baste yet.
Line up the bottoms of the palm and knuckle pockets, and pin along the curves and the center front. Make sure the pocket pieces are laying flat and adjust as needed.
With the front pant pieces moved out of the way, and the knuckle pocket pieces facing up, sew along the edge of the knuckle pockets with 1/4″ seam allowance.
Now it’s time to baste along the side, waist, and center front to keep the pocket facings and pocket pieces in places. You may need to readjust and re-pin if anything shifted while sewing the pocket bags.
If you have any extra pocket peeking out at the center front, you can just trim that off.
The front pockets are now done! You can now continue on with the rest of the Cedar Pants instructions as written.
I hope you found this tutorial helpful and would love to hear if you used it to hack your own Cedar Pants. Thanks for reading!
Happy sewing 🙂
