Early trouble at the seam (5)
I believe the answer is:
layer
'the seam' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'early trouble' is the wordplay.
'trouble' indicates an anagram.
'early' is an anagram of 'LAYER'.
'at' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for layer that I've seen before include "Film" , "Bed - hen" , "One producing eggs" , "Stratum; eg, hen" , "Stratum; chicken" .)