Purse Pockets Tutorial

Materials List
1 pocket from old jeans, cut leaving a seam allowance around pocket
1 piece fabric, about an 8"x8" square, depending on pocket size
1 small piece coordinating ribbon, about 6"
Thread
Sewing machine
Zipper foot
Patience (see Step #10)


1. Cut out pocket of jeans, leaving as much fabric as you can around the sides and bottom of pocket. An inch would be ideal. The top can be less, since that's often dependent on the how close the pocket is to the back yoke. Cut out a piece of fabric the size of your cut pocket piece, plus an additional 1" to 1 1/2" in length. (See notes at end of tutorial.)

2. Place pocket and fabric right sides together. Sew the seam at the top of the pocket.


Use a zipper foot to sew the seam close to the top of the pocket. You can see where the edge of the zipper foot butts up against the top of the pocket.

3. Open up seam and press, then fold fabric over to the back of the pocket, leaving about 1/4" to 1/2" of fabric showing on front. You may need to trim your seam allowance to get the size you like.

4. Fold ribbon piece in half and place on an angle, as shown. Make sure the ends of the ribbon extend beyond the edges of the pocket.

5. Baste ribbon in place.

6. Fold in half, right sides together. Line up edges of the actual jeans pocket.

7. Pin sides and bottom together.

Look at the seam in my fabric...on the prototype I made, I didn't have the fabric extending over the top. I like this version much better.

And...hey! My pins coordinate with the fabric!

8. Sew side and bottom seams.

The start of the seam can be awkward, so I used a sewing gauge to get it going. Also, use the sewing gauge as needed to complete the seam.

9. Clip corners and trim seam allowance.










10. This is the hardest part. Turn the purse pocket. I used the rounded end of a metal skewer, pushing and tugging, tugging and pushing, until it finally turned. This took longer than all of the other steps combined.

Tada! Finished. What uses can you come up with for this?


Notes:

The pocket I used on this only had