Growing up I remember my mom and my grandma saying that you couldn’t have a pair of pants or a skirt without pockets. Where else would you stash your hanky? As a teenager, I thought a pocket’s only purpose was to make my tummy pooch out. So when did I turn into my mother?

Mom and Grandma were absolutely right: Pants need pockets. And not the little shallow kind. They need nice, deep, useful pockets. Now, when I encounter a pants pattern sans pockets, the first order of business is to add some. With many of my favorite patterns, this means that I need to work around a side-seam zipper. I could move the zipper to the center front or back,…