Some time ago, (judging by photo dates, November 2022) I decided to put pockets on some of my clothes that didn’t have pockets. Let’s face it, it’s all for my cell phone. We now live in a world where you have this thing you are expected to carry 24/7. Also, I hate not having it. I admit that. Don’t you? We never know when there’ll be a cute thing to photograph or a boring hour to fill with DuoLingo and social media!
I started with an old pair of jeans I’d saved to use for patching. I cut off the back pockets and sewed them onto my denim skirts. Hand-sewing through three layers of denim was painful, but in short order, I had pockets on my favorite skirts!
There’s something so pleasing about a craft project that can be completed in one sitting. Instant (okay an hour or so) gratification. I had at first hoped to have enpocketed all my pants and skirts that winter, but I was intimidated by doing set-in pockets.
Come biking weather in spring 2023, I turned to my rompers. I have two cotton rompers I adore wearing to ride my bike. They were both cheap and I felt not much would be lost if I screwed them up. I slit one side-seam on each and added an inset pocket. It was easier than I thought it would be!
- Identify part of side seam to put pocket in. Stretch the seam tight and use a seam ripper (quick unpick) to cut the stitches where the pocket will go.
- Cut out a piece of fabric in a sort of tombstone shape (rounded on three sides, flat on one) – I traced around my hand to make the size I wanted, with a generous inch or so extra.
- Sew the two flat pocket lining pieces together on three of four sides, leaving flat side open
- Fold the edge open around the flat side
- Line up your pocket with the slit in the garment, increase or decrease fold to angle it slightly down like your hand will naturally be in it. Pin if necessary.
- Hand-stitch the pocket to the garment. I used a whip-stitch, going through two layers of seam-and-fold-back and pocket-and-fold-back. If you don’t have matching thread, go darker than the garment.
The first one came out a little small for my cell phone, so the second one I traced around the phone when I made the pocket lining. I also added lace to the legs of both rompers, as they ride up a bit and I wanted them a touch longer for my aging thighs.
Next Summer, I added my favorite pocketless pants to the mix:
I knew I would need to deal with tops eventually. I have a number of nice cardigans with no pockets. The knit ones, I could probably knit into? But I started with this cotton cardigan. I sewed a cell-phone-sized bag to the inside seams on one side, high up so the arm would hep support it. It works great. Cell phone carrying in beach cover-up! Woot!
It was not the one-season project I had expected, but rather a spread-out series of small projects over three years, but so far I have enpocketed 2 skirts, 2 rompers, 1 jacket, 1 pair of pants, and 1 dress. The odd thing is, I was thinking of this project as a failure. Only seven garments enpocketed! And at such a slow rate! How eager I am, always to craft defeat out of success.
Enpocketing is not a project, it is a way of life. I am increasing the utility of my garments and using up small scraps I had saved in my “scraps for potential quilting” box. I’ve started throwing things in the mending basket when I decide they ought to have a pocket, and there they are when I sit down to do my mending. (Which, I admit, I do far too sporadically.)
Oh, hush, me. Sporadic mending is better than no mending. Let us all remember to allow ourselves partial success. And pockets!