Sew single piped pockets into trousers #TH03

1. This is required:

Pattern pieces made from shell fabric:

• Back pieces (HH) – 1 pair
• Pocket bag facing (TBB HH) – 1 pair
• Pocket piping (TS HH) – 1 pair

Pattern pieces from interlining:

• Pocket piping (ETS HH) – 1 pair
• Pocket underlay (ETU HH ) – 1 pair

Pattern pieces made from lining fabric:

• Upper pocket bag (TBO HH) – 1 pair
• Lower pocket bag (TBU HH) – 1 pair
• Note: The two pattern pieces are identical. The area on the lower pocket bag is marked in the pattern where the pocket bag facing will be sewn on later.

Tools and aids:

• Template for the pocket position (P-TZ HH) out of paper
• Pins
• Hand shears
• Tailor’s chalk or marking pen
• Ruler

2. Fix the welt pocket entry

First, I lay the back pieces in front of me with the wrong side of the fabric facing me and mark the pocket position. To do this, I place the template so that it is flush with the center back and top edges and transfer the pocket rectangle with tailor’s chalk.

The interlining strip is placed over the center of this rectangle and ironed on.

3. Prepare the pocket piping

I then iron the fusible interlining onto the piping strips. The pocket piping is pressed over 18 mm wide according to the notch markings. The value of 18 mm results from the piping width of 12 mm plus 6 mm seam width.

4. Place the upper pocket bag

I now place the upper pocket bag on the back of the trousers. It is marked with a V-shaped notch. This allows you to align this part “upwards” and the section with the shorter distance “to the center”. I place the pocket bag so that the pocket rectangle is centered and the upper edges meet. I then secure it at the top and a few centimeters below the pocket rectangle with pins. In this example, I have placed the pocket bag with the right side of the fabric on the wrong side of the back trousers. As I am working with a patterned lining fabric, I want the right side of the fabric to be visible on the inside of the trousers.

5. Mark the pocket position

Now I lay the back pieces in front of me so that the right side of the fabric is visible. Here, too, I use a template to mark the pocket position.

6. Topstitch the pocket piping and facing

I measure the exact height of the pocket rectangle in the template. In this example, this is 12 mm. I use this distance to draw a parallel line downwards from the marked pocket rectangle on the back trousers. This serves as the lower contact line.
From the top edge of the rectangle, I draw another parallel with half the value (6 mm) as a line of contact downwards.

I place the pocket bag facing right sides together above the upper line of contact so that it overlaps the sides in equal distances. If you wish, you can transfer the top edge of the pocket rectangle to the pocket bag lining; this will be your future seam line.

I pin the pocket piping to the back of the trousers so that the folded edge touches the bottom line and the open long edges point towards the waistband. The side previously pressed over 18 mm wide lies right sides together on the back trousers. I mark the width of the pocket opening on the piping, whereby the piping strip should overlap the pocket opening in equal distances on the sides. Here you can also transfer the bottom edge of the pocket rectangle to the piping strip.

I now topstitch the pocket piping and pocket bag facing using a straight stitch in accordance with the markings drawn earlier.

Here it is important to work very precisely and to secure the start and end points well using a forward and back stitch.

7. Cut in the pocket opening

After sewing, I check from the wrong side whether the seam lines match the pocket size on the template.

For the pocket opening, cut the opening through the back trousers and upper pocket bag in the middle between the 2 stitching lines up to approx. 6 mm before the end points. The easiest way to do this is to cut from the wrong side and fold away the seam allowances on the underside.

Cut from the ends of this incision line to just before the upper and lower quilting line start and end points, creating a small triangle. Be careful not to cut the seam.

8. Iron piping and pocket opening

From the wrong side, I pull the piping inwards through the incision so that the piping break is towards the waistband. Then I fold the turn-in upwards and press the facing seam open.

I then press the fold back down and iron over the seam.

Now I also pull the pocket bag facing sewn on at the top to the inside and press the seam open first.

I then press the seam allowance over towards the waistband edge.

9. Secure the snaps at the corners

I stitch the triangular notches to the piping from the inside. They must first be folded inwards, if this has not already been done automatically when pulling through the piping strip. Make sure that the pocket bag facing is pulled completely smooth underneath so that the piping break is exactly at the top seam. I recommend that you do not lock the quilting at first, so that if it does not work right away, you can unravel and correct it again without much effort.

10. Design variants piped pocket

Depending on the design, you can now topstitch around the piped pocket or not or only partially topstitch. You can also often see narrow bartacks on the sides, as shown in variants 2 and 4.

If the design includes topstitching at the bottom piping seam, you must do this before joining the pocket to the bottom pocket bag. To do this, first fold the pocket bag facing upwards so that it is not stitched down.

11. Connect the lower pocket bag

In the next step, I join the piping strip to the upper pocket bag and the pocket bag facing to the lower pocket bag. You can serge the bottom edges of the piping strips and facing or, if the fabric is not too thick, fold over 1 cm wide.

I pin the lower pocket bag to the upper pocket bag, left sides facing. In this position, I pin the pocket bag lining to the side of the lower pocket bag.

The serged or folded bottom edges of the pocket bag facing and pocket piping are now topstitched to the pocket bags.

The two pocket bags are then joined together at the sides and the bottom edge. To do this, I first pin them together and then sew them together using a straight stitch with a 10 mm edge distance and then neaten the edges.

12. Topstitch the top and side edges of the piped pocket

I now place the trouser part in front of me with the right side facing up. If you have opted for the version with topstitching around the piped pocket, topstitch the sides and top. It is helpful to pin the pocket opening with 1 to 2 pins beforehand.

For the version without visible topstitching on the top edge, I fold the fabric down above the opening and pin it in place. Now topstitch the top pocket bag directly behind the seam at the side and top of the pocket bag so that you can only reach down into the pocket.

For the design of the piped pocket with the side bartacks, I recommend trying it out on a piece of fabric first. I like to use a narrow zigzag stitch with a stitch width of 2.5 mm and a stitch length of 0.5 mm.

13. Sew pocket bag to waistband edge

Finally, the pocket bag is sewn to the waistband edge with an auxiliary seam at 5 mm edge distance. Your piped pockets are finished and you can continue with the next step.