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!

Mirror selfie with one hand in pocket of denim skirt

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!

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Sew the two flat pocket lining pieces together on three of four sides, leaving flat side open
  4. Fold the edge open around the flat side
  5. 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.
  6. 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.

Mirror selfie wearing romper with hand in pocket

Next Summer, I added my favorite pocketless pants to the mix:

mirror selfie wearing flowing paisley pants, hand in pocket

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!

smug selfie in swimsuit, holding out side of cloth jacket to show new pocket

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.

Mirror selfie in black sheath dress with hand in pocket

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!

Categories: project