Trouser Side Pockets

That seems like a pretty logical guess to me...not a duh, at all! :) If I hadn't been drafted into making tailbags, I wouldn't have had a clue.

Doreen in Alabama

Thanks, Phae! Oh, I love appaloosas, horses of the Nez Perce. I wish between my DDs they had at least one of them.

Doreen in Alabama

Thanks, Emily. I know it's bad form to compare one's kids, but she is my sweetest DD (middle child), and I'd adopt her friend in a heartbeat.

Doreen in Alabama

You might be able to deal with the flaw more gracefully by slip-stitching the gap closed, then working a bar tack by hand.

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It's been years since I've made a side-seam pocket (having decided that it's patch pockets for everything, and my only concession to posh frockery is to sew the pockets on by hand) so I'm probably way off base --- but is it possible to modify the pattern slightly so that everything *doesn't* come together? When I make broadfall pockets, I make the top edge of the pocket hit the side seam with the top of its hem just at the bottom of the hem in the pants front.

With broadfalls, one finishes the pocket opening on the front of the pants, then bastes the pocket under the front to fill in the gap left by hemming the pocket opening, then sews front and back together. So the only matter to be dealt with where everything comes together is the pile-up of hem and seam allowances -- and the tendency to wear at the hinge, which I deal with by applique'ing a bit of twill tape to the inside of the front.

Checking DH's side of the closet, I find that every last pair of pants has either a slant pocket or a blue-jeans style pocket -- not one of those is on actual blue jeans, since he took those with him -- and why are there nineteen pairs in the closet when he packed every pair that he can wear?

So I think it safe to ignore the straight-up inseam pocket, which is good because it's harder to install than one where part of the front is cut away, and it's harder to get your hand into one.

Some of the pockets are attached the way I would attach them, and some are attached in a more-elaborate way that allows the seam to be pressed open -- and then the seam is pressed to the side! I presume that this makes sense in a factory. All the simply-attached pockets are in good shape where everything comes together, and one of the more-elaborate pockets is trying to come unstitched at that point, so I think I get out of analyzing the more-elaborate method.

I mock-fell even the poshest pants -- the most posh pair had the upper seam allowance hong-konged first, and I used #100 silk thread for the top stitching -- so I don't mind that my method requires the seam allowances to be pressed to the back. (Well, I did mind when I wanted to use an ankle finish that requires the seam allowances to be pressed to the front . . . )

hong kong is a one-sided binding, presumably first brought to our attention by Hong Kong tailors

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Pocket design from scratch: I think you might better be able to deal with where they are going if you see where they came from.

Assuming that you have a pants pattern that fits, you copy the corner of the front pattern onto a large piece of paper. Include the grain line. Now on this pattern, sketch the size and shape of pocket that you want. I draw two lines, one on the straight grain and one on the cross grain, so that I can make the pocket by folding a shape in half. It's more common to draw a sort of teardrop shape -- this avoids having any corners to collect lint.

If you've drawn the teardrop shape, you add seam allowance all around. For my square-bottom pockets, I add seam allowance at the bottom, fold on the fold line, and stick carbon paper in between to draw the other half of the pattern.

At this point I will drop the folded pocket like a hot potato and assume teardrop shape in all further discussions.

If none of the side-seam notches can be used to line up the pocket with the front, you add one at this time. You may also want a notch on the waistline, particularly if you plan a large cutaway for the pocket opening. (The added notches must be copied onto the pants-front pattern, of course.)

Having got the pocket pattern, what do you do with it? One thing you can do is to make what I call an "underpatch pocket" -- it isn't so common as to have an official name, or at least I haven't come across one. To make this, you finish the pocket opening on the pants front, destroying part of the seam allowance in the process. (It can be a blue-jean shaped hole, a slant-pocket shaped hole, or just hemming away part of the seam allowance.) (or it can be a hole in the middle of the fabric, but that seldom applies to pants.) Then you applique' the pocket to the inside of the pants front, which repairs the hole you made in the side-seam allowance. Assemble the pants as usual.

