Tuesday is Gratuitous Pockets Day Here At Dress A Day HQ

Let's start with this one, sent to me by Kristin:




And then there's this one, submitted by Maranda, which apparently I've posted about before, since the pattern image was already saved to my hard drive:




I realized lately that I talk about pockets all the time but I never say what I need those pockets FOR. So here's what's in my pockets today:

-- my pedometer
-- my lipstick (in "Urgent!")
-- a check I need to deposit, and a pen
-- my Palm Pre

I often also have my keys, my wallet (like this one, only black and with two zip pockets), and other assorted things, but those are in my backpack today.

What's in your pockets today?

Three Pocket Items

This is Vogue 8577, which STILL doesn't have any reviews (that I can find) on PatternReview. C'mon, people! I don't have time to sew modern stuff that hasn't been reviewed on PatternReview! (Luckily, this dress has plenty of reviews. But no pockets. I can add pockets, though ...)

The Guardian has a piece on "how to wear dresses with pockets", which I'm not sure needed the depth of treatment they gave it (and I think their presenter, Jess Cartner-Morley, either thought the whole thing was a bit ridic herself, or it was the morning after the night before, as she wasn't able to work up much enthusiasm for the subject). Anyway, it's a video, just so's you know. (Thanks to Lolita for the link!)

Liz sent me a link to a pocket exhibition in Australia. I was pretty excited (not booking-tickets-to-Australia excited, but still excited) until I saw that the exhibit was of ONE JACKET, and "a collection of small, stand-alone pockets, made from materials such as leather and fabric". Hmmph.

At least I'm almost done with a skirt that has exclamation-point fabric pockets. Now there are some pockets to be excited about!

Everything's Cooler with a Cape

I think this dress is aDORable. The pockets! The buttons! The CAPE! So cute. Even though the women in the illustration are obviously deciding which of the cater-waiters they will later kill, dismember, and eat.

This is also one of those rare pattern envelopes where I would follow the suggested color schemes slavishly. Red gingham-y print? Sure. Yellow poplin? You betcha. Then I'd make one in grass green, with white trim.

Even better? This pattern is on sale! That's right, Lisa at yourpatternshop is celebrating her one-year anniversary with a sale going on now. All items have been marked down 15% and can be used in combination with the "dressaday" code for free shipping to USA and Canada buyers. Happy Anniversary, Lisa!

Now All I Need is A Ball To Attend

Thanks to Lulu Yen, I know now of the existence of Vogue 890. Sadly, the one above on eBay isn't my size, but I'll get you, my pretty. I will.

So the plan is:

-- get pattern in my size, or a close approximation thereof
-- make pattern in fantastic fabric (maybe my brown roses fabric, which is still looking for a home?)
-- await invitation to ball, which at this point is going to be one I attend as the duenna of my granddaughter, but that's okay. (For point of reference: my son is nine.)
-- attend ball, carrying numerous useful items (sewing kit, handkerchief, cough drops, band-aids, bowling ball) in my capacious POCKETS!

I think it's a very good plan. What say you?

Caped Avengers

Sheila at Out of the Ashes sent me a notice that she's having a big spring cleaning sale this week -- 15% off, use the coupon code SPRINGCLEAN to get the discount.

This dress calls to me, more for the totally adorable pockets than for the kind of "huh?" capelet. And perhaps, just a little, for the green polka-dot hat. Some day when I don't have anything better to do I'm going to wear a green polka-dot hat, just for the hell of it. And whenever anyone says anything about it, I'm going to pretend I have NO IDEA what they're talking about.

Them: "Nice hat!"
Me: [blank stare]

I think I would have to do the same thing if I ever made a dress with a capelet, like this one. Either that, or I'd be humming the old Mighty Mouse theme song all day long. (HERE I come to SAVE the DAY!)

You know what else I can't see myself doing? Wearing a scarf that sticks out from between two buttons of the bodice, like Pink Dress in the background. I think the other two women are talking about how she crashed their Kapelet Klatsch without the necessary accouterments. (While doing their Seekrit Kapelet Klatsch Elbow-Shake, of course.)

Green Hat: The *nerve* of her! And what's with the scarf?
Floral Dress: I know! But pass the Kapelet Kahlua Kocktails round again, will you, darling? I'm losing my buzz!
Green Hat: HERE I come to SAVE the DAY!

This Week's Pattern Story

WANTED: for racketeering, aggravated assault, shoplifting, and littering (gum):

FEMALE, blond, 5'3", approximately fifteen years old. Last seen in gray long-sleeved dress with black handbag.

