Thursday, February 10, 2011

Sewing Lesson: Safari Pockets

This isn’t a technique gone over in The Book, but it’s a style of pocket I’m planning on using in my next project so wanted to practice it first.   I used Kids Clothes by Meredith Gladstone, C. 1976 for the basic information on how to make these pockets.IMG_1484

Safari Pocket:

You need a pocket piece 1.75 times the width of the desired finished pocket, and a top piece approximately 2.5 inches by .5 inches wider than the desired finished pocket

IMG_1441

Fold the pocket in half, right sides together and mark about 1/3 of the way over as a stitch line
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And stitch along the marked lines
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Open

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Press the little “bubble” you’ve made down
IMG_1448
So now you have this
IMG_1449
Place the top piece on the top of the pocket, raw edges matched, right sides together.  Stitch in place
IMG_1450
Fold the top piece up
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And then fold it back down on itself, right sides facing
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Stitch up the sides of the top
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Fold right side out
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Press
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Top stitch, if desired
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Fold under both sides and bottom 1/4 inch, press
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Sew in place, top stitching if desired
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You can also add a flap.  Ms. Gladstone suggests just turning and top stitching the top of the pocket, skipping the separate top piece, if you opt for a flap.  For practice, I just added a flap to the top-banded pocket, though

So, flap pieces, you’ll need two

IMG_1467
Right sides together sew sides and one long end
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Trim
IMG_1469
Turn and press
IMG_1470
Top stitch, if desired
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Place 1/2 inch above the pocket opening, wrong side facing you and the open edge pointing towards the pocket
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Sew along the open edge
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Fold down
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Top stitch, if desired
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This next variation is what I came up with on my own, so I’m not sure if it’s completely, officially right, but it got me the look I wanted, so I’m going with it.

Box Pleat Pocket
Start with the same original pocket pieces as for the Safari Pocket.  Figure out the center point, and fold each side towards that center point, on the correct side of the fabric.

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Press
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It will look like this
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Now just finish as you would the Safari Pocket, with either a top band or just turning and top stitching the top edge.  If you are going for the banded top, you’ll want to baste the top to keep that pleat in place as you finish things up.
IMG_1481

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3 comments:

Stephanie said...

Funny, that book was just featured in Awful Library Books the other day (although it was mostly for age, and a lot of commenters defended it). Nice pockets!

Leigh the sewing diva said...

thanks for the tutorial, I've saved it for future use.
come visit my giveaway
Leigh at The Sewing Diva

Christie @ A Lemon Squeezy Home said...

Those are really cute pockets!

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