How to extend pockets

The pockets in women’s pants are usually too small. I guess this is a style thing; for whatever reason the market doesn’t seem to have provided good options here.

You can extend your pockets so they actually hold your phone securely! This isn’t a hard project; you can do it with basic sewing skills.

You could also bring them to a tailor to have it done. If you drop a phone periodically because it won’t fit in your pocket well, getting pockets big enough to safely hold your phone probably pays for itself.

Materials:

• Needle and thread, or sewing machine. Thread color doesn’t matter; it won’t show.
• Pins (optional)
• Piece of fabric for the pocket, about 12 by 6 inches. A piece of an old sheet or pillowcase works great. I would use woven non-stretchy fabric. You could use stretchy fabric like from a teeshirt, but the pocket will stretch some which might be a bit annoying. Whatever you use, you want it in decent shape and not about to rip (so I wouldn’t use anything that’s wearing to shreds). It will be next to your skin so I wouldn’t use anything scratchy. It won’t show, so it doesn’t matter what it looks like.

Before: typical pockets, with a phone as far in as it will go. 🙁

To start, turn the pants inside out. I always extend the right pocket, which is on the left once it’s inside out. Here it is before alteration.

The part that shows is above that curved line of stitching. Below that, your work doesn’t have to look good.
I cut off the bottom of the pocket. At the edge closest to the side of the pants, it’s sewn to the pants fabric. I don’t want to damage the actual pants, so I trim it close but not all the way to that fabric.

Here’s the fabric I’m going to add. Precision doesn’t matter a lot here. You want it to be twice as wide as the pocket, big enough to basically match the pocket when folded in half.

I’m going to pin the new fabric to the edge of the old pocket fabric. Ideally you pin so the edges are sticking out (so when you stick your hand in the pocket, the rough edges are not exposed). But I’ve sometimes done it backwards by mistake and it’s not a big deal. If you like to live dangerously, you don’t have to pin it.

The new fabric is going to fold in half to go all around the edge of the old pocket, with the folded side closest to the zipper and the open edges closest to the side seam. After you’ve pinned it, check that it seems right – the pocket should not be pinned shut!

Now I sew the top edge of the new fabric to the bottom edge of the old pocket, starting at the side and going around back to the side again. Check what you’re doing if you’re not sure you’re sewing the right parts together – don’t sew the pocket shut! If you go to the outside of the pants, you should be able to stick your hand in.
If you’re hand-sewing, you want your stitches fairly close so the seam will be strong. You don’t want your keys or phone falling out.

Now I finish closing the side and bottom of the pocket. This is basically a J-shaped seam going from the folded part across the bottom, and up the side until it meets the fabric of the pants. There will be a little gap where the pocket meets the pants, but you can just leave the little gap as long as you’re not planning to carry anything really tiny.

If you want to be tidy, you can trim any loose threads and extra fabric (leaving about half an inch of fabric on the outside of the seams so it doesn’t unravel all the way to the seam). You’re done!

The final result. In snugger pants the phone is more visible than in looser pants. The phone sits against my leg rather than my hip, so when I sit down my leg can bend easily without the phone getting in the way.