FEMALE, brunette, 5'4", approximately fourteen years old. Last seen in maroon and pink short-sleeved dress. No bag.

SUSPECTS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.

Suspects are wanted for questioning in connection with a robbery and assault in Weinberg's Drug Store on Tuesday, April 14. Taken were multiple lipsticks and powder compacts, several hairbands, and an unknown quantity of chewing gum. Suspects tripped the store proprietor when he gave chase and doused him with a combination of flour and orange soda. Suspects may have one or more unknown accomplices, given the amount of gum missing.

$5 Reward for information leading to the arrest and grounding of suspects.


(Thanks to Janet at Lanetz Living for the image!)

Happy Tax Day!

Okay, no one is excited about Tax Day, but here's a fantastic dress, made entirely of tax forms, to distract you:




(thanks to Kariann, Renee, and Lisa for the link!)

Also: the winner of the pockets haiku contest is ...

Pocket—something there?
Feel doe-soft ears and paw pads;
Kitten stowaway!

The winner is Shay, of Little Gray Bungalow! Congratulations! (Kittens? Always win.) Shay, email me for your copy of Singer Perfect Plus and the coupon for $10 off your order at MOMSPatterns (thanks to Jen).

P-P-P-P-Pockets!

Lisa (at Miss Helene's) sent me the link to this little number:




I kinda love it. Doesn't it feel weirdly postmodern, though? I mean, imagine it a foot shorter, made up in black nylon taffeta, by a designer whose name ends with a vowel, and worn with a rat's-nest hairstyle, ripped tights, and platform witch boots. See what I mean?

(And yes, I realize that it's terrible that she has those two pockets on the side where she's MISSING an ARM. So inconvenient!)

Reaching New Depths

Beth B. sent me this, from SoVintage Patterns. Now, THOSE are pockets, yes?

I'm pretty sure that they don't really go all the way to the hem, but are, instead, given a kind of apple-pie-bed treatment. Right? Otherwise I see a LOT of things going through the wash that shouldn't go through the wash ...

And I don't know about you, but I think those buttons are overkill. Giant pockets, center zipper, AND button trim? Girlfriend is trying a bit too hard. (Plus, I think she's only pretending to read. That book is too far away and I have a sneaking suspicion it's upside-down. It seems odd that all the lines would be right-justified ...)

Oh, and thank you all SO much for your wonderful response to last week's charity drive kickoff! We're already nearly halfway to the goal of $1500 for Books Through Bars ... and I forgot to mention the end date, which, this year, will be Epiphany. (Seemed appropriate, and if money's tight before the holidays, if gives you a little longer to donate ...) A few folks have had trouble with the Network For Good widget interface, so I'm going to ask Books Through Bars if they have alternate avenues ... Overseas/UK folks *can* use the widget (which asks for state/zip code) by putting their equivalent geographic locations/postal codes in those fields, btw. Don't forget to put "Dress A Day" in the "Dedication" field so that we can track the donations ... to donate TODAY, click here. When you get your receipt, forward it to me, since one lucky donor have a character named after him or her in my forthcoming novel, "The Secret Lives of Dresses"!

An Interesting Failure

I can't remember when I bought this pattern, but it was recently, and I was so excited about it ... the simple bodice plus the pocketed skirt seemed PERFECT. I even made a special trip to Vogue Fabrics to buy black denim! But what I got was this:



Unfortunately, the neck is too low, and the soft pleats, when made in denim, stick out in a bunchy and annoying way.

And here's the back, with more bunchy pleats:



The pockets are edged with metal zipper (and now I'm not so upset that the waist seam didn't match exactly when I put in the side zipper):



And I used the last of my Futura-font fabric to make the neck facing (I figured it pops up every once in a while [yes, even with tacking it at the side seams and understitching] so I might as well make it fun):




I'm calling this an interesting failure, because, well, when you get right down to it, all failures are interesting. I love to know the "why" when things go wrong. This dress *should* have been a success: pockets, black denim, scoop neck, zippers ... no construction issues, no fitting issues ... and yet, when I tried it on, I went "Ugh!"

I think this may be salvageable, though. I can take the waist apart (another ugh) and change the pleats to darts. Not much I can do about the low neckline for this version, but I could make a note to bring it up an inch the next time (remembering to make a new facing pattern). I could also (again for next time) use a slightly lighter-weight fabric (this denim is just a bit too heavy). So perhaps this is not a total failure, but instead a very, very detailed (and possibly someday wearable) muslin ...

Pockets!

