Sewing Tiny Pockets - An Edwardian Pocket Pattern Hack!

Inset pockets styles can go far beyond the inconspicuous slashed pocked we find on jeans, and the ingenuity of Edwardian ladies demonstrated that as they took that pocket design to a whole new level.While researching some designs for my Edwardian Fashion series, the inset pockets on this coat caught my attention. The whimsical gathered pockets are set in the vertical princess seams at the front and back of the coat, spanning the space over the side seams.The coat itself is very similar to the Coat Essentials pattern, by Keepers Dolly Duds so I thought that would be a good base pattern to give this curious pocket design a whirl. The pocket design looked easy enough to figure out, but I knew that the side seams on the coat would require a little puzzling out.As we learned in the previous tutorial, inset pockets are made with three main parts – the pocket opening, the back pocket facing, and the front pocket facing. The front and back princess seams on the Edwardian coat are vertical from the waist down, so the first thing I needed to do for this hack was to straighten out the flared princess seams on the Coat Essentials pattern. Because I wanted to preserve the original fit of the pattern, I simply trimmed the flare from the bodice front and back pieces and moved them to the bodice side pieces… aligning the cutting lines, not the seamlines. Next, I needed to make the back pocket facing. Unlike a standard slashed pocket, this inset pocket spans over the side seam which meant the back pocket facing was going to be made in two pieces – the side front and side back. To figure this out, I determined where I wanted the top of the pocket opening to be and then measured down to how deep I wanted the pocket, plus ¼” for the seam allowance. Because the sides of the coat are flared, I measured up from the hemline on outside seamlines to keep the top and bottom lines on the side front and side back pieces the same height and used the grainlines keep them horizontal. With the new side pieces figured out, I traced them onto a fresh piece of paper.To make the outside gathered portion of the pocket pattern, I aligned the side seams of the front and back side pieces along the stitching lines of the pocket sections and taped them together. Then, cut the pattern piece along the top line I had marked for the pocket and traced the new piece onto a piece of paper. To give the pocket its final shape, I straightened out the top and side edges. I wanted a little additional fullness to the pocket so I added an extra ½” at each side.The last part of drafting this pocket was to add the front pocket facing. To determine the shape of the inside pocket facing, I transferred the cutting line for the bottom edge of the pocket I had marked on the original pattern piece to the pocket pattern. To reduce the bulk along the top edge of the pocket, I opted to add the pocket facing to a fold line at the top edge instead of using a separate piece with a seam.To do this, I traced the section I marked for the pocket facing on a separate piece of paper, cut it out, and then flipped it up and taped the top edges together at what will be the fold line for the pocket facing. With that, I have all the pieces to make this new pocket for the Coat Essentials Pattern!For this tutorial, I sewed the coat with a quilting cotton because I think the lighter weight fabric will give the pocket a better drape. If you use heavier weight fabrics, consider using less fullness for a lighter gather on the pocket front.The original Coat Essentials pattern starts with the pockets, so that is where we will begin with this Edwardian style hack. The top of each pocket needs to be folded under along the fold line and then pressed to crease.Then, stitch 3/8” from the folded edge to define the ruffle and two more stitching lines below that 1/8” apart to form channels for the 1/8” wide twill tape or ribbon that the pocket will be gathered on. Turn the pocket over and sew two rows of gathering stitches along the bottom edge of the pocket facing. Finish prepping the pockets by drawing a 14” length of 1/8” wide twill tape or ribbon through each of the 1/8” wide channels. Because the channels are so narrow, I threaded my twill tape on a darning needle and drew it through the channels eye first. Don’t gather the pockets up yet. Because this new pocket spans across the front and back side pieces, this is where I will need to take a bit of a detour from the original instructions. Pin each set of the side front and side back pieces right sides together along the side seams. Stitch from the dot to the bottom edge and press the seam allowances open.With the right sides together and matching the double notches on the side back edges, pin the bottom edge of the pocket facing to the bottom edge of the coat side section, drawing up the gathering stitches to fit. Stitch along the bottom edge to secure and finish the seam allowance, if desired.Turn up the pocket and draw the twill tape so that the gathered portion measures 5”. Stitch the tape in place on each side to secure, trim the tails, and pin the side edges together. The pocket itself if finished. Now, it is just a matter of sewing up the rest of the coat following the instructions from Step 14 on… making some accommodations for the partially sewn side seams. It’s amazing the difference a pocket can make to the overall design of a garment!Watch my video to see how I created this pocket hack in real time! If you would like to try this hack on the Coat Essentials pattern, I drew up the final pocket pieces for you (you can find that pattern piece as a free download in the SWC Bonuses section later this evening). However, if you follow the process I laid out for you in this tutorial, you can draft a similar pocket to add this interesting pocket design to just about any of your favorite coat, skirt, or even pants patterns!

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