With the pocket bags assembled, we can now install them into the trousers. First, we need to trim the trouser fronts to match the shape of our pocket facing pattern, which can be a little intimidating!

Place the trouser pattern on the trouser front, aligning the pocket opening marks, and trace the pocket opening shape.

Carefully trim away the excess.

The next steps of adding linen and stay tape for support are optional, and depends on the originals you are copying, if they used them or not, as well as the thickness and durability of your fabric. For thinner fabrics I’d use the linen and stay tape, but for thicker fabrics it may add too much bulk.

Begin by cutting a piece of linen on the grain about 3″ wide by several inches longer than the distance between the pocket opening marks on your pocket. You want the linen to cover the entire distance between the two points as well as an inch or so beyond on each side.

The linen helps to stabilize the pocket opening.

Baste the linen in place on the wrong side of the trouser front.

Trim the linen flush with the trouser edges.

Mark the seam allowance plus a little extra (I used 5/16″) to account for turning the fabric over later on.

Trim the linen layer to the seam line.

Now add a length of stay tape along the edge of the linen, the outer edge of the tape extending beyond the linen by ‘a smidge’. The stay tape should extend beyond the pocket opening marks by about 1/2″ or so. Baste securely in place.

Not pictured or on video unfortunately, but you should hold the stay tape slightly tighter than the fabric underneath as you baste. This will pull the fabric towards the camera, or in other words, towards the body when the trousers are worn, helping to keep the pocket flap in place.

Cross stitch the stay tape to the trouser front, catching only the linen on the inner edge, and catching the trouser fabric on the outer edge, being careful that the stitches don’t show through to the right side.

Installing the Pocket Bags

Align the appropriate pocket bag on the trouser front, right sides together. Baste carefully through all layers, ensuring the pocket opening marks are aligned as closely as possible.

Machine sew or back stitch between the pocket opening marks using a 1/4″ seam allowance. You should actually sew this with the pocket bag underneath, so that you can ensure you are the correct distance from the edge of the stay tape. I was distracted by the photography and neglected to do so, as you’ll see in a minute.

You can see where my stitching is not parallel to the stay tape and at the right end, actually goes on to the stay tape! I made it work out but definitely something to avoid.

Now clip the seam allowance at the end of the stitching at each of the pocket opening marks. The clip should get as close as you can to the stitches without actually cutting the thread.

Turn the pocket right facing right side out, and baste securely closed, holding the facing so that the seam is about 1/16″ beyond the pocket edge. Press as necessary.

Depending on your fabric and pocket shape, you may need to trim the seam allowance down to about 1/8″ before turning. It wasn’t necessary in my case.

Continue the basting down to the bottom of the facings to keep the edges aligned properly.

Top stitch the pocket opening using either a machine stitch or a side stitch by hand, 1/4″ from the edge, between the pocket opening marks.

Depending on your pocket style, you may wish to add some decorative top stitching to the pocket opening. I made my pattern by finding the midpoint of the construction line and drawing two (somewhat) equal curves on each side as shown. By drawing the pattern on the facing itself, you can ensure that the top stitching will fall only on the facing itself when sewing.

Cut out the top stitching pattern as shown.

Place the top stitching pattern on the trouser front, aligning the pocket opening marks. Trace the pattern.

Top stitch along the line with a machine stitch or side stitch as desired. You can stitch all the way to the edge if you want, or stop 1/4″ from the edge, as the area will be tacked later on after the trousers are completely assembled.

This next part is confusing and almost impossible to photograph well. You need to fold the pocket bag itself in half, right sides together. Arrange the trousers and pocket bag however necessary to make this happen!

Pin or baste the facings only together. You can baste the rest of the pocket bag closed as well if you wish. I didn’t only because I’ve done it so many times I find it unnecessary now.

Stitch the pocket bag closed from the bottom of the facing, around the bottom, and tapering into the folded edge.

Very important! The stitching must stop just before the bottom of the facing, maybe 1/8″ away. I stitched about an inch of the facing as well and it caused some major issues regarding pocket strength later on, and so had to redo everything.

Trim the seam allowance down to about 1/8″ around the curved areas to help turning the pockets easier.

Clip the seam allowance at the top of the stitching, just below the pocket facing.

Turn the pocket bag right side out and carefully press the edges (like I should have done before taking the photo!). You can see how there’s a sort of ‘step’ where we clipped the seam allowance at the bottom of the facing.

Top stitch the pocket back from the clipped seam allowance, around the bottom, and along the folded edge to the top of the pocket at the waist.