Mindi sent me this picture of Laura Dern at the Emmys -- obviously, because it has pockets. I'm not a fan of purple (although it looks great on Ms. Dern!) and I admit to having an urge to yoink that bodice up a bit, but for pockets, all is forgiven.

(Do you think the woman in the background carrying a wrap in the same color and two clutch handbags is Ms. Dern's assistant? I do.)

And now, to go from the sublime to the ridiculous, I present the first bad mirror self-portrait of the week -- taken, not in my hotel room, but in a fairly posh corporate bathroom.



This is this dress; I've been trying to wear it on days when I think good things will happen, and so far it's working. The sweater is from Lands' End. I'm pretty sure the light wasn't good enough in the bathroom, thus the fuzzy photo, but the flash reflected in the mirror, so ... any self-portrait photography tips are appreciated. (I have a Canon PowerShot 1100 IS btw).

Core Competency

I know I've posted about this one before, but this time I actually bought the pattern. (Don't worry -- Beth sent me a link to another one, available here in B32, if you want one).

I'm still turning over in my head what I want to sew for the fall and winter. I'm thinking I might do some more pocket skirts, but I also wanted a simple dress pattern that 1) had pockets and 2) could be worn under a cardigan sweater easily (meaning -- no fancy neck details).

This seems to answer my RFP nicely, doesn't it? I am thinking about these as (for lack of a better term) competency dresses. Dresses you could carry a stack of heavy books in, go up and down a ladder in, duck under a desk to re-route cables in, keep a pocketful of pencils in, etc., but which still look neat and tidy. The skirt's not too narrow or too full, the neck's neither too high (strangle-y) nor too low (cleavage-y) and the simple lines mean that you could go a bit wild with your fabric choices.

Plus, it looks as if the pattern calls for piping -- both versions here have it.

I think I'd like a black lightweight denim one (with the skirt slightly shorter, maybe just below the knee) with the pockets trimmed with metal zipper; a gray poplin one trimmed with red; a dark teal with yellow piping ... the list goes on.

Beyond Cruelty

Do you know why the woman in this illustration looks as if someone is poking her with a red-hot iron? Do you see how she can barely bring herself to touch her skirt with her right hand? It's because the pockets on the skirt she is holding out so gingerly are FAKE.

Yep, that's right. FAKE. They're applied with transfers, like so:



Obviously, the woman in the background is sneering at the poor deluded woman in the foreground who thinks fake pockets are better than no pockets at all. If anything, fake pockets are worse ...

Thanks to wundermary for the images!

Those Crazy Kids!

Cecelia sent this to me (because of the pockets, obviously) and isn't it just neato keen? It's a teen pattern, which makes me think that probably someone, somewhere, saw this dress made up and clucked over the ridiculous habits of "kids today," with their enormous pockets and their lack of respect for authority.

This illustration, all by itself, is the plot of a Hayley Mills movie, isn't it? About orphan teen bank robbers. They (both roles played by Ms. Mills) are on a two-girl crime spree (and hunted by the police and all the papers, who think that they are not teens, but master criminals, albeit of very short stature) until they are befriended by a kindly bank guard (played by Morgan Freeman) who inspires them to change their ways. Somebody make that for me, okay? Thanks.

Oh, and speaking of crazy kids, do y'all remember Rebecca (of course you do, she designed this) and Trish (of CraftyPlanet.com)? They're currently working on a book called "One Yard Wonders," and are looking for really cool projects that can be made with no more than a yard of fabric. More details are here.

Please submit projects because I have a LOT of one-yard leftovers that I would really like to use up ...

Pick-a-Pocket, Any Pocket

Jim sent me this old fabric ad -- and can we just all agree that it's awesome? Leaving aside the weird fringe trim? And possibly the color beige?

I am thinking I really need one of these multipocket skirts -- especially the "hopscotch" version. I would like to make all the pockets close with contrasting bright plastic zippers (for just a tinch more security and a bit of extra wtf? sauce).

My favorite part of these old ads are the guarantees. This one states "GUARANTEE: 'If any article made principally of an Indian Head brand cotton fails to give proper service because of the fading or running of Indian Head colors, or if the fabric shrinks more than 1%, we will make good the total cost of the article.' Make sure the name INDIAN HEAD is on the selvage or hang tag."

I can't believe, though, that Indian Head cotton comes in 39 colors and BEIGE is the one they decided to feature. Beige. You know how they say the opposite of love is indifference? The opposite of color is not colorlessness, it's beige. I mean, I AM largely beige and I hate that color.

