Free Footed Baby Pants Pattern
This free footed baby pants pattern will quickly become one that you find yourself sewing over and over again! If you hate trying to keep socks on a baby’s feet as much as I did when my babies were, well, babies, you’ll love these little pants. They were my favorite pants to put Hattie in when she was a newborn, and have now been one of my favorite DIY baby gifts to make for years!
These DIY baby pants are super comfy and will keep a baby’s feet nice and toasty. It’s a baby pants pattern that’s quick to sew up and is such a satisfying sew.
The footed baby pants pattern is sized for newborns, from 6-10lbs (Hattie was just over 10lbs in these pics and they still fit quite well).
And as I mentioned, they also make a great DIY baby gift! To mix it up, pair them with some knee patch baby pants, some DIY burp cloths, or even a sweet baby dress, and you’ll have a gift that any new or expecting mom will love. Or just make a pile of these footed baby pants and she’ll be just as thrilled!
I ordered the fabric for these cute animal print, floral, and camo pants from my favorite online fabric shop, Raspberry Creek Fabrics (affiliate link). All three are french terry and are sooo soft! You may even recognize the camo from my free cowl neck hoodie pattern, and I have plans for one out of the animal print next ;).
In 6 easy steps, you’ll have a pair whipped up in no time.
Baby Pants Pattern
What you’ll need: (contains affiliate links)
4 way stretch knit fabric with 50% stretch (french terry is one of my favorites) – 1/2 yd will be enough for several pairs of pants – but you might as well buy some extra for a Seafarer or Skipper Top ;)
1″ elastic – 14″ in length – Tip: I like to buy large rolls of elastic like these – it saves a ton of money, and makes it a rare occurrence to run out of elastic!
Download the baby pants pattern HERE and print it at 100%, ensuring the 1″ test square is printed correctly, and tape pages together along markings. Please remember this pattern is for PERSONAL USE ONLY.
*When cutting pattern pieces out, fold fabric in half and cut each set of 2 front/back pieces at once through both layers. This will result in mirror images of each front/back piece.*
*Use a serger or a long zig zag stitch to allow the fabric to stretch once sewn. Always use a ball point needle when sewing knits.*
*All seam allowances are 3/8″ unless otherwise noted.*
After many requests, new in 2020 is a full video tutorial below to teach you how to make this baby pants pattern! If you’d prefer, you can also catch it HERE on our YouTube channel as well.
Scroll on for the original illustration tutorial if that’s more your style!
1. Right sides together, pin and stitch each foot (top) piece to each pant front at ankle curve, matching ankle marks and stretching ankle curve to fit foot piece. The convex curve on the pant front ankle will stretch outward to fit the foot top piece.
2. Right sides together, stitch each front piece to each back piece at inseams and outseams.
3. Right sides together, place one pant leg inside the other, matching raw edges of front and back crotch curves. Pin and stitch crotches together with one continuous seam, from top of front to top of back (or vice versa).
4. Turn each pant leg wrong side out. Right sides together, pin each sole piece to bottom of each leg opening, matching heel and toe marks. Stitch together, stretching bottom of leg opening as needed to fit curves of sole.
5. Overlap ends of 1″ wide elastic (14″ in length) 1/2″, and secure together using zig zag stitch. Mark both elastic and top of pants in quarters and pin together, matching quarter marks and placing elastic close to raw edge of top of pants. Stretching elastic to fit top of pants, stitch elastic to pants with zig zag stitch, 1/4″ from top raw edge.
6. Fold elastic and top of pants toward wrong side of pants. Stitch top folded edge in place by zig zag stitching around folded edge (stretching elastic to fit), close to edge of elastic.
And that’s it! A cute, quick pair of DIY baby pants that will guarantee snuggly toes :).
Make sure to tag @sewmuchado on Instagram and show off your cute creations with this baby pants pattern!
Thanks so much Abby!! I’m planning to bust a couple of these out for my currently pregnant friends ;)
My granddaughter is having twins in Feb. This pattern will be just the thing I can whip up for her now. Love the idea of keeping the feet covered. Thank You soo much!
That is awesome, congrats!! Great grandma x2, so exciting!
These are SOO cute!! I’ve got a Craft Gossip post scheduled for this evening that links to your post:
http://sewing.craftgossip.com/free-pattern-footed-baby-pants/2014/05/08/
–Anne
Thanks for doing this! I have lots of babies being born around me, so this will come in handy.
Love this! I am going to be having a boy in September so this will be perfect!
These are so cute! Thank you! And amazing work on the illustrations. :)
Thanks! Looks so cute!!!!
I love this pattern but I can’t get the pattern to open. I also can’t find the pdf format. I would love to make these baby pants.
Lynda
I have been looking EVERYWHERE for a pattern like this! I have #2 on the way and despiiiise baby socks!
