You can add a pocket to almost any pattern without changing its fit: in-seam pockets go into any side seam below the waist, patch pockets sit on any flat area, and slanted front pockets are drafted by cutting a corner off a trouser or skirt front and adding a facing and a bag. Draft the pocket bag on paper about 16 cm (6 1/4 in) wide and 28 cm (11 in) deep, place its opening 3 to 5 cm (1 1/4 to 2 in) below the waist seam, and give it the same seam allowance the pattern uses. The pocket is sewn before the side seam or the lining, so plan the order before you cut.
Which pocket suits which garment?
| Works on | Best fabrics | Difficulty | |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-seam | Skirts, dresses, trousers and shorts with a side seam | Light to medium wovens, stable knits | Easy |
| Patch | Shirts, dresses, jackets, aprons, bags | Anything that presses well | Easy |
| Slanted front (hip) | Trousers, shorts, A-line skirts | Medium wovens | Medium |
| Welt or bound | Jackets, trouser backs, coats | Medium to heavy wovens | Advanced |
In-seam pockets are invisible from the outside and the quickest to add. Patch pockets are a design feature, so their size and position matter. Slanted pockets need a small pattern alteration. Welt pockets are cut into the garment and are best left for a second project in the same fabric.
What you need to add pockets
- Pattern paper or baking paper, a ruler, a curve or a dinner plate for the rounded bottom, a pencil
- A tape measure and your own hand
- Fabric for the pocket bags: self fabric on light cottons, lining or cotton lawn on anything thicker
- A 2.5 cm (1 in) strip of lightweight fusible interfacing or stay tape for slanted openings
- Notches on both front and back pattern pieces, so the opening lines up
How do you draft an in-seam pocket bag?
- Find the opening. Stand naturally with your arm hanging. The top of the opening sits where your wrist bone falls, usually 3 to 5 cm (1 1/4 to 2 in) below the waist seam on a skirt or dress, and 2 to 3 cm (3/4 to 1 1/4 in) below the waistband seam on trousers. On a dress without a waist seam, measure from your shoulder down to that point and transfer it to the side seam.
- Size the opening. Measure your hand across the knuckles and add 4 cm (1 1/2 in): 15 to 16 cm (6 to 6 1/4 in) suits most adults. Mark the top (A) and the bottom (B) of the opening on the side seam of the front pattern piece, then copy both marks to the back piece at the same distance from the waist.
- Draw the bag. On paper, draw a straight line for the side seam with A and B on it. Extend 2 cm (3/4 in) above A and 10 to 12 cm (4 to 4 3/4 in) below B. From that line draw the bag out to 16 cm (6 1/4 in) at its widest, with a rounded bottom, so the shape looks like a mitten lying on its side. The total depth comes to about 28 cm (11 in).
- Add seam allowances and marks. Along the side seam edge, add the pattern's seam allowance, 1.5 cm (5/8 in) on a woven; around the rest of the bag, 1 cm (3/8 in). Draw a grainline parallel to the side seam and copy notches A and B.
- Cut four, two pairs, or two in lining and two in self fabric. On a thin fabric, cut all four in lining with a 4 cm (1 5/8 in) self-fabric facing on the two bags that could show.
The sewing order matters: each bag is sewn to its side seam edge between the notches before the side seam is closed, pressed outward, and the side seam is then sewn from the hem to B, around the bag and from A up to the waist. The in-seam pocket guide walks through each pass, and sew a dress with pockets applies it to a dress.
How do you add patch pockets to a pattern?
- Choose a size. A chest pocket on a shirt or shift dress is 11 to 13 cm (4 1/4 to 5 in) wide and 12 to 14 cm (4 3/4 to 5 1/2 in) tall. A hip pocket on a skirt, dress or jacket is 16 to 20 cm (6 1/4 to 8 in) wide and 18 to 22 cm (7 to 8 3/4 in) tall; your hand should slide in with 2 cm to spare each side.
- Place it on the pattern. Draw the finished pocket on the front piece: hip pockets with the top edge 5 to 8 cm (2 to 3 1/8 in) below the waist and 6 to 8 cm (2 3/8 to 3 1/8 in) in from the side seam; a chest pocket with its top about 20 cm (8 in) below the shoulder seam and its inner edge 5 cm (2 in) from the center front. Pin a paper pocket on a toile and look in the mirror before committing.
- Make the pocket piece. Trace the finished shape, add 1 cm (3/8 in) seam allowance on the sides and bottom and a 3 cm (1 1/4 in) hem allowance at the top. On a rounded pocket, use the same curve on both corners.
- Transfer the placement to the pattern as dots at the two top corners.
The patch pocket post covers the pressing template and the topstitching.
How do you draft slanted front pockets on trousers or a skirt?
- On the front pattern piece, mark point C on the waist 6 to 8 cm (2 3/8 to 3 1/8 in) in from the side seam and point D on the side seam 16 to 18 cm (6 1/4 to 7 in) below the waist. Draw the opening from C to D, straight or slightly curved.
- Trace the whole corner region from the waist down to about 28 cm (11 in) below it and from the side seam in to about 5 cm (2 in) past C, with a rounded inner bottom. This is the pocket bag, cut twice in self fabric; it fills the hole and shows through the opening.
- Trace the same shape again but bounded by the line C–D instead of the waist-and-side-seam corner. This is the pocket facing, the piece sewn to the opening; cut it twice in lining or self fabric.
- Cut the front along C–D to remove the corner, then add 1 cm (3/8 in) seam allowance to the front and to the facing along that edge.
- Fuse a 2.5 cm strip of interfacing to the wrong side of the front along the opening: the line C–D runs across the bias and stretches otherwise.
Sew the facing to the front along the opening, right sides together, understitch the facing, press, lay the bag behind, sew bag and facing together around the bottom, then baste the pocket to the front at the waist and the side seam. The pull-on trousers and the A-line skirt are both good first candidates.
What are the common mistakes when adding pockets?
- Placing the opening by eye. Too high and your hand bends to get in; too low and the bag hangs below the hem of a short skirt.
- A bag too small for the hand. 16 cm wide and 28 cm deep is a minimum for an adult hand with a phone.
- Notches on the front only. The back side seam needs the same marks or the opening is sewn shut.
- No stay on a slanted opening. It stretches during sewing and gapes afterward.
- Pocket bags in thick fabric on a light garment. They shadow through and pull the seam.
- A pocket in the zip seam. On a skirt with a side zip, put the pocket on the other side.
- Forgetting the pocket in the fabric amount. Four bags take about 30 cm (12 in) more.
When should you choose a different pocket?
An in-seam pocket on a close-fitting pencil skirt tends to gape and print the outline of the bag through the fabric; a back welt or no pocket looks better. On a side seam cut on the bias, as in a circle skirt, an in-seam pocket sags unless the opening is stayed and the bag is light. Where there is no side seam at all, a patch pocket is the answer. If you draft with Sewly, check first whether the garment offers a pocket option: when it does, the pocket bag is drawn with the other pieces and its cut count appears in the sewing guide.