I should apologize for the spottiness of the "A Day" part of "Dress A Day" lately -- lots of travel. (I'm typing this at 6 a.m. in an airport departure lounge, actually ...) I'm on my way to Tokyo and Sapporo! Expect more Japanese fabric pictures and the concomitant Japanese fabric BUYING.

Linktastic Thursday!

Jane sent this fabric, which is on sale at Hancock's of Paducah ... she also sent earlier some even better alphabet fabric from Fashion Fabrics Club ... which is now unavailable. (I'll take my own pic and post it when mine arrives.) She also sent this text-based fabric, if you just can't get enough typographical goodness.

Kathy found this pattern at a yard sale for 33 1/3 cents (she got three for a dollar).

Needless to say, I love the pockets.

Speaking of pockets, Kim sends this brilliant Sesame Street video about their social importance. (Watch for the über-Seventies carpenter pants pockets.)



Nancy found near-perfect ginkgo fabric from Marimekko. I can see I'll have to start a special savings fund for this one. (Warning: site loaded badly in Firefox 3.)

Cookie found the fauxlero to end all fauxleros, at the Antique Dollhouse of Patterns:




I think that pattern is also a dirigible hostess dress, for sure, from the late, waning, Pan-American days of the industry.

Heather sent this wonderful ruffly number.

Melissa sent this comma necklace. Want.

Kate in Texas sent this really cute bee fabric from Hart's Fabrics -- which doesn't let you link directly to items, frustrating! So search on "bee" if you want to find it.

I would make a very serious tailored dress out of this ... it's $8.99/yard and only 45" wide though, so maybe not this week.

Another "not this week" fabric (I missed the auction!) is this:

I have not a single, solitary idea what I could have made out of it, though, even if I had gotten to the auction in time, since it was only 4 yards of 36" wide ... from seller emt-mom-70.

Marilyn wants to know if there are charities that would take her cedar chest full of wool fabric ... and I'd like to know if there are charities that would like a lot of cotton scraps, since mine are getting outrageous, and -- let's be honest -- the chances of me making that charm quilt I keep muttering about? Are infinitesimal.

I haven't seen the Sex and the City movie yet (I know!) but HotPatterns (spoiler alert) has a related pattern ... now I think I really should go see it.

But not today. Today I have 500 emails to answer. Wish me luck!

Linktastic Tuesday, All-Pockets Edition

The pattern above (click on the image to visit the eBay auction) is not only a great, easy dress, but it also inspired me to post some pocket links, or quasi-pocket links. (The one above is a B32, but there's also two B38s on eBay right now, too.)

Michelle (of Green Kitchen) sends this great link to Bitter Betty's site, where she posts a pocket tutorial.

This (sent by Mary Beth) isn't actually a pocket, but I think they're missing a significant use case by not including a stealth pocket in it. Considering how many women do keep things in their bras, why wouldn't you add a pocket to a bra accessory? Seems like a no-brainer to me. (Of course, I don't think I'd ever buy one of those things, as they seem uncomfortable and liable to wiggle around, but hey, I admire their problem-solving gumption.)

Also in the thing-that-should-have-pockets-but-doesn't category, Pretty Bourgeois posted a link to a dress that looks like the LL Bean Tote Bag. Too bad there's only one monogram option.

I missed the original auction for this one, sent by Ginger Lane:




But if you click the image there's a B34, sans envelope, up on the 'bay right now. I'd rather not have the envelope -- for some reason, the pictures on that pattern creep me out.

And one more pocket link, from Summerset. Seriously, this link, which explains how to put a pocket and an invisible zipper in the same seam, changed my life. Do you know how many 1950s side-zipper dresses I can put pockets in now? EVERY ONE OF THEM.

I'll Fly Away

Check out this great pattern (at Cemetarian). Dawn sent it to me thinking I would enjoy the winglike pockets -- and she thought right. Wow. Those are some pockets. They're ideally suited to that awkward moment when you have three children awaiting ice cream cones, but only two hands! You could put a double-scoop strawberry in a sugar cone on the right and a rainbow sherbet on the left, and still have a hand free for napkins.

I do really love this pattern, though, and if only I had a triangular cell phone I would snap it up in a second. Look at that collar! And the pockets that are lined with contrast fabric!

If you want it, click on the image to visit Cemetarian's site. It's only $8 ...

Stripes and Pockets Forever

Frequent link-sender to the blog Robin is making a little room in her closet by listing some dresses on eBay, including this wonderful 1940s stripey dress. Robin thinks it may have been a candy-striper's uniform ... but it could certainly have a new life at work or play, no sponge baths required. Think of it with little navy wedge shoes ... It's B36/W26.5.