Wow I wish a million times over I had sent his pattern 6 months ago. Its so hard to find these in the store and I LOVE them, socks on a baby really never works!
Hooray! I love footed pants too and have been too intimidated to try to make my own pattern. My little girl just got to 10 lbs so I’m glad you mentioned that they still fit well. I bet I could just make the elastic a smidge bigger and they’ll fit even longer; her legs are short so I’m sure length will be no problem :) Thanks for sharing!!
Baby #2 is coming in October so these will be perfect! I am going to scale it a little bigger as big brother was over 9 lbs when he was born. We are hoping for smaller, but you never know! :) thanks again for the free pattern!
These are super, I have always loved “footy-pants” as my kids used to call them! Just made a pair for my first grandchild, so delighted! They make so much more sense than “babygrows” which have to be changed entirely (so often!) for wetting etc, only half of bub needs to be changed that often!
PS Is there an easy way to increase the size? Mine are tiny, newborn..but my next pair I want to try bigger! Thanks.
I wonder if they would fit a newborn who wears cloth diapers?
Yes they do!
Just made these footed baby pants for a present for a gal at work. They came out so stinkin’ cute! Paired it with a little shirt from Sew Baby pattern. I think it turned out perfect. Thanks for sharing!
The link wouldn’t open for me :(
Hi Erica, the link is working for me, and quite a few others have successfully accessed the pattern today, so it may be an issue with your computer’s settings. The link should take you to Craftsy where you’ll be able to download the pattern for free. Let me know if you have any questions or still have troubles!
I tried opening it again still nothing it does open a new blank page and this is in the url spot on top http://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=253536&m=29190&u=1071485&afftrack=&urllink=www%2Ecraftsy%2Ecom%2Fpattern%2Fsewing%2Fclothing%2Ffooted-baby-pants%2F132440&lplid=16184 but it never load it just pops up blank and stays that way I tried opening it in my google chrome browser and explorer didn’t work in either for me
That is so strange. The link is still working fine for me, and the pattern has been downloaded many times this week, so I’m still guessing it’s something to do with your computer. You can try going to Craftsy.com and searching for the pattern in the top right search bar, and it should pop up that way!
ok thank you I will try that :)
Super cute! I have a grandson due very soon & will add these to the sew list. Thanks for the pattern & tutorial!
I can’t figure out how to fit the pieces together! I’ve been sitting here for 25 mins trying to fit the foot to the front piece, and after I couldn’t figure that out, I tried fitting the front and back pieces together like the picture, and it just doesn’t fit together like that, even when I try to fit the paper template pieces together. I don’t get it! Help me please!
Hi Kayleigh! First, I would double check that you are printing the pieces at 100% and not scaling them. Also, be sure you are opening and printing the file from Adobe Reader (other programs such as Mac Preview are notorious for printing issues). When fitting the foot to the front ankle, the front ankle will have to stretch to fit the curve of the top foot piece. Also, make sure you cut your pieces with the greatest degree of stretch going the correct direction (as indicated on the pattern pieces), or it will be tricky to fit them together. Hope that helps!
I am having the same problem. When you mean stretch I am still not understanding. Do you have a video on you tube of this>
Hi Lisa! The concave curve of the bottom of the ankle will need to stretch to fit the convex curve of the foot top piece.
I’m having trouble with this part as well. So the whole one side of the ankle piece has to fit within the little curved cut out area on the front leg pieces? Thanks.
Yes, you are correct! The inverted curve on the front of the leg bottom will need to stretch to fit the convex curve of the top of the foot piece. It looks a bit funny before it’s sewn, but will make sense once you see it finished!
Just wondering how much stretch is needed in the fabric? I have some 100%cotton knit which is a one way stretch, maybe 25%stretch and not sure if this will work or if i need a fabric with a bit more give.
Hi Claire! 40-50% stretch would be ideal, but you may be able to get away with 30% as well. 25% would probably not give quite enough stretch, and might make it difficult when sewing the feet to the bottom of the pants, as the curves have to stretch a fair amount to fit eachother. I hope that helps!
How hard would it be to scale this pattern up for older kids or an adult? Any idea how would I go about doing it? My 3 and 7 yr old would love to have some and I wouldn’t mind having some footed pants for myself in the winter. I would use jiffy grip for the sole piece so no one slips and falls.
Hi! Because the body does not grow proportionately from a baby to a 3 or 7 year old or adult, I wouldn’t recommend scaling this pattern up, as you wouldn’t get the proper fit. I think it would save you some time to use an existing pattern for those sizes, and alter them to add the foot pieces. I know that Peek-a-Boo Patternshop has a pattern for footie pajamas that you could probably alter into just pants as well. Hope that helps!
