How to add side seam pockets to your garment

We all agree that pockets add much of convenience to any garments, don’t we? I love it when I go out not taking along my bag and still have my hands free with the phone in the pocket. Or just put my hands into the pockets when I feel I have nothing to do – or when I feel not very confident. That is why I often sew pockets to my casual dresses. For the formal dresses, I automatically sew it with no pockets – the convenience does not always go along well with luxurious look.

And you may wonder why I do not add pockets to any of the dress patterns I share on my blog. Because you can do it yourself in just minutes! You can choose almost any dress and add this kind of pockets to put your hands and little things. But be careful with dresses with close fit – if you don’t want the pockets to lump up on your garment. I normally would not add inseam pockets onto sheath dresses.

To those who would love to have pockets added to their dresses, this is a really quick tutorial for adding side seam pockets to almost any dress that you are going to sew.

First, download the pocket pattern here and print it on A4 paper, or just draw one yourself, but you need to make sure you can put your hand inside of the pocket. You should also make the opening of the pocket (the straight line in the image) smaller to keep the stuff from falling out of the pockets. Cut out 2 pairs of pocket bag pieces.

Next, follow the video tutorial below to sew the pocket!

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