I love these 1940s striped outfits -- they're so precise! And that center-front zipper is just perfect. This is a no-nonsense, get-it-done dress, but it can still have fun.

I think Robin has the right idea, too. If you're not wearing something, you should set it loose into the world to be free and be loved by someone who will wear it. (Which reminds me, I should REALLY do a purge of my own over the next month or so. Especially of shoes!)

Rainbow Warrior

Robin sent me this eBay listing this morning (click on the image to visit the auction page) and ... well, I don't even have to tell you, do I? You could go out loaded for BEAR in this dress. Cell phone, iPod, paper and pencil, wallet, business cards, breath mints, five lipsticks ... and that's just the red pocket in the front!

And, yes, I realize it's a bit extreme, but sometimes you need to be extreme to make a point. Or to carry all your stuff. And is it any more extreme than this?




I could fit my SON in that bag. And he's EIGHT. (And he doesn't go anywhere without his Nintendo DS, so the bag would also play tinny Japanese videogame music.) In fact, I almost expect a bunch of clowns to start extricating themselves from that handbag. (The last one out toots a little horn, and looks suspiciously like Tom Cruise.) Also, that bag costs more than many people's houses, while the dress is at only $26 right now!

Now, I know I carry too much stuff around with me (the four issues of New Scientist is not negotiable, though maybe I could clean out some receipts and lollipops) but the alternative is being bored out of my mind when the inevitable delays occur. Maybe I should take up meditation?

It's not a shirtdress, but ...

I had to have it. You understand why, don't you?

First off -- those little button flaps! Adorable! I really, really hope they actually button, but if they don't, well, I have ways of MAKING them button.

I've made variations of this pattern every summer for years -- short kimono-sleeved bodice and big full skirt. They're cool and breezy to wear and make up great in lightweight cottons -- even quilting cottons, which often don't hang right in a narrower skirt.

And the six-gore skirt is just ideal for adding pockets; it's so easy. (Figure out where you want the pocket to hit on the side gore. Trace the side gore pattern from that spot down to where you want the pocket to stop. Add seam allowances to the top and the bottom of traced pocket piece. You can either line/face the pocket or finish the top with bias binding. Finish the top of the pocket -- may I suggest piping? -- and turn under the bottom seam allowance. Top-stitch turned-under bottom of pocket to gore. If you don't like the top-stitched look, sew pocket to gore across bottom, right sides together, and press the pocket up. Sides of pocket will be secured when you sew the side seams. See? Easy!)

Whew. Sorry for that pocket-making digression. Anyway, I can't wait to get this pattern (from Best Vintage Patterns) and go to town.

And -- as for what the women in the picture are saying -- I think Yellow Dress just said something like "Check out that guy's butt!" and Black Dress is about to inform Yellow Dress that "That Guy" is in fact the boyfriend of Black Dress. But that's just my take. What's yours?

Spoiled for Choice

I'm so sorry I didn't post yesterday -- there were some internet-connectivity issues, and then there were some "I have to give a talk downtown" issues (compounded by the snow issues), and then there were the "back from a long weekend" issues. I guess I "have issues." (Except for issues of the magazine, which are the only issues I want to have. THOSE are still at the printer!)

Of course, any day on which I don't post is NOT a day in which I have NOTHING to post -- I usually have the OPPOSITE problem, as in, I could post so much every day that I would do nothing else. For instance, just in the last 36 hours or so, I was sent links to:

-- this incredibly cute squirrel-print sundress (sent by Julie)
-- a reminder that PurlSoho has new Liberty cottons in stock (from Rebecca)
-- a link to a wedding-perfect satin dress WITH POCKET (from Kai, and let's just see a picture of that pocket, okay?)




-- some paper art dresses (sent by Theresa)
-- an Anne Fogarty polka-dot midriff-emphasizing dress on eBay (sent by Robin, and let's just peek at that one, too, shall we?)





And there were several more links that I will save for another day. Aren't I the luckiest blogger in Blogdom? Thank you (and keep 'em comin')!

So easy. Sigh.

Doesn't this pattern (from Linda's Sew Be It) look just SO EASY? I mean, it's probably not something you can make in an hour, but then, the cuter stuff never is. (It takes time to grind the cute into the fabric, you know. Laboriously. By hand.) But it looks so easy TO WEAR.

I love those patterns that want ONE HUGE BUTTON, because my One-Huge-Button collection is vast; it contains many, many One Huge Buttons picked up hither and yon. (I used to, in my less discriminating/more magpie-ish days, buy completely ratty, holey, unwearable vintage, just to cut the two remaining buttons off of it. Then I would lose one of the buttons. This is how One Huge Button collections are born.)