Complete the pocket by basting the remaining part of the facing to the trouser front. Do the same thing for the top edge of the pocket bag, securing it for attaching the waistband later.

And that concludes the construction of the open top pockets themselves. There’s still a little work to do as we sew the side seams and add the waistbands.

To begin construction of the pocket bags and facings, first transfer any stripes or plaids to the rear facing pattern.

Cut out two of each type of facing and two pocket bags, on the fold.

Here’s how the facing matched up after cutting it out.

Transfer the pocket open marks from the draft to each piece of the pocket and facings. I marked both sides of the fabric just to make things a little easier.

Align the facings to the pocket bags, right sides of each facing upward. Baste the facings in place along the outer edge, making sure the marks line up with each other.

Note that in the photo, the left curved facing I left with seam allowances along the inside edges for demonstration purposes, while the facing on the right I will be leaving the edges raw with no seam allowance.

Now baste along the inside edges of the facings. If you’ll be folding under the seam allowance, keep back a little over 1″ from the edge, otherwise you can baste closer to the edge.

Repeat the process with the other pocket half, being sure to baste the facings in the opposite order.

If you left a seam allowance on the facings, turn it under 1/2″ and baste securely closed.

Fell the folded edge of the facings down by hand. You can also just fell the raw edges if you prefer and your fabric doesn’t fray very badly.

Alternatively, you could sew the facing down along the edges by machine, about 1/8″ from the edge.

Here is the completed pocket bag. Repeat for the other pocket.

While the basic draft and construction of open-top style pockets remains the same, there are some variations in style you can consider for your trousers. I’ll be going with a basic curved opening to my pocket, as you’ll see on the next page.

The most basic is a squared off pocket, which follows the same pattern as the trouser itself.

To make the other styles, I like to mark midway along the construction line first (more details in the next section). Then the various curves and points can be based off of that.

Here’s more of a ‘pointed style’.

And a curved style, which is what I’ll be making.

Here’s a curved style with a tighter radius and a ‘heart’ top stitching pattern.

Here the top stitching has been inverted from the previous example.

And finally, here’s a curved pocket style with more of an ‘S’ pattern of top stitching.

Buttonholes could also be added to most of these styles to keep the pocket closed. Choose a style you like and then it’s time to begin drafting!

Drafting an open-top pocket is slightly more involved than the side-seam pocket, due to the special facings and shapes involved, but after a couple of tries you’ll get the process down.

Begin by tracing top section of the trouser front pattern on a fresh piece of paper. Add the 1/4″ seam allowances. You really only need the waist seam and a bit of the side seam.

Next, draw the pocket opening marks. These are the most critical part of the pocket, and should be transferred to each piece as you go. I made mine 4 1/2″ from the top of the side seam in each direction, but you could go a little longer or shorter depending on your hand and trouser size.

Draw a construction line between each pocket opening mark, from the seam allowance.

Draw the shape of the pocket, from mark to mark, as desired.

Add a 1/4″ seam allowance to the pocket opening. Adding the seam allowance separately allows you to have more exact control over the position and shape of the pocket.

Draw the front edge of the pocket bag. This should be about 1″ or so from the pocket opening mark on the waist seam, and taper towards the trouser front to help the pocket to drape more naturally.

Draw a construction line at the bottom of the pocket bag, perpendicular to the side seam. I generally make these pockets about 1″ longer than my hands reach.

Draw the pocket curve. I like to deepen the curve near the front so that loose items will better stay in place. I include the seam allowance when drawing these curves, tapering it into the side seam as shown.

Draw the bottom of the pocket facing about 2″ below and parallel to the construction line you drew earlier.

Draw lines completing the pocket facings. At the top, draw a line perpendicular to the waist seam, about 1/4″ – 1/2″ from the front edge of the pocket and at least 1/2″ from the pocket mark. At the bottom of the facing, do the same, about 1 1/2″ below the pocket mark.

Here are all of the pieces traced and cut out for the open top pocket. The pocket bag should be cut on the fold as shown. The rear and front facings can have a seam allowance of 1/4″ to 1/2″ added along the front edges if you have a fabric that frays easily. Be sure to carefully mark the pocket openings on each piece.

Lay the trousers wrong side up, pulling back the pocket bag to expose the rear pocket facing.

Fold over the seam allowance on the remaining long edge of the facing and baste. You can leave this edge raw if you prefer and if the fabric does not fray.

Cut a piece of linen the length of the facing and about 1 1/2″ wide, or just slightly narrower than the facing. To prevent fraying of this linen stay, I like to cut these pieces on the selvage.

This is an optional step, but I find it greatly lengthens the life of the trousers, helping to prevent the seam below the pocket from splitting open.

