How to Sew a Double Welt Pocket

This tutorial will show you how to sew a Double Welt Pocket.

Prerequisites

To complete this tutorial you should be familiar with: how-to-cut-fabric How to Thread an Juki DDL 870 Industrial Sewing Machine

Instructions

Pieces Needed

• Pocket Lining - aka pocket bag
• Pocket Facing - Seen through the welt opening
• 2 Pieces of Fusible Interfacing - Same size as Welt and Pocket Facing, stiffens the Welt and the Garment area
• Welt Piece
• Garment Piece
• Three Piece Pocket Bag or One Piece Pocket Bag (single piece is the same size minus seam allowances)
  • Contrasting color Welt Piece
  • Lighter weight fabric for pocket bag
  • Pocket Facing Piece that matches the garment fabric

Steps

1. Put fusible interfacing on the Pocket Facing on the wrong side
2. Put fusible interfacing on the Welt Piece on the wrong side where the pocket will go on the garment
   1. Remember to press with the iron and do not drag the iron, lift and press, lift and press
3. Draw out the welt on the interfacing on the garment piece
   1. 5" wide welt, using provided pattern ~1" from each side and each welt is ~1/4" tall centered vertically
4. Place wrong sides of pocket facing and pocket lining together and stitch along long edge of facing at a 5/8" seam-allowance then backstitch
5. Trim away the seam allowance of the pocket facing close to the stitching
6. Repeat for the welt piece, paying attention to the orientation of the right sides of the fabric. All right sides are facing up.
7. Trim away the seam allowance of the welt piece close to the stitching
8. Prepare both mock flat felled seams by pressing the seam flat and then folding the seam allowance around the cut seam allowances, repeat for both sides
9. Stitch the rolled seam allowance down with top stitching to complete the mock flat felled seam
10. Place the right side of the welt piece to the right side of the garment piece precisely over the previously fused interfacing
11. Note: It is important to sew precisely the same length on the top and bottom of the welt, use a shorter stitch length at the beginning and end to be more accurate and to provide strength
12. Stitch from the beginning to the end of the lines that you marked on the interfacing
13. Spin the fabric and then line up the starting point of the next stitch with the ending point of the last stitch
14. Fold the fabric and trim the center of the welt cutting through completely
15. Cut at a 45 degree angle into the corners as close as possible to the stitching without clipping the stitching
16. Pull the pocket bag through the welt opening - pull all fabric through including the welt and the pocket lining
17. Correct any trimming in the corners if not completely cut
18. Press and pull the corners square with the iron
19. Unfold top welt piece and press it open and flat
20. Fold welt at center of opening back toward the top, press a crease to hold it in place
21. Fold pocket bag all the way up and press bottom welt flat and open
22. Fold bottom welt to meet in the middle with the top welt and press a crease
23. Stitch stabilizing stitching on both edges of the welt, can use a tight zig zag stitch
24. You can optionally topstitch all the way around the well for decoration and to secure it
25. Secure the top part of the welt to the opening seam allowance, stitch these together so the top part of the welt does not sag when using the pocket, be careful not to stitch through anything but the seam allowances
26. Fold the pocket bag up to meet the top part of the seam allowance
27. Starting a the bottom corner of the pocket bag, stitch all the way around, leave the needle down at the corners and pivot, be sure not to stitch through any other fabric
28. Use a serger to finish of the raw edges of fabric of the pocket bag, an alternative is to use a zig zag stitch or an over cast stitch
29. Finally, secure the small triangles from cutting open the welt to the pocket bag, fold them flat and stitch close to the welt avoiding stitching through other fabric

Further Reading

History-of-Pockets-&-Missing-Pockets