Tutorial: DIY easy gathered pocket

Wednesday, March 17th, 2009
Today I finished an apron that I have been dying to sew for myself for a long time...The Emmeline apron by Sew Liberated. I bought the pattern in the fall but got too busy sewing aprons and accessories for the show season and just never got around to it...So it was a really satisfying feeling putting it on today...I heart it! Anyway, the pattern does not have pockets but to me, an apron needs pockets so I thought, hey! What a great time to put together the first tutorial for Citizen Craft!
So, here it is: The super easy and fun Gathered Pocket! I hope you like it!


The Gathered Pocket...cute, practical, easy and did I mention CUTE!?

Here's what you'll need for one pocket:

X2 pieces of fabric, one for the outside of your pocket and one contrasting piece for the liner. (inside of your pocket!) These can be in whatever shape or size you like. I used 2 pieces, 7" wide by 7" long.

A piece of bias tape, ribbon, lace or other trim that is about 11/2" longer than the width or your pocket. I used red "dingle balls"...

Corresponding thread, pins, sewing machine (or not if you are sewing by hand), iron

music

(*wine optional, depending on what time of day it is, of course...)

Suggested music:
Jaydiohead- Minty Fresh Beats (A mash up of, you guessed it, Jay-z and Radiohead...sublime!)
David Byrne & Brian Eno- Everything that happens will happen today...Can't stop listening to this!

Ok, now let's get to it!

1- Put on your music.

2- Make a pocket: Trace then Cut out your 2 pieces of fabric in your desired shape. I often run around my house looking for a shape to trace (template) like a book, a plate, a piece of paper...use whatever, just keep in mind that your finished pocket will be a bit smaller than your template.

3- Put your 2 pieces of fabric together, right sides facing, then pin them together. Sew the two pieces together, start at what will be the top of the pocket, about an inch from the middle, heading towards the side edge. Sew all the way around the pocket, back up to the top of the pocket and stop leaving about a 3 "opening.
This opening will allow you to turn your pocket right side out.

4- Trim with pinking shears or if not, trim, then clip any curves by snipping little triangles near to your seam. Careful not to snip too close to the seam. Leave a bit of extra fabric at the opening part so you will have enough fabric to fold it in.

5- Have a sip of wine, if appropriate.

6- Turn your pocket right side out. A pencil helps to gently poke out the corners.

7- Press the pocket with a nice hot iron, take care to fold in the top opening, thereby closing it.

8- Topstitch the top of the pocket.

9- Now it's time to gather!

10- Sew 1/4" -1/2 " from your topstitch line on the top of your pocket, using a gathering stitch

11- Run a second gathering stitch (also known as a basting stitch) under your first gathering stitch line. These should be quite close together, as long as they do not intersect. Make sure you leave a couple inches of thread on at the beginning and end of sewing. You need to be able to pull the thread to get the gathered look. This is how it should look when you are done this step:




12- Now grab the two bottom threads or the two top threads and pull gently. Repeat on the other side. Make sure you only have the two bottom or two top threads otherwise it won't work.


13- When it looks about size you want, place your hand on top to make sure it will fit inside. Leave a bit of space on either side of your hand for wiggle room. Maybe a 1/4"or so.

14- Tie all four threads together on both sides, not too tight. Evenly spread out the gathering. It should look like this:


15- Lay your trim (bias tape, ribbon or whatever) over top of the gathered line, folding the edges underneath the pocket so that they will be tucked under when you sew the pocket onto your garment. Pin if you like.

16- Sew the trim onto the pocket, I used a zigzag stitch but feel free to do any stitch you like. Nice and easy now! You want to keep a straight line.

17- I put a few drops of fray stop on the raw ends of my dingle ball trim to keep it from fraying.


18- Oooh! Have a look! Your pocket looks swell!

19- oops, I forgot about my wine in all the excitement!

20- Now play around with the placement of the pocket onto your garment. When you have settled on the right spot, pin it into place.



21- Start sewing the pocket onto your garment just under the trim, going all around the pocket, keeping close to the edge. Remember to give it a good couple of backstitches at the beginning and end of sewing so that it won't pull when your hand is in it..



22- Voila! That's it! Now go ahead and add pockets to anything and everything!

PS I did a light gathering on the pictured pocket, if you want to make more of a gather, make the top of the pocket wider. Play around with shapes. This is an easy way to get a super snazzy look and is a very forgiving technique.
xoxo