Baste the linen stay to the seam allowance of the facing and side seam, keeping your hand in the pocket opening so that the stitches do not catch the front of the trousers. The selvage should be aligned with the edge of the side seam, or a little bit further towards the rear of the trousers as desired.

Now fold the remaining half of the pocket bag in place, aligning the folded edge with the side / facing seam underneath. You’ll have to do this mainly by feel with your hands, as both halves of the seam are hidden during this step. Again, baste only through the pocketing, stay, and facing layers.

Stitch the pocket bag to the facing using a back stitch or half back stitch about 1/8 from the edge, being sure not to let the stitching show through to the right side of the facing. The stitches here are going through the pocket bag, the linen stay, and the seam of the facing underneath. Stitch from the waist down to the bottom of the pocket opening (1/2″ from the end of the facing).

This next step can get a little tricky, as the facing has the tendency to move out of place as you’re working, and you can’t really see what you’re doing. Baste the pocket facing to the bag from the outside, using your other hand to adjust the facing so that it lays smoothly. It can take a couple of tries if you’re not used to it!

With the facing basted securely in place, we need to determine the outline of the facing and make it apparent on the pocket bag for stitching. To do this, the easiest way is to fold the pocket bag around the facing, making sure there is no excess, and creasing the fold with your finger nail.

Dont’ forget to mark the short lower end of the facing as well.

Stitch the pocket bag to the facing by hand using a back stitch or a half back stitch, from the bottom edge of the facing to the waist seam. I prefer the half back stitch as the stitches are tinier and a little neater looking. Keep your other hand underneath to help hold the facing in place and guide your stitches.

There’s just one small opening left to close on the pocket bag, the area below the facing. You can baste it closed first if you have a larger opening, but I had just an inch and a half or so. Stitch the bag closed with a back stitch or half back stitch. When you get to the lowest 1/2″ of the facing, stitch through all layers – the lower facing and seam allowance, four layers of the pocket bag, and the upper facing and seam allowance, for the strongest finish. You may have to use a prick stitch – pulling the needle all the way through for each individual stitch – if the layers are thick here.

Finally, position the pocket bag in place along the front of the trousers, and baste across the top of the pocket through all layers.

To tie everything together and strengthen the pockets considerably, tack the pockets through all layers by machine or by hand using a side stitch, at the top and bottom of the opening. I start with making a horizontal stitch line across the pocket, about 1/4″ from the seam on either side.

I’ll often make two or three passes for extra strength.

You can continue the tacking by adding decorative stitching below the tacks in a triangular or half moon shape.

This completes the side seam pockets!

To begin installing the pockets, lay the trousers wrong side up and move the rear pocket facing out of the way. Remove the basting stitches from the front pocket facing.

We’ll be working entirely with this front facing to begin with. Open up the facing, and then position one of the pocket bags in place so that the fold lines of each are aligned. Align the waist area as well.

Open up the seam allowance of the pocket and baste the pocket in place to the facing. Keep adjust as you go, ensuring the fold of the pocket is snug to the crease of the pocket facing. Try not to stitch all the way through the trousers – just catch the seam allowance of the facing underneath.

Fold the facing back into place and baste securely through all layers about 1/2″ from the edge. You need to keep enough of the facing free on the other long edge to stitch later on.

It was a little awkward for me to stitch and photograph at the same time so I switched directions with the basting stitches.

Turn under the remaining long edge of the facing and baste securely. If your fabric does not fray, you can leave this as a raw edge, which has the benefit of not being as bulky.

Baste the folded or raw edge down, catching only the pocket bag underneath. Don’t let the stitches catch the trouser front.

It’s very difficult to see in the photo, but fold the trousers out of the way and stitch along the inner edge of the trouser facing. This can be done by machine, or by hand with a back stitch or felling stitch. Just make sure the stitches are going through only the facing and the pocket bag beneath it.

Here’s the stitching from the underside of the pocket.

On the right sides of the trousers, mark the bottom and top of the pocket opening on the trouser front.

Being very careful to move the pocket bag and any stray trouser pieces out of the way, top stitch the front pocket facing through all layers from mark to mark, about 1/4″ from the edge. You can also do this by hand using a side stitch.

As you’re stitching, I’ve found that the fabric wants to gather towards the edge of the pocket. To prevent this, keep a firm pull on the fabric with your left hand as you sew.

This just looks like a mess, but shows well all of the various things you need to keep out of the way of the top stitching.

Hard to see, but here is the completed top stitching for the front pocket facing.