I'd make this out of a ditsy floral, I think, green and yellow, with a big green button and green piping around the pockets. Or a red and black geometric with a red button and piping. I might even pipe the yoke. Except I'm not buying this one, because it's slightly too small for me (Size 14, B34, I think). So one of y'all do it, okay, and then send me a picture of the dress you make?

I have to say that I've made quite a few of these Anne Adams newspaper patterns, and they're usually very good -- clear directions, go together well. As soon as I get a new battery charger for my camera (I can't find the one it came with, which leads me to believe I left it in some hotel room, somewhere, grrrr) I'll take a picture of a couple Anne Adams dresses I've made that I really liked. If I remember. Nag me, okay?

Renee says "Don't Diss My Pockets!"

Anna sends me a link to this site where the OBVIOUSLY RHETORICAL question of "pockets: hot or not?" is being asked.

The blogger (who, I think, is also named Erin, in some bizzarro-world faceoff of Pockets!Erin vs. No-Pockets!Erin) says:

But they [pockets] defy the very purpose of dresses, that is, to make you feel pretty and girly. Jamming your hands deep in the pockets of a dress does nothing for your shape (think hunched shoulders, stumpy arms and two big wads of fabric adding unnecessary bulk to your hips).

Needless to say, I disagree. I think what defies the very purpose of dresses (which is to make you feel happy & most like yourself) is having to haul along a giant shoulder bag: think lopsided leaning, aching arms, and a huge goiter of a bag adding unnecessary bulk to your everywhere.

I also don't think women should have to decide between having a place to put a lipbalm, some ID, and their keys and looking as slim as possible. Jeez, there are worse things in life than bulk on the hips, especially when it's apparent to anyone with the sense God gave a junebug that it's Something In Your Pocket, and not that you were Happy to See a Twinkie. (And, might I add, so what if you were, at one point, happy to see a Twinkie? I am getting so very tired of machinations of the Diet-Industrial Complex ...)

I'd say "go leave a comment" but the site is all whirligiggy with popup boxes and too many flashing things and whatnot, so don't bother. You can comment here, I don't mind.

[Thanks to Dara for sending the picture!]

Pockets = Freedom

(Above illustration from The Workwoman's Guide [and it's a downloadable PDF, thank you Google Book Search!])

Are you unsurprised, as I was, to learn that the V&A website has a whole section on pockets? It's a good one, too (also unsurprising) and traces the initial demise of the pocket and rise of the handbag to the radical change in women's fashion of the 1790s, when dresses became too narrow to admit of the wearing of separate pockets tied around the waist under the dress. Because of this, women began to carry little bags, called reticules, which accommodated much less than the capacious separate pockets.

Last night I walked about fifty blocks (intentionally, and with a glad heart). The weather was beautiful -- it was a warm soft wet night (okay, I admit it, I like walking in a light rain), and I wasn't carrying a bag.

I had ditched my purse-cum-laptop-bag as it was just too big to dangle off me all night while I stood around clutching my club soda at a party (and I didn't bring a smaller bag with me on this trip). Besides, between the pocket in my skirt and the pockets of my coat, I could carry the essentials (ID, money, lipstick, treo, ipod).

Without a bag, I barely noticed those fifty blocks. It was amazing how freeing it was, to not have a bag to deal with, to shift, to move around to the front of your body and then to the back, to switch from arm to arm. Your arms swing unencumbered; you walk differently, faster. You can shove both hands in your pockets; you can put your hands on your hips while waiting impatiently for a light to change. I also noticed that some people gave me funny looks; whether it was "There's a woman without a bag!" or "Why the hell is she wearing a circle skirt in a grass-green camouflage print?" I couldn't tell.

On my way uptown, as an experiment, I counted women without bags. I saw one. I think she was eight years old, but she could have been nine. (Since this was about 11:45 p.m., I don't think this was a representative sample, and it's not like I stood around the busier intersections making sure I checked everyone, but hey.)

Now, I love bags, I obsess about bags (mostly about whether they have the right size and number of pockets ...) and I carry a bag most of the time. But when you have enough pockets, or the right kind of pockets, you can escape the bag and just enjoy the freedom to stride along unencumbered. You should try it ...