Hi, I love these tiny pants! They are adorable! I was wondering if you could scale them up to make a pair size 3-6 months? Thank you!
Hi Lindsey! If you just scale them up percentage wise, they won’t be proportionately correct, so I wouldn’t recommend that. I haven’t graded them into larger sizes yet, but it is a thought for the future as I’ve had many requests!
When you write “ensuring the 1″ test square is printed correctly” What do you mean by correctly? When I print it the Square is about 2,4 cm. Is that correct?
The 1″ test square will be 1″ on all sides when printed correctly, which is 2.54cm. If your square is 2.4cm when printed, I’d go back and double check your printer settings, and make sure it’s set to not scale when printing the pattern pieces. It doesn’t seem like a large difference, but it can make a large difference in the finished pattern if the pieces aren’t printed at the correct size. :)
I can’t thank you enough for making this pattern available. I’ve printed it off and tomorrow having a big cutting out session ready to make a few dozen leggings to give to newborn babies of refugee families in our area.
They are so nice. I would love to have them in more then one size…
Dear Abby, thanks for the tutorial and pattern. May I know the size of paper to print the pattern and can I use 100% cotton fabric to sew ? Thank you so much.
Hi Beryl! The pattern will print well on either letter or A4 sized paper. I wouldn’t recommend 100% cotton if it’s a woven and not a knit, as it has no stretch, and this pattern is designed for knit fabrics. The fit won’t be correct if you use a fabric without stretch :).
Do you also have this in a larger size? My little one is just over 12lbs Thanks
Hi! I haven’t graded this up to larger sizes yet, but it is on my to do list and will update this post if/when it gets done :). Thanks for asking!
Hi! Why am I having such a hard time attaching the top foot part to the front part of the pant? I feel like an idiot…but I’ve literally spent an hour trying to stretch my knit and get it to work together and it just won’t. I’m determined to make the pants though so I would love any advice or help!
Hi Ashley! It sounds like your fabric may not have quite enough stretch it you’re having trouble getting them to fit. If it does have a lot of stretch, I would double check that the greatest degree of stretch is going ACROSS the width of the pants – otherwise it will be very difficult to get the ankle and top of foot piece to fit each other. Let me know if that helps!
Thank you so much for this pattern! It is amazing and I can’t wait to dress my little girl in some cute little footed pants. :)
I just made these! Only took me about an hour from start to finish. Thanks for this pattern! I was a little intimidated by the toe at first but your instructions are great.
Step 3 is really unclear. When it says “stitch crotches together with one continuous seam” I thought that meant that 4 layers should be sewed together (which is incorrect – it’s only 2 layers). Then, something doesn’t work placing one leg inside the other. If both legs are wrong side out and one is placed inside the other, the order of the 4 layers is inside/inside/outside/outside, not inside/outside/inside/outside (like the graphic shows). One leg ends up the wrong direction when you open it up. The fact that step 4 says “turn legs wrong side out” makes me wonder if something in step 3 is supposed to be the opposite. I got it to work by placing both legs right side out and sewing one seam then flipping inside out to do the other.
Hi April! Sorry you’re having troubles, I’m happy to help clarify! I’m wondering if you missed the phrase “from top of front to top of back (or vice versa)” in step 3? If so, I could see why you might think all four layers would be stitched together. At the beginning of step 3, it instructs “right sides together”, so if you were placing both legs wrong sides out, it will not be correct (the inner leg will be right side out before it’s placed inside the other leg. Hope that helps!
Thank You for the pattern. I tried it today but suspect the pants may be too small for my 1 month old granddaughter. Do you have a larger version available?
Hi! This is presently the only size we offer. :)
Hi! I love the pants. Very quick and easy. However I have 1 question. The top of the back panel is higher than the front. I sewed the front to the back matching the crutches but the tops aren’t level. Am I doing something wrong? After sewing the crutches are we supposed to match the tops on the other side. Will this cause creases to form?
Hi Akua, I’m not sure if I’m understand correctly, but the back of the pants has a higher rise to accommodate a baby’s diaper. However, the side seams from the front and back should match up perfectly when sewn together, without any creases. The front and back crotches should not be sewn to each other, the two front pieces will be sewn together, and the two back pieces will be sewn together – does that help?
omg, I just stumbled on this site by mistake and I love it!!! I’m not a DIY type of person, but this site really makes me think I can be….Thank you!
Hi! Tried to sew pants today. They are great and easy. Thanks for the pattern :)
Hi there, I know this is an older post but thank you so much for the pattern! One question… the seam in the feet seem really bulky and I’m wondering if anyone had any trouble with discomfort? I used a serger
Hi Rowan! I haven’t noticed the feet seeming bulky at the seams, especially with the use of a serger, are you using regular serger thread?