Drafting the pockets is fairly easy to do. Begin by tracing out your trouser front pattern (including the seam allowances) on a fresh piece of paper. I’ve done the complete top half, but you really only need the top of the side seam and the waist to draft the pockets.

Mark the position of the bottom of the pocket opening.

Mark a line as indicated, from the top of the waistband about 4 – 5 inches from the side seam, angled inwards towards the fork. This line determines the width of the pocket, so you may want to compare the measurements to your favorite pair of trousers if you’re unsure of the size.

The angle also helps the pockets to lay more smoothly, especially when things are placed inside. This line will be placed on the fold when cutting out the pockets.

Finally, draw a curve indicating the bottom of the pocket. I like the bottom of mine to be five or six inches below the pocket opening to give myself a lot of room, but it’s up to you, really.

Note how the pocket is deepest along the inner bottom. This helps coins and such fall inwards rather than out towards the opening.

Here’s my completed pattern. Note the line marked to cut on the fold. You can also see where I adjusted the curve a little more to my liking.

Cut two sets of pockets on the fold as shown. Mark the wrong sides for reference.

Constructing the pockets themselves is very easy and takes only a few minutes. Begin by marking the bottom of the pocket opening, followed by another mark an inch or two below that, to indicate where to stop the seam.

Sew from the folded edge, tapering into a 1/4″ seam allowance around the bottom of the pocket to the mark.

Trim the seam to 1/16″ – 1/8″.

Turn the pocket right side out, smoothing out the curve area with your fingers. Press.

Along the remaining long edge of the pocket, turn both seams inwards 1/4″.

Finally, top stitch along the folded edge and the curve, stopping at the mark you made earlier. This completes the pocket bag.

With the side seam basted, it’s time to work on the pocket facings. Cut four facings, 1″ longer than the pocket opening, and about 2 1/4″ wide or to your preference. The width is based on your desired finished facing width (in my case I went with 1 1/2″, plus a 1/4″ seam allowance to attach to the side seam, and a 1/2″ seam allowance to allow for ease of turning under the inside edge of the facing to attach to the pocket. If your fabric does not fray, you could leave off this second 1/2″ seam allowance entirely.

Arrange the trousers so that the pocket area is comfortably accessible to you – either the top or the back side can be facing up.

Now open up the side seam which you previously basted. As long as you kept the basting far enough away from the edge (at least 1/2″, 3/4″ is even easier), the following steps should go smoothly, even if they are a little confusing at first.

Just keep in mind that this opened seam leaves the right sides of the front and back exposed.

With right sides together, lay the facing onto the front or back piece, aligning the end of the facing with the waist seam – the other end of the facing should be 1/2″ beyond the end of the pocket opening.

Carefully baste the pocket facing into place.

You can use either a straight basting stitch or a diagonal basting stitch here, whichever you prefer and have room for.

Now flip this first facing out of the way, making room to attach the second facing to the other seam.

Lay the facing in place as per the first.

Baste securely, ensuring the facing is aligned with the first one.

With both facings basted into position, mark on the wrong sides of each 1/2″ from either end. This gives you the sewing start and end points of the facing seams.

Make sure the markings align with each other by flipping the pocket facings over and judging the distances with your eye. If the facings are slightly different sizes or basted on inaccurately, it’s easy to end up with misaligned markings that will affect the pockets themselves later on.

Sew each facing to the side seam from mark to mark using a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Here’s the second facing sewn on. Remove the basting stitches from each of the facings.

Sewing the Side Seam

Now sew the side seam either by machine or using a back stitch or back and fore stitch with a 1/4″ seam allowance. If sewing by machine, keep the back side underneath while sewing. Since there is fullness worked into the back, it is very useful to allow the feed dogs to help distribute that fullness.

Sew from the hem to about 1″ below the bottom of the pocket facings. Those will be finished by hand for more strength and control.

N.B. Don’t remove the basting stitches from the side seam until after you’ve finished sewing the seam by hand.

Moving the ends of the facing out of the way, finish sewing the seam by hand with small backstitches to the position of the markings / end of the facing stitches.

Do the same from the top of the side seam to the top mark of the facings.

Adding Stay Tape

An optional step for more strength in the pocket is to add a length of stay tape about 1/16″ from the edge of the front pocket facing seam line. This should be the same length as the linen and the facings, though I tend to make mine about 1/4″ longer at the bottom, though it doesn’t really do anything at that point. Baste in place.

Again, this is optional, as not all trousers of the 1860s period would have used this, and in some heavier fabrics it will make the pocket area a little too bulky.

Fell or cross stitch the stay tape to the linen, being sure the stitches do not show on the right side of the trousers.