HOW TO: make a three-panel skirt have pockets

Okay, I've been putting off doing a HOWTO here because, frankly, I'm not really a great seamstress. I've never taken a formal class, and every time I read an issue of Threads I say to myself "Huh! That *would* be a better way to do that." But I figured I'd post this one, for a couple reasons. First of all, even though I'm not that great at it (nothing like Summerset, for one, or Rostitchery, for another!) I really do enjoy sewing, and so at least I can reassure people than even if you aren't couture-caliber you can make stuff that fits and have fun doing it. Secondly, I figured if I post this people will tell me what I did wrong, and that way next time I can do it faster/better/more attractively. And finally, I just HATE PATTERNS THAT DON'T HAVE POCKETS. So by posting this I can rescue one more pattern from the evils of pocketlessness.

Anyway. There it is.

So, what will you need to do this project?

• a sewing machine


• an iron and ironing board


• flat space to work


• scissors, tape measure, ruler, pencil or marking implement, etc. etc.


• Diet Coke or similar beverage


• music with a good beat but off-kilter or oddly nihilistic lyrics (I like Soul Coughing, They Might Be Giants, Magnetic Fields, etc.)


• fabric (about two yards of 45" wide for the pattern shown here, 1 3/4 yards if it's 60" wide)
  


• a suitable pattern (see below)

(Okay, okay, OKAY. I know that pattern has gauchos. Ignore them. Pretend they aren't there. It's okay, we won't even be TOUCHING those pieces. Don't worry. Would I lead you into gauchos? I would not. You can trust me.)

Now, pretty much any skirt pattern with a center panel and two side panels will work for this project. I chose this Simplicity pattern because 1) I like contour waistbands and 2) it was $1 at JoAnn's on Saturday, so I could buy two. Why two? Because I'm lazy, and part of this project involves doubling a pattern piece. This way I could just use another part from the second pattern, and not have to trace it. $1 is cheap for not having to trace!

For this project I decided to use view B of this pattern, which is the blue skirt in the illustration. A, B, and C are basically the same, just differing lengths. The first thing I had to figure out is what size to make, so I could pull those pattern pieces and put them aside.

Now, I have a small waist in proportion to my hips (or a big butt in proportion to my waist, calling Sir Mix-A-Lot) so I checked those measurements, and sure enough, the size that was right in the hips would be too big in the waist. (Also, this pattern is made to be worn 1" below the waist, which I Don't Do.)

Now, I've made a lot of Simplicity skirts lately, including another one with a yoke, and so I grabbed the yoke pattern I knew fit me and laid it over the yoke pattern for this skirt. That confirmed for me that I needed a size 12 waistband but a size 14 skirt. What to do?




Well, I took the pieces for the size 12 waistband and cut them on the 12 line at the top edge, but at the 14 at the bottom edge, fudging between them at the sides, so that it would fit at the waist but still be able to be attached to the size 14 skirt. Then I cut out the rest of the pattern pieces from the pattern sheets, making sure to have *two* side front pieces, one from one pattern and one from the other.

That done, the next thing I had to do was to get rid of the pleats in that side front piece, cute as they are, because I thought they would interfere with putting in pockets. Now, I looked to hell and gone all over the Internet for the "right" way to do this, but I couldn't find any instructions, so this is just my usual half-assery: I took the pattern pieces and taped the pleats shut, tapering all the way down to the edge.

But this made me worry that taking that pleat out would make the hips too narrow, so I decided to measure the hips just to make sure. To do this, I put the pattern pieces together, overlapping the seam allowances, and marked where my hip is (about 9" below my waist, you can see a black mark on the center front piece where I measured this). Then I measured across to make sure there would be enough room for my hips (whew! there was).




That done, it was time to figure out where to place the pocket on the side front piece. I held up the pattern to myself, making sure to place the top of it lower than the waist (because the pattern has a waistband). Then I let my hand fall to where I would want a pocket, and marked that.

Then I cut three of the side front piece, out of a scrap I had lying around:



Why three? Because the pocket in the panel has three parts. There's the part of the skirt above the pocket opening (which also includes the 'back' of the pocket), the part of the skirt below the pocket opening, and the part, not visible, that is the 'inside' of the pocket (which is like a facing on the part of the skirt below the pocket opening).

So I took these three pieces and laid them out. Unfortunately, none of these pictures turned out, and OF COURSE it's the most difficult part of making this. Ugh.

Anyway here are the three pattern pieces you end up with (the skirt, the top and underpocket, and the pocket facing). I cut the facing out of a piece of pattern tissue that I had lying around (literally, it was on the floor). You can use any kind of paper. Do write which is which on the facing piece, though, it saves a lot of heartache later. I don't know how many pocket facings I've made and then thrown away by accident!




