Tutorial Tuesdays is going to be so much fun! We are going to work hard to bring you useful projects that you can do right at home with materials you hopefully have lying around. We want to focus on easy sewing and alteration projects that will make your wardrobe truly unique. We will typically use a sewing machine unless we are doing certain repair or detail oriented tutorials, but most things can be done with just a needle and thread. We will show you some basic hand sewing stitches later, but for now lets stick to the sewing machine and speed things up! So lets get started with our first project!
Today we thought it would be nice to show you how to make your favorite skirt or dress even better and more utilitarian by adding pockets! This is a simple sewing project that even beginners can tackle. We have made it even easier by providing a printable pattern for you and step by step instructions with pictures. All you have to do is print it out and you are ready to go!
Here is the two part instructional video you can follow along with and reference the photos below for more help!
And here is part 2!
The dress we are using today for an example is one we knew we wanted to
hem to make it a little more modern and fresh. We are going to use the
remnant fabric that we cut from the hem line to make our pockets. We
will show you several different ways to hem your skirt or dress in an
upcoming post. We will also have some other great projects to up-cycle
your leftover fabric scraps.
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Here is what you will need for this project:
dress or skirt that needs to be hemmed at least 4" or
any skirt or dress you would like to add pockets to.
sewing machine
thread to match or compliment your garment
1/4 yard light weight cotton fabric
1/8 yard of your existing dress/skirt fabric or complimentary fabric
fabric chalk, marker or pen
hemming gauge
seam ripper
pins
fabric scissors
pinking shears
paper scissors
printed pattern below:
The solid lines are the pattern edges, and the dotted lines are the seam allowance or stitch lines.
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These are the three different kinds of scissors used on this project:
Pinking Shears (Red handle) are used to trim raw edges so they will not unravel
Fabric Scissors (Silver) are used only for fabric, and should be well maintained. I have had this Gingher pair for a very long time, and typically get them professionally sharpened once a year.
Paper Scissors (Blue handle)
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The first step is getting your fashion fabric so that you can "face" your pocket opening. In this case, we knew we needed to hem the dress anyway, so we cut about 6 inches off all around the hem. When hemming just make sure your cut is parallel to the existing hem.
Note: If you don't have enough of your fashion fabric to cut, then try to find a fabric that matches or is very similar to the one on your dress or skirt to use for your "fashion fabric" pocket piece.
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Next you'll want to mark on the dress where your pocket opening will be. We started ours 5" below the waist line, and marked the top and bottom of the pocket with chalk on the side seam of the dress and used our "Fashion Fabric Pattern Piece" as a guide. When you're done you should have 4 tiny chalk marks on the outside of the dress (2 for each pocket).
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Marking the top of the pocket... Just a small mark will do. Make sure to use chalk, or something that won't be permanent.
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Next you'll want to lay down your muslin pattern piece. Since this fabric won't be seen, it doesn't really matter what color it is. Though keep in mind if you're sewing a light colored dress, you'll want something that wont show through the fabric.
To cut the muslin pattern piece, I folded the fabric so that it was 4 layers thick to save time. However, you might find it's easier to cut 2 at a time if your fabric is thicker.
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Lay down the pattern piece and pin the pattern and all 4 layers together. Then cut around the outside of the pattern.
Next you will cut out your fashion fabric pieces. To do this lay your pattern piece on top of your fabric parallel to the hem line of the fabric you just cut off, so that you have 4 layers of fabric beneath, 2 layers of which will have the wrong sides facing each other.
Doing this allows you to cut fabric for two pockets at once. The reason you are laying it parallel to the hem is to make sure the grain line will match the dress.
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Pin down the pattern piece through the pattern, and the two layers of fabric.
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After you have cut all your pieces you'll have 8 pieces total. 2 sets of fashion fabric, and 4 identical muslin pocket pieces.
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Now lets start sewing! Use the dotted line on the pattern pieces as a guide for your seam allowance. In this case, it is about 1/4 inch.
Place the long edge of the colorful side of your fashion fabric piece along the straight edge of your muslin pocket piece, and sew along the 1/4 inch seam allowance.
Use the edge of your presser foot as a guide for the 1/4" seam allowance.
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Next you'll iron the seam open.
Repeat this 3 times for the rest of the pocket pieces. When you're done you'll have 4 pieces total.
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Next we're going back to the skirt. Remember the marks you make on the side seam to mark the top and the bottom of the pocket? We are going to transfer them to the opposite side of the fabric. To do this I use the pin method, where I stick a pin straight through the mark, then I go inside the dress, and mark the opposite side where the pin is sticking out.
Do this for all 4 marks, so that you clearly know on the inside of the dress where the top and bottom of the pocket is.
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Ok so the next part is a little tricky to explain, but as long as you use the rule "right sides together" you shouldn't have a problem. "Right sides together" means you want the colorful "fashion" sides of the fabric to be facing each other.
Align the top edge of the one of the pocket pieces with the top chalk mark right sides together then pin together . This means that the seam of the dress should be open.
This is what it looks like inside.
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This is what the other side should look like.
Next you'll sew the one pockets piece to the dress side seam using 1/4" seam allowance. Notice that the dress seam looks like it's lying flat open, and the colorful sides of the pocket is facing the colorful side of the dress.
Next you will take the other half of the pocket and follow the same steps. Make sure that the top of the pocket is aligned with the other side.
To give you some perspective of what you see below, the seam furthest to the right is the side seam of the dress. The one to the left parallel to that one is the other half of the pocket seam.
Next you will pin the two pocket pieces together so that they are lying flat. Then using the side seam of the dress as a guide reinforce the top and bottom of the pocket with about one inch of safety stitching (super tiny, close together stitches).
This will prevent the seam splitting when you put your hand in or out of the pocket or store things in your pocket.
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Next starting from where your safety stitch is, sew along the edge of the pocket joining both sides together using a 1/4" seam allowance.
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Next using a seam ripper, snip the side seam of the dress between the top and bottom of the safety stitches you made for the pocket. It's easiest to open when you snip about every 4th stitch or so.
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Flip the dress to the right side and pull open the new pocket opening.
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You now have pockets!
This is what the inside of the pocket should look like.
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You can leave the edges raw or you can use pinking shears to prevent fraying. It also gives it a cleaner, more uniform look. Just trim enough to leave at least 1/8" of fabric between the stitch line.
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And Voila! You're done!
Stay tuned for a simple hemming tutorial and more great sewing DIY projects! And be sure to check out our instructional video on YouTube (coming soon) to see just how this project is done!
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Happy Sewing!
Allison & Kerrie
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