Hi my crafty friends! Hope you are doing well!
Few months ago I had made myself a pair of ski trousers for my trip to Poland and used the Lander pants pattern by True Bias because I thought it’s wide leg design would be perfect to wear over ski boots. Then I though it would be even nicer to include some welt pockets with a zipper to securely hold a phone or some spare change and today I will share with you exactly how I’ve done it.
Drafting the pocket
On the front pattern piece I had marked the angle and the placement of the pocket opening based on the zipper I was going to use. The zippers are 17 cm long and I purchase them on eBay. I wanted my welt to be 1.5 cm wide so I drew the shape onto the pattern to see how it would look like.
Next, I simply drafted a pocket bag ensuring that it would be big enough for my hand. The pocket is made out of two pieces: pocket facing (usually cut out of the main fabric) and smaller pocket lining (can be a different fabric, because it is not visible on the outside), however I had used the same fabric for my pockets because I wanted a cosy and warm fleece pockets.
Pocket facing is 1.5 cm (or the width of your welt) longer in comparison to pocket facing to ensure that once sewn, both pieces are in line with each other.
To draft a pocket welt I copied rectangle that was marked on the front pattern piece and add 1 cm seam allowance on both short ends and one long side – cut it on fold x 1 per pocket.
Sewing tutorial
Fold the pocket welt in half with wrong sides together and overlock long raw edge.
Mark the pocket opening onto the right side of the fabric.
Mark 1 cm seam allowance on the pocket welt away from the overlocked edge.
Place it on top of marked pocket opening with right sides together, aligning the stitching lines.
Place the zipper facing down towards the fabric and stitch it together along the marked line- 1.5 cm away from the first stitch line ( or the width of your welt).
Both stitching lines should be straight and parallel to each other. This is important to ensure that the pocket looks neat once finished.
Next, snip the fabric between the stitching lines stopping about 1.5 cm at each end.
On both sides cut the fabric diagonally creating small triangles. Cut it as close as possible without snipping the thread.
Turn both, the zipper and the pocket welt over to the wrong side through the new opening. You can pin or baste the zipper and welt together to stop it from shifting before the next step.
Machine together: little triangle, zipper and pocket welt on both sides of the pocket opening. You should start and stop exactly at the same place as the long stitching lines started/ended, creating a perfect rectangle-as marked initially on the fabric.
Attach the zipper to the pocket welt using the first stitching line as a guideline (sorry if you cannot see the stitching line that the pen indicate).
This is how it looks from the right side.
Place pocket bag lining (smaller piece) with right side facing down aligning it with a overlocked welt edge ( I used a wrong side of the fabric as a right side because it had a nice and soft finish).
Pin it and attached it to pocket welt within 1 cm seam allowance.
Flip the pocket bag towards inside and press it.
Edge stitch along the long bottom side of the welt throughout all layers.
With right sides together, (again I used wrong side as a right side here) place and align (bigger) pocket facing on top of pocket lining. Pin and baste it in place along the welt and from the right side edge stitch the remaining 3 sides of the welt pocket opening.
Pin pocket lining and facing together and machine it using 1 cm seam allowance.
Overlock the entire pocket bag.
Give the pocket final press and repeat the steps if you making more pockets.
That is all for today! Enjoy the rest of the day.
See you next week.
Monika xxx