Thank you so much for this pattern! Just made 2 pair for my Grandbaby who arrives in April. I bought a pattern with a footed romper and made that but the feet in your pattern are SO MUCH EASIER! Very impressed!
So glad to hear, thanks Dawn!
Is it just me? When I sew the crotch seam I end up with a very odd shape. Your tutorial pictures show the waistline to be a nice even circle. That’s not what’s happening with mine. At the center back seam I have a point like a sharp arrow and at center front it dips into a shallow ‘v’. It’s impossible to sew the elastic to a shape like that.
Hi Sam! There will be a angle at center front and back, but slight enough that the elastic should easily be able to be eased to fit it. If you’re having trouble with that, you could trim the “point” at the center back, and trim the center front to be more rounded in shape. Hope that helps!
Okay, thanks. I thought I’d done something wrong.
I thought I had commented on these, but I guess not! I made two pairs of these last year for a baby shower where the mom was expecting twin boys. They turned out adorable! With the width of knit fabric, I think you can get three pairs from one length of fabric with careful cutting. They were a big hit at the shower. The babies were born very small, so they got a lot of use out of them. The only alteration I made was to use fold over elastic for the waist. I think I shortened the pattern by one inch to compensate. Anyway, I’ve come back here for the pattern because I’m now expecting my own baby late this summer and want to make some up for him/her.
I hear you when you say it needs to be stretchy material, but do you have any advice about how to do this with flannel? Or maybe could this work with lightly felted wool? Could one enlarge the feet pieces to the stretched size and cut them that size? I have not sewn any knits before and don’t want to really try right now, but want to make things for the baby on the way. Are the foot pieces the only thing that needs to stretch? Thanks! I know this is an older pattern, so you may not remember all these details.
Unfortunately, the whole pattern is drafted for stretch fabrics, so using flannel or something with no stretch will cause them to not fit correctly, even if you were able to resize the feet to fit together. I wouldn’t want you to start and not be successful, so I’d recommend finding a pattern that’s specifically drafted for wovens :).
Is there an upgrade yet for a larger size to fit the not so little ones? Thanks
Hi Shelby, we haven’t graded the pattern to larger sizes yet. Thanks for asking!
Hi I can’t print the pattern. It just brings me to the next page.
Hi Diane, you’ll need to follow the checkout process here: https://www.sewmuchado.com/shop/free-patterns/footed-baby-pants-free-pattern, and then the pattern download link will be emailed to you :).
What is the little semi-circle at the front leg where it says ankle – not sure how I should sew the sole on ??
The semicircle at the bottom of the leg front will be attached to the foot top piece, not the sole, if that helps. The curve of the ankle will need to stretch to fit the curve of the foot top piece along the seamlines. It’s a little awkward but will fit and look great once it’s stitched!
hi
i am not sure. how can i download it please?
thank you so much
Hi Kate! Follow the link under the “supplies” section of this blog post and then complete the checkout process.
This is such a good idea! I’d love to make a pair for my grandson but he’s already in 12 mo size. Do you have a pdf pattern for larger sizes?
Hi Rita, I don’t yet, but have had many requests for larger sizes so it might happen at some point!
Hi where/how do I print the pattern I can’t seem to find it thank you
Hi! The info for accessing the free pattern is under the supplies section – the link will take you to the pattern listing where you can complete the checkout process (no payment info will be asked for).
Thank you thank you thank you. I love these pants. Made two pairs tonight for my new granddaughter who is tiny compared to my boys. She has been chilly so I’m thrilled to sew somethings so very cute for her little feet to be warm. :)
Could you please tell me how to get the printed instrucions for the footed baby pants? I really need to make my soon to be born great grandson. Thank you
Hi Josephine, congrats on your soon to be great grandson! We don’t offer downloads for the instructions with our free patterns, as the traffic to those blog posts is what enables us to offer the patterns for free. Thanks for understanding!
Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful patterns. Expecting a Great Nephew soon and these will be a perfect addition to his fall and winter wardrobe.
I have tried over and over and over to get the pattern and all I can get are the directions! What am I doing wrong? I have a new great granddaughter expected in January and want to make some of these bottoms! HELP!
To get any of our free patterns, you’ll need to first click the link under the supplies section of the blog post, and then complete the checkout process. Once that’s completed, you’ll receive an email with the pattern download link. You can also access your pattern by logging into your account (created during checkout) under the “shop” tab of our site.
As a note, this is different than entering your email address on our right sidebar – that subscribes you to our newsletter which we’re happy to have you join in on, but is not how you access any of our free patterns 🙂.
I hope that helps!
What sizes are patterns. my granddaughter is 5 months . Are there different sizes ? Thanks Lynn
Hi Lynn, this pattern is only available in newborn size at this time.