How To Sew A Single Welt Pocket

I've had a personal obsession with pockets for years. I love them all regardless of style and find them to be one of the primary functional elements in a garment. Today, I'll show you how to sew one of my all time favorites: the welt pocket. A classic, tailored pocket that is conventionally used with men's trousers, suit jackets, vests and other menswear and womenswear tailored items. Although they seem to be more prevalent in menswear, I love seeing a welt pocket as a design element in more casual women's wear. 

The clean, high quality finish of a welt pocket can elevate a garment's look and function regardless of whether this a business-appropriate style or a pair of casual shorts. 

There are two main types of welt pockets: single and double welt, although these derive other styles.

Naturally, the single welt pocket has a single welt (rectangular tab) while the double has two, usually equal width taps or welts. As you might have already guessed, the single welt is easier to sew simply for the fact that there is less stitching and measuring involved in comparison to a double style.

I do have to admit that welt pockets can be a bit tricky for sewing beginners, but after you sew a few of them, they will definitely start looking more uniform and professional! So if you love welt pockets as much as I do, don't give up on the first try! I recommend that you don't move on to the double welt pocket until you feel comfortable with sewing a single welt.

OK, before we move on to the sewing steps below, here are a few things to keep in mind with regards to the construction and styling of welt pockets:

• Welt pockets can be positioned vertically, horizontally, diagonally and in any asymmetric direction on the surface of a garment. Most traditional welt pockets are positioned in horizontal direction. 
• The back side of the fabric surface housing the welt pocket should always be reinforced with interfacing both to increase durability as well as encourage the pocket to lay flat. As you'll see in the steps below, when slashing the welt opening, seam allowance excess will need to be cut very close to the actual stitch line in order for the final pocket to be uniform and lay flat. For that reason, having the fabric backed with fusible interfacing will maintain structure and strength in this cutting process. 
• On the topic of structure and durability, welt pockets are much easier to sew onto medium to heavyweight fabrics that have a bit more structure and area easily ironed. Wool, cotton, linen and various synthetic blends that are not flimsy or slippery are the best to work with. Fabrics that are fine and transparent will not house a welt pocket very well. Not only will the interface show on the right side of the garment, the actual pocket may have difficulty maintaining its structure and durability.
• It is highly advisable that you complete the welt pocket construction before sewing the rest of the garment together. The reason behind doing this is quite clever (and straightforward): If you make an irreversible mistake while sewing the welt pocket, you can always re-cut the corresponding fabric piece and start all over. As you'll see below, welt pocket construction requires that you actually cut into the surface of the fabric which puts you a little in the danger zone. When sewing the welt pocket to the surface of an already finished garment (which you've worked hard on!) and you make an irreparable mistake, you may actually have to redo the entire garment starting completely from scratch- unless you find another creative option to hide the error. 

Read More