tutorial: draft and sew a front pocket

As promised on my camo cargo Montauk Trousers, a quick pocket tutorial. Whether you want to add pockets to trousers that don’t have them or if you want to change up the pockets on our Montauk Trousers, here is a tutorial to guide you through the steps to draft and sew your own trouser pockets.

We’ve posted two similar tutorials for this in the past, so please feel free to refer to them as well.

We’ll start with the front trouser pattern piece, and we’ll finish with three pieces: the trousers front, the pocket bag, and the pocket bag facing. I’ll illustrate them for you here so you know what we’re going to be making.

Take a look at your front trousers piece. If your pattern piece doesn’t have any sort of pocket at all it will look more or less like this, with the side seam continuing all the way to the waist. We’ll do all our drafting on this piece in order to make the other pieces. I like to draw in the seam allowances to help me picture the pocket and to get a more accurate idea of its size when it’s finished, but it’s not strictly necessary.

First we’ll add a pocket opening. This can be angled or rounded, whatever you prefer. Think about the size of your hand and make it a little bigger, and be sure to consider the seam allowances when you draw the line so it’s not too small once the seams are sewn. For all of the lines we’ll be drawing I like to refer to our basic front pocket piece, which we keep quite consistent across all our patterns because I like the size of the opening and the depth of the pocket bag. So I’m using our Cannes Trousers pocket for this. For me, the idea pocket opening size is about 6-7″, and I like to position to top of the pocket about 1-2″ from the side seam. But you can draft your pocket opening however you want. Keep the seam allowances in mind as you do this. It’s a good idea to mark them on your pattern piece so you don’t make the pocket opening too small.

Next, draw the pocket bag itself. I like this to be quite deep (who likes short pockets, after all?) and rounded so lint doesn’t collect in the corner. I also like it to curve into the side seam allowance at the bottom edge so it stays in place. Again, for this I used our Cannes Trousers piece to draw the line onto the trousers front.

Now we start tracing to make the new pattern pieces. First we’ll make the pocket bag. This will be cut from the same fabric as your trousers since it will be visible above the pocket opening. To draft the piece, you’ll trace the top edge of the trousers, the side seam, and the rounded pocket bag shape. Be sure to add seam allowances to the pocket bag if you haven’t taken them into account already.

To make the pocket bag facing, which won’t really be visible and can be cut from a lighter fabric if you want, we’ll trace that same pocket again, but this time we add the pocket opening for the pocket facing. Be sure to add seam allowances to the pocket opening.

Then add the same seam allowance to the pocket opening on the front trousers itself and cut the front trousers along that line the same way you did for the pocket facing.

Now you have three of your pieces, and you’re ready to sew the pockets! Here are the basic sewing steps without illustrations. If you want more details and images you can refer to both of our previous pocket drafting posts for this information as well as photos to guide you.

Note that if your trousers have a front pleat it’s a good idea to sew the pleat before constructing the pocket.

1. Pin one front pocket bag facing to the trouser front with right sides together and the raw edges and notches aligned. Stitch the pocket edge with a 1/2″ seam, backstitching or lockstitching at both ends.

2. Trim the seam allowances to 1/4″ and press the pocket bag facing toward the seam allowances. Understitch the pocket bag facing 1/16–1/8″ from the seamline.

3. Turn the pocket bag facing to the wrong side of the trouser front and press the sewn edge, rolling the seam slightly toward the wrong side so it won’t show on the finished trousers. If desired, you can also topstitch this edge for a more casual look.

4. Lay the trouser front so the wrong side is facing up. Pin one pocket bag to its corresponding pocket bag, with right sides together and matching the pocket pieces’ curved edges. The top and side of the pocket should form a continuous line with the edges of the trousers. Pin just the two pocket pieces together (take care not to pin the pocket pieces to the trousers yet) and stitch the the curved bottom edge of the pocket bag and pocket bag facing with a 1/2″ seam. Finish the stitched pocket’s seam allowances together using your preferred method.

5. Pin the layers of the pocket to the trouser front so the top and side edges are even. Baste the pieces together with a 3/8″ seam along the top and side edges to hold the finished pocket in place temporarily.

6. Repeat steps 1–5 to sew the pocket on the opposite side. Then you can continue with the rest of the trouser construction.

Enjoy, and I hope you’ll share photos of your finished trousers with us!