Broadfall pockets: pretty much the same as the underpatch, save that you cut two pieces, make them into a pocket, and just lay it on the back of the front, basting in the side-seam allowance and pinning at the waistline to keep it in place while the pants are assembled. You would finish a pocket opening in one of the pieces -- same drill as finishing a pocket opening in the pants. I like the blue-jean-shaped hole for all pants, dressy or jeanlike, because it crosses the seamlines at right angles, which makes easier and stronger construction, and appearance doesn't matter in an opening that is concealed by the pants front. This varies from the underpatch pocket in that you leave out the zipper and put in two waistbands.

Patch pocket: cut one piece for each pocket, hem or bind the pocket opening, applique' to outside of otherwise un-modified pants front, assemble pants as usual. I used this on coveralls once, extending the tops of the pockets into belt loops so that the weight of the junk in the pockets could be supported by the belt. (Cool! Upon examining the coveralls, which are still in the souvenir section at the back of my closet, I find that I put patch pockets *on* the patch pockets, with a flap for each! Judging by the shape, I intended these for carrying baby bottles filled with water and carbide.) (But I hadn't gotten into full-bore pocket mode: there is only one breast pocket.)

Side-seam pocket. I use this only on gowns, and I've given it up for gowns because there is nothing to support the pocket at the inner edge, so when I put my pocket knife, flashlight, and lipstick in one and my handkerchief and little bag of small things in the other, the gown hangs funny.

You sew one pocket piece to the front and one to the back, making a sort of hernia in the seam. Then you sew front to back, going around the pocket, and press the pocket to the front. This gets to be a lot of fun when the side seam is flat felled and the seam around the pocket is french! It's possible, but I'd rather not try to remember how I accomplished this, thank you very much. I do recall that it involved making the corners where the pockets joined the side seams mock french. Nope, that was for setting a side-seam pocket into a french seam. I nearly always attach the pocket pieces to the front and back by way of flat-felled seams, and use a narrower allowance than is allowed, so that the whole seam ends up inside the pocket. (If attaching a pocketing pocket to a pants fabric, I'd use a mock-fell seam so as to avoid doubling the pants fabric.)

When sewing the side seam, you come up to the bottom of the pocket opening, then make a U turn and go back down to the bottom of the pocket, then stitch around the pocket, and curve back into the side seam. It helps a lot to draw the seam lines on the fabric with water-erasable marker.

Standard pants pocket: First you draw your pocket opening on the pants front.

For a slant opening, you draw a line where you want the fold, then draw another line a seam allowance away from that. You can fold on the cutting line, and thereby preserve the pattern for making other styles of pants.

For a blue-jeans opening, you first have to make a copy of the pattern. Draw straight lines crossing the waistline and the side-seam line at right angles. Then use a french curve, a saucer, or a free-hand sweep to round off the corner. Add a seam allowance. Cut along the cutting lines, but not before you have copied the pocket opening onto your pocket pattern.

You have to make two pocket patterns: one by the un-modified front pattern, and one to match the modified front. It's easiest to make one pattern with all lines, on two sheets of paper with carbon paper in between, then cut one along the un-modified lines and the other along the modified lines. (I said I was going to drop the square-bottom pocket -- but you can make this pattern on a folded sheet of paper, with carbon inside and underneath.)

You would either cut the un-modified pocket from pants fabric, or face it with pants fabric where it will show through the pocket opening. (Having the pocket opening drawn on this piece as a result of drawing both patterns at once comes in handy here.) Or use the pocketing as trim elsewhere -- thick wool pants with pockets and waistband of heavy silk twill, for example..

Sew the two pocket pieces together with a french seam, making sure the right side ends up on the inside. Sew the pocket opening of the pocket to the pocket opening of the pants front. Turn the pocket to the inside of the pants front, and you should find that you have restored the original shape of the pants front. Assemble pants as usual.

Joy Beeson