We never had our own sewing machine but everywhere I went in South America had a place, either on base or off, that had excellent sewing services and since every team used them when they went there, they had a pretty good pattern/style that everyone liked...and they were VERY inexpensive.

In Afghanistan we had a "Haji" sew shop that could modify anything we needed. Usually with a few days turnaround. We prototyped things then sent them back for mods then had them mass produced for the team.

The first time I had modified BDU's (called mods) was in Oki around 2000. We had unit funds that allowed us to take our uniforms to a local sew shop. Not only were the lower shirt pockets moved to the upper sleeves, but the top pockets were slanted outwards so they could be accessed while wearing body armor or a load bearing vest (LBV). Shirt pockets were done in Velcro as were the US Army and name tapes. Trouser pockets were left with original buttons as access wasn't an issue.

In my upper sleeve pockets I carried a nylon VS-17 panel, an IR strobe, an E&R compass, personal GPS, local cell phone (tuned off and SIM card taped to the outside) and protein bars. I could turn the strobe on while it remained in the pocket and it could still be seen by aircraft. In the jungle I wore a simple CamelBak under my LBV so if everything else was ditched I still had water. A waterproof map and other necessities were in my trouser cargo pockets. The philosophy was:
Live out of your ruck
Fight from your kit
Survive in your uniform.

The ACU, not only having the worst camo pattern ever, had sleeve pockets that were too small to be useful and slanted the chest pockets inward thus making them pretty much usless while wearing body armor. That is why many of us in Iraq wore modified DCU's (mods paid for out of pocket) instead of the ACU. In Iraq I had the same items on my body as when I was in SE Asia.

Still, everyone knew the basic layout of the uniform was influenced by the original mods. And the design of the mods was handed down to us from the same place the multicams came from.

Very insightful and this leads to another question. I have a couple of the modified DCU's with spots for velcro, just as you mentioned about your uniforms. On one, there are clearly spots for rank, qualification badges, rigger, air assault, etc. It seems to me that the purpose of the velcro was for inside the wire, vs outside the wire, would this be correct?

Sounds like Air Force uniforms, they love that stuff. I never saw a set of (SF) mods with anything more than the Army and name tapes on the chest and call signs or unauthorized patches on the shoulders. Even in garrison CONUS I never saw an SF guy with even so much as a set of jump wings pinned on a set of ACUs right up to the day I retired in 2008. I can't speak for the other Groups.