So how did I get from three of the same piece to three different pieces? Well, you're cutting the bottom off the bottommost piece of the pocket sandwich (everything below the bottom of the inside pocket seam). You're cutting the top off the topmost piece of the pocket sandwich (everything above the top edge of the pattern -- but DON'T FORGET to leave a seam allowance, or your pocket will be 5/8ths of a inch lower on your body than you expected). Then you cut the same top and bottom off the pocket facing (the middle part of the pocket sandwich) to make the pocket facing.



The darker blue is the bottommost layer, towards the top of the skirt. You can see how deep the pocket will be (the pin) and the black line shows the added seam allowance for the bottom pocket seam (yes I draw on fabric with china markers).

Here's me making sure the pocket is exactly where I want it (the floral thing there is my keychain clipped to the pocket of the skirt I'm actually wearing, as opposed to the one I'm making):



(This is from my point-of-view, e.g., leaning over and upside-down.)

I was happy with this, so then I figured I could make a "real" (that is, wearable) skirt! Yay! But I still didn't want to use great fabric, so I used a piece of lightweight denim I had hanging around. Here's the three back pieces all sewn together:



(I left the pleats in at the back.)

But the plain denim fabric seemed a little boring to me. How could I spice it up? I know! Zippers! Yellow zippers!



You see, when you make this kind of pocket, the top edge can be all wiggly and pulled out of shape, unless you reinforce it with twill tape. Zippers have built-in twill tape, and they make a nice design element.

So get a plastic separating zipper (like the kind that you use to make jackets with). Cut away the teeth of the zipper that would go in the seam allowance (about 1/2 inch on either side, as in the photo above) -- you do NOT want the sewing machine needle to hit a zipper tooth!

Of course, the picture of sewing the zipper trim on to the skirt piece didn't come out, either, but what I did was: sew the zipper to the skirt piece, teeth facing down towards the hem. Sew the pocket facing to the skirt piece, right sides together. Then turn and topstitch, like so:



When you're done, it will look like this:



Then, to assemble, you want to attach the underpocket to the pocket facing piece, like so:



I seamed the bottom (this picture is fuzzy) and then double-zigzagged the edges, because this fabric is a bit ravelly.



Then you baste the whole sandwich together. (When you're sewing over the zipper part, even though you trimmed away the teeth in the seam allowance, you probably want to hand-crank the machine. Hitting zipper teeth at speed is Not Fun.)



This is what it looks like when you're done:



See how the stitching down the side is within the seam allowance? I used to baste at the seamline and then had to pick out the bits that showed. I'm marginally smarter now.

Then you do it all again for the other side. Here's the front assembled:



NOTE: Do not let your iron run over the plastic zipper teeth. They WILL melt!

Then you keep going and assemble the rest of the skirt. Here's the waistband going on -- why did I sew a line of stitching around the bottom of the waistband facing?



This is why -- it makes a nice guideline for turning it under!



Now, time to baste in the zipper. If I'd been thinking, I would have bought a bright yellow zipper for the side zip, too, but I wasn't thinking (and in fact the other zippers were bought more than a year ago for another project), so blue it is.



And actually, my first try at sewing in the zipper was completely crappy, but I offer it here to you to show you how bad a sewer I can be:



So I took it out and redid it (and I re-threaded the machine in blue, because no sense in drawing attention to the zipper!). But this is getting really long, so here's where we skip to the end:



The pockets aren't really uneven: I'm just standing funny. And the skirt is a bit too long; I think I'll shorten it by about two inches next time I make this. It's a bit dowdy at this length.

The whole process (not counting the time it took me to find & buy the pattern) was about three and a half hours. Two hours to do the measuring, planning, preliminary cutting, and prototyping, and one and a half hours to make up the whole skirt (including cutting out the new fabric and re-doing the side zipper). The skirt is hemmed with yellow bias tape, applied by machine.

I didn't prewash the plastic zipper I used for the pocket trim, because it is made of pure polyester. If I were going to use a vintage zipper (or an upholstery zipper) with metal teeth and a cotton tape, I definitely would have prewashed the zipper. If you had long enough zippers (or were okay with lapping them) you could have also inserted zippers into the long front seams between the panels. You could also use piping, braid, or rickrack to trim the pocket edges.

Okay, that's ONE WAY to make front pockets on a panel skirt. If you have a different way, do leave it in the comments! If I left out an important step (as I am wont to do), ask for clarification in the comments! (The plant to my right in the picture (your left) is lavender, so you don't have to ask about it in the comments, and my tights are from H&M, last year. Everything else, ask about it in the comments!)