Sewing The Seventies: Make 1 – In-seam pockets for a faux fur jacket

My faux fur jacket needed some pockets. After all, who wears a coat without any pockets? I didn’t want to include all this detailed information in my post about the finished jacket, and thought this was worth a tutorial-type post instead. I didn’t think to take photos of all my steps at the time, but did some diagrams instead. The reinforcement steps (8 – 10) were adapted from the seventies (of course!) dressmaking book, The Complete Dressmaker by Peggy Hayden.

The Complete Dressmaker by Peggy Hayden

Materials used:

1 metre x cotton tape (3 cm wide)

Medium-weight, or relatively stiff woven iron-on interfacing

Instructions

Carry out steps 1-4 before the side seams are sewn in the jacket.

1. Create a pattern piece for the in-seam pockets

Make a pattern piece the size of youir hand.

2. Cut out left and right pockets in lining and in faux fur fabric

Cut out 4 pockets – 2 in the lining fabric and 2 in the jacket fabric

3. Mark the proposed position of the pockets on the jacket. I positioned mine at about hip height.

4. Sew the faux-fur pocket pieces to the back of the jacket, with right-sides together using a 1 cm seam allowance. Sew the lining pocket pieces to the front of the jacket using a 1cm seam allowance. A smaller seam allowance is used here instead of the usual 1.5 cm so that when the side seams are sewn, the pockets will sit slightly inside, for a more discreet finish.

5. Pin the side seams of the jacket and around the pockets, pinning the front of the pocket (lining fabric) to the back of the pocket (faux fur fabric).

6. Sew the side seams with a 1.5 cm seam allowance. When you get to the top of the pocket, pivot and stitch the two pocket pieces together following the curve of the pockets.

With right sides together stitch along seam line following the curve of the pockets

7. Clip the back seam allowance below and above the pocket.

 

Clip across the back pocket seam allowance almost to the stitching lineabove and below the pocket.

The following steps reinforce the pocket seam and prevent it from sagging under its own weight and also to help it to lie flatter within the jacket.

8. Iron the interfacing onto the cotton tape. This will make the cotton tape much stiffer. I used cotton tape as I knew my iron-on interfacing wouldn’t stick to my fluffy fabric!

9. Pin the interfaced cotton tape to the back seam of the in-seam pocket. I needed about 40 cm for each pocket.

Place reinforcemnt strip on top of seam and slip stich the strip to the seam allowance / jacket.

10. Slip-stitch the cotton tape to the seam allowance, the pocket or the jacket.

Jordan Jacket – Progress Report 1

Slowly, but surely – that’s the way I’d describe my progress on the Jordan jacket. In the last couple of weeks I have concentrated mostly on sewing the pockets for the jacket.

The upper pockets were fiddly, but only because I cut the pocket flaps so that the helicopters match and then had to sew them exactly in place so that the helicopter synchronously moved in a right to left direction.

I was very pleased with how the single welt pockets came together too. When I first received this pattern in the post, I perused the instructions sheets while dreaming of my yet-to-be-made jacket. Does anyone else out there, read the sewing instructions for fun on the train, or am I just weird? Anyway, I digress. When I first saw the instructions all I noticed were the hand-drawn sketches and somehow my techie side just thought that they were quaint and old-fashioned. But now I’ve been using the instructions, I can’t praise them enough! Just nothing, and I mean nothing is left to chance. They are a complete breeze to follow. I really liked the use of freezer paper to help transfer the pocket placement marks onto the fabric. In fact, it made things so easy that I did used the method on both sides of the jacket in exactly the same way, even though the instructions suggested that it wasn’t necessary.

So here are some pictures of the beautiful pockets:

 

Top pocket

Single welt pocket

Top pocket

This is definitely a summer jacket, so at least I’m not trying to rush it in order to wear it. Even so, I’m desperately trying not to get impatient with my progress. It’s probably the most complex thing I’ve sewn and don’t I know it!