Finally, temporarily baste the front facing over the stay tape, setting the facing back about 1/16″ to 1/8″. This is just temporary to make pressing easier – the stitches will be removed before putting the pocket bag in.

Pressing

Now it’s time for a good pressing. It sometimes seems as if this seemingly easy step takes longer than the others combined, but it’s worth the effort of course.

Turn the trousers wrong side up and first press the front facing which we just basted. I like to press the hip area over a tailor’s ham to make things a little easier and keep the curves of the area smooth.

Press the back facing open.

Turn the trousers right side up and press the rear facing again from the right side this time.

And press the front facing area from the right side as well.

Turn the trousers back over to the wrong side to press the side seam. Beginning at the top, carefully move the facings out of the way, exposing the side seam underneath. Press.

Press the rest of the side seam below the pocket mouth from the wrong side. I like to use a little sleeve roll under the leg portion to make pressing easier.

Finally, press the side seam from the right side.

The side seam has to be stabilized and sewn together before we can install the pocket, and it involves a few steps. I choose to add linen interfacing and stay tape in certain areas, but realize they were not used in all trousers during the period, especially of the military variety. I find the trade off worth it though in prolonging the life of the trousers.

To begin, cut two strips of linen, about 1″ wide by 1″ longer than you want the pocket opening to be. I prefer a larger opening so I made my strips 9″ long, for an 8″ wide pocket mouth.

It’s great if you can cut them square but as you can see, I had a bit of trouble this time.

Baste the linen strips to the wrong sides of each trouser front.

Adding this strip of linen alone greatly strengthens the area around the pocket.

It’s now time to attach the trouser fronts to the backs. Lay out the front on the table, and lay the back over the top, right sides together.

Now pin the very top of the side seam at the waist, ensuring that when we baste the side seam, the tops will be aligned properly.

Now, starting from the bottom hem, baste to the position of the knee (you can be precise about this and lay it out on the pattern, or just estimate).

Be sure to match the plaids as you’re going, if necessary.

Now baste from the knee to the waist, positioning the trousers so that the back piece is underneath and in an orientation that is most comfortable for your you.

As you’re basting, you’ll notice that the underside has a bit more fabric than the top side. This needs to be distributed evenly, moreso around the pocket opening, with the remaining excess distributed just below the pocket and tapering off to an even tension by the time you get to the knee.

The idea is to have the back piece have a bit of excess for the seat and hips, as well as the pocket opening to be slightly under tension in the front piece, ensuring it stays closed while wearing.

Sorry it’s not more photogenic! But here’s the basted side seam.

It’s a good time to check how the plaids are aligned, and if necessary, redo them. Really depends upon how fussy you want to get.

Finally, it’s time to attach the fly itself to the trouser front. Begin by trimming away about 1/4″ to 3/8″ of the fashion fabric and the linen interlining from the fly, being sure not to cut into the lining underneath.

Lay the fly in place on the wrong side of the trousers. I like to set the fly back a little to reduce bulk, so that the eyes of the buttonholes are about 1/2″ from the edge of the trouser. Baste securely down the center of the fly.

Turn the fly lining under itself – ideally it will encompass all of the layers that make up the fly and fly facing. Baste closed along the folded edge.

Fell along the folded edge of the fly from the waist to the bottom of the fly.

The very bottom can be a little unwieldy depending on just how you’ve trimmed and aligned things. Just get everything looking as nice as you can without making too big a deal out of it, as this area will be mostly hidden when the trousers are finished.

Using a machine stitch or back or side stitch by hand, top stitch through all of the layers about 1/8″ away from the folded edge of the fly. I like to use two different threads here for the machine, the bobbin matching the fashion fabric and the top thread matching the lining.

Use the edge of the fly and your presser foot as a guide while sewing.

The finished result should be a nice line of stitching on the inside.

As well as a smooth line of stitching on the right side which follows the shape of the fly perfectly.

Finally, we need to finish up the fly by making several rows of stitching across the fly, between the buttonholes, to keep the fly from opening up too widely while wearing the trousers.

Start by drawing some guidelines midway between the buttonholes and perpendicular to the edge of the fly.

Start by taking a knotted thread and passing the needle between the layers of the fly, catching the knot inside where it won’t be seen.

Tack the edge of the fly down with about 6 to 8 stitches in place through all layers except the outer layer.

Then begin back stitching across the fly, following the chalked guideline.

Be sure not to let the stitches show through to the right side! Finish off the back stitching with a few stitches in place. Repeat as necessary. This concludes the trouser fly construction.