​A Conventional Way To Iron Completed On-Seam Pockets

To truly complete an on-seam pocket application, you should always iron the seam housing the pocket. Just stitching and clean-finishing the seam and corresponding pocket bag is not enough to yield you that clean, professional finish- ironing is what pulls it all together. ​

Once the on-seam pocket is stitched and the seam allowance edges are clean-finished (as desired or indicated in your project instructions), iron all seam allowance layers and pocket bag toward the front of the garment. This front-facing alignment will ensure that the on-seam pocket lays in its appropriate functional direction.

​You may find it difficult to iron from the application's wrong side in which case, you should iron from the seam's right side as this will provide optimal control. Be mindful of heat sensitive fabrics and use a protective cotton cloth if needed. 

At times, ironing alone may not be sufficient to keep the pocket bag permanently directed forward. After the first wash cycle or during the first few uses, you may find that the pocket flips toward the garments back and needs to be manually redirected toward the front in order to be used functionally.

​In this case, it helps to apply a tack stitch at the bottom and/or top of the pocket opening to ensure the pocket bag remains in place as aligned. You can use a whipstitch or a bar tack, applying it next to the seamline (on the garment's front side) catching the garment and pocket bag layers underneath.

Note: Conventionally, the thread color should match that of the garment. For better visibility, pink color thread was used in the example pictured above.