When I just started sewing two months ago, sewing seam pockets looked way too complicated.
But a skirt without pockets is just so… inconvenient.
So here’s a super easy way to add a seam pocket to a skirt or dress that I learnt from Aoi. The structural integrity may be debatable, but I have walked around with my smart phone in this pocket.
On this page:
How to make a seam pocket, the easy way
Instead of cutting out the pocket fabric separately and sewing it to the skirt via multiple steps… we’re going to incorporate the pocket into the skirt pattern and simply sew around it.
For a gathered skirt like above, we usually cut rectangular panels. Instead, we’ll add a pocket shape hanging outwards from the skirt’s side seams.
The tip here is to cut the pocket so that there are no hard angles to make it easy to serge.
To sew the skirt up, we simply serge all the way from top to bottom following the cut fabric. Then using a normal sewing machine, sew down the fabric again but this time following the shape of the pocket.
When flipping the skirt right way out, keep the pockets pushed inside. And viola, we have seam pockets!
To strengthen the pocket opening, it’s a good idea to sew a short line of stitches at the top and bottom of the pocket opening horizontally.
Seam pocket pattern download
When you cut out a seam pocket for the first time, they look absolutely ginormous. But once you sew them in, they tend to just be big enough to fit a smart phone.
Here’s the base pattern I use when making seam pockets. Scale-wise, the pocket opening is approximately 15cm long, and the entire size is about 20cm x 28cm.
A better way to sew seam pockets
After a month into my sewing life with a wee bit more experience, I found a well balanced way of sewing seam pockets ☺
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