Flag Pocket - Cut off Jean Shorts Series

It's summer and it's hot! Time to get out the shorts. At our house, all pants that have holes in the knees get cut off into shorts. In years past that's all I've done, but this year I decided to embellish them a bit. Today's project is the Flag Pocket shorts. This embellished pocket is simple, yet adorable. They are perfect for the 4th of July, but I'm sure they will be worn all summer.

Want to make your own Flag Pocket?

You will need:
Cut off jeans
red ric rac
white ric rac
blue ribbon with white polka dots {for the stars}
red embroidery thread
white embroidery thread
blue embroidery thread

It's best to use a pair of jeans where the pocket is fairly plain, so it doesn't distract from the flag. I began by cutting the ric rac to the desired length. and placing it on the pocket how I wanted it. I also made a small bow with the blue ribbon to place in the corner.

Beginning at the bottom, I pinned a red piece of ric rac to the pocket. Using all six strands of the red embroidery thread I hand stitched the ric rac to the pocket. I wanted the pocket to be usable, so I made sure to only stitch it to the pocket and not through to the pants.

I found that it was nearly impossible to knot off the thread that far down in the pocket, so I just left it to use on the next red stripe, where it was easier to knot off since it was closer to the top.

Each time I pinned a new stripe in place, I would place them all on the pocket to make sure I had the spacing fairly even.

Once you have all the stripes sewn on, sew on your bow.

Originally I was going to do a flag on both pockets, but once I got it sewn on one side, I fell in love with the way it looked with just one. My oldest {who first told me she didn't want me to do anything with her shorts} said she liked it and wanted me to sew a flag onto a pair of her shorts too.

I decided to add a little bow to the front pocket - just for some extra cuteness.

Do you cut off your old jeans? Have you ever done any embellishments?

I had a lot of fun dressing up the kids old pants into cute shorts and I'll continue to share them over the next couple of weeks.

Here's what's coming up in my Cut off Jean Shorts Series:
Cutoff Jean Shorts with Bows
Cuffed Jean Shorts with Ribbon
Cuffed Jean Shorts with Paint

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Patriotic Wooden Tags with Tattoo Paper