I promised you a blog about the pockets I put on my Easy Ageless Cool shirt, so I'm back to explain those to you. I used the same basic technique for both pockets, and you can create endless variations of them.
Of course, they can be any size you want them to be. Draw a rectangle for the size pocket you want, including the 3/8" seam allowances on all 4 sides.
The fun is choosing the fabrics. You'll want a large piece for the body of the pocket, a piece as wide as the pocket but about 3 inches (plus seam allowances) deep to act as the pocket facing, and a third piece about 2" deep as a trim piece.
POCKET FACING
Place the pocket piece wrong side down on top of the facing piece, with the facing piece right side up, like this. I have them folded back just so you can see the right and wrong sides.
Pin the pocket and facing together across the top edge. Stitch them together across the top and grade the seam allowances, like this.
Press the seam allowances open. Using a Pressing Template, press a 3/8" hem across the free edge of the facing.
Wrap the facing around the seam allowances and turn it down so it lies on the right side of the pocket. This will prevent any of the pocket wrong side from peeking out at the top of the finished pocket.
POCKET TRIM
Fold the trim piece in half, wrong sides together, and lay a strip of Steam-a-Seam across it next to the raw edge. Press it lightly and remove the paper backing.
Slide the trim piece under the pocket facing just enough to cover the Steam-a-Seam. Press again to fuse. At this point, you could also slide a strip of Steam-a-Seam under the trim piece, right under those same raw edges. Press lightly again, remove the paper backing, and press to fuse.
Now you can stitch across the bottom of the pocket facing, attaching both the facing and the trim piece to the pocket.
ATTACHING THE POCKET
Staystitch both sides and the bottom of the combined pocket/facing/trim at 3/8". Using a Pressing Template, press a 3/8" fold on all sides of the pocket, favoring the staystitching a thread or two to the wrong side. Lay strips of Steam-a-Seam on all 3 folds, press lightly, and remove the paper backing. Position your pocket on your garment and press again to fuse. Be sure the seam allowances at the top corners are tucked down into the pocket slightly so they won't show when you're finished.
When everything is fused correctly, you can edgestitch your pretty pocket to the garment. Be sure to stitch across the top of the pocket for 3/8" to catch the seam allowance at the top corner. Count the number of stitches across at the top corner (usually about 4), then continue stitching around your pocket, using the appropriate presser foot. End by stitching across the other upper corner with the same number of stitches as you used on the first top corner. And ta-da, a terrific pocket!!
I only stitched my sample pocket 3/4 of the way around so I could show you that photo of the 3/8" folded back. But the following photo will show you the thread tail where I started at a top corner.
One of the things I love to do is use strips of selvedge like this as my trim piece. I just cut them wide enough so that their raw edge will fit under the pocket facing. So save those selvedges! Many have the circles of all the dye colors used to print the fabric, and some have lettering or other decorative motifs that would look great on a trim piece.
So there you are, everyone. Have fun making distinctive pockets, and post them on the Facebook Forum for everyone to see. Sharing feeds creativity for all of us.
