Making work pants with a secret pocket

I'm making myself a batch of work pants. They are all the same pattern, my latest iteration (v 3.0) of the pattern that I made and have been using and modifying for quite some time. And they have a secret!

I make my pants to do what I need them to, they have to fit loose so I can bend easily on the tractor or mower and can move easily when I'm on my hands and knees, I make them extra long so I can strap the ankles tightly to keep ticks out, and I put lots of pockets that layer into each other.

The secret they have is related to the health issues I was having last year that I'm not sure are done, that often made it difficult for me to stand up when I was working, so I stayed on my hands and knees for many hours. I was pinning washcloths to the inside of my pants for a bit of knee padding. This batch has SECRET INSIDE KNEE POCKETS to hold knee pads of whatever type I end up wanting!  They will end up at least pinned shut, maybe snaps will be sewn on, not sure, depends on how they end up working. I placed them according to where I have been pinning the pads.

The fabric is neat, it's pretty and it sort of has a secret too, it's ripstop outdoor furniture fabric! I expect them to be able to take a LOT of abuse.



The pants look nice, I'm really pleased with them


My mom told my aunts about them having 8 pockets


This is how they looked after sewing, before washing. I deliberately left the sizing in them when I sewed, in hopes it would help me control that heavy fabric.


I had to use bias tape type stuff to cover all the seams, they were pinked, and that heavy fabric made them feel like saw blades on my inner thighs. Nope. Not gonna handle that! Reinforcement panels added where I need them on my butt and front thighs.


And this is the inside of the front. The knee pad pocket has pink bias tape on the edge, everything below that is pocket. The pink is where I'll pin or fasten the edges. At the moment the pocket is a hazard to put the pants on, as it catches my feet.


I'm quite pleased with these, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the knee pad pockets work!

Brilliant!!   I have heavy canvas pants with reinforced knees and butt.  The interior knee padding makes sense.

John F Dean wrote:The interior knee padding makes sense.

I had exterior knee pad pockets once. They collected too much dirt inside. Maybe I'm a messier than usual gardener, but I was inclined to blame the design.

Hmmm... I wonder if zippers on the inside would both hold the pads and stop the dressing hazard. They wouldn't need to be heavy duty, but they might need a flap so the zipper didn't rub on your skin. Think "zip-off pants"

Something worth contemplating when I replace my current farm pants. They're still at the "can be mended" stage, but I need to put that on my list as they sprung a few new holes recently.

"Skillers" was a brand of work pants that I first saw the knee pad pockets in, Loved those pants but alas they are no longer in production, Duluth Trading work pants have them and their "Fire Hose" pants are pretty tough and have the knee pad pockets, even without the padding the double layer offers additional pointy ground protection.  My wife loved your idea.

Here's a potential use for some of that Velcro you might have around.

I love the pants and their secret hidden knee pockets. s well as pockets galore!
Great idea, great execution, I hope they are as comfortable as they are useful!

Jay Angler: The original idea was zippers, but I realized it was going to complicate the sewing horribly and gave up on that idea.
And dirt plus excess wear is why I put them on the inside, I learned long ago that knee pads are just a problem.
:D

Hi Robert,

I prefer The Duluth Alaskan Hard Gear to the Firehose for really rough treatment.

In most motorbike pants, the ‘armour’ is held in velcro closed mesh pockets. The velcro almost wasn’t necessary, the armour would stay in the pockets quite well.

All those pockets and pretty too!
I want!

Nancy Reading wrote:All those pockets and pretty too!  I want!

Yes! My farm pants are a totally ugly mossy green colour. Not even a pretty mossy green colour! But the fabric was cheap and they aren't worn out yet... I've got a Charity shop wool blanket that's pink. I wonder if I could felt it enough to sew farm pants out of it? I'd need something darker on the knees to hide the dirt.

Lovely pants!  I have Duluth overalls with knee pad pockets. The pads are inserted from the bottom on the outside. The design requires the pads be flexible enough to fold a bit during insertion as the opening is smaller than the width of the pad which helps keep them in place without a closure. Since they open at the bottom of the pocket, they don't collect dirt so much.

Hi Carly,

Welcome to Permies.

Perhaps a flap above the knee pad pocket (with hook and loop fastener) would eliminate the dressing toe catch hazard while helping to ensure the knee pads would stay put when installed.

I like the idea.  I'm finding a lot of the knee pads out there that are sold as "tough" don't stand up as well as I'd hope.  Perhaps I'm just a crotchety old coot, but I'm so often disappointed - I'm willing to pay for quality items that will stand up, but I get grumpy if I pay for supposed quality that turns out to be wasted money.

Derek Thille wrote:Perhaps a flap above the knee pad pocket (with hook and loop fastener) would eliminate the dressing toe catch hazard while helping to ensure the knee pads would stay put when installed.

I have only tried them on, no data on how they do when I'm actually putting them on to work in them. I may end up putting something like snaps, it shouldn't take much, depends on what I have in there for padding, as I don't like commercial knee pads (have tried a lot of them) and am more likely to do something like a folded dish towel or something.

I like the idea.  I'm finding a lot of the knee pads out there that are sold as "tough" don't stand up as well as I'd hope.  Perhaps I'm just a crotchety old coot, but I'm so often disappointed - I'm willing to pay for quality items that will stand up, but I get grumpy if I pay for supposed quality that turns out to be wasted money.

If you are a crotchety old coot, I am too I often say that no matter what I'm looking at, I'm not the target market for what is being sold. If I buy stuff, it's almost always used, so if my usual warranty violations of close to everything I touch messes them up, I didn't pay much. I'm not willing to pay for "quality" since the basic design is rarely what works for me.  I'm not the target market. That's part of why I sew!! If I HAD been able to find the exact size I wanted, with pockets etc, and long enough to tick strap, I doubt if they'd come in the colors I want. I'm just too atypical.

I found some of the previous batch of pants, all pocketed up....

My pink snakeskin pants, tick proof! They sliiiide right off that crappy polyester!

action shot of pink snakeskin pattern pants

Same pattern, same crappy polyester the ticks slide off of...
.
Blue flowered pants the ticks can't climb

These are so comfortable! They were the pair I used to start the pattern for the current batch of pants

They look so comfortable and fit you so well! What a great pattern.

I know you'll find the perfect solution - you've been trying and experimenting for awhile, so the solution is right around the corner!

love this idea!
how bout turning the inner knee pocket upside down with the small flap at the bottom merely to hold the extra padding in and under the larger pocket area that holds the padding in place at the knee? You wouldn't need any closures and your feet would not catch!

what an excellent pair of pants! and i feel a certain twinge of.... pocket envy!!
i love the idea of using that kind of fabric. it's such a perfect application.
my favorite heavy-duty work pants (old carhartts made of that nice heavy canvas duck) lasted 20+ years, hopefully these last even longer!

Love all these ideas! I sewed knee pads cut from an old, thick wetsuit into the insides of my gardening trousers. They stay put, wash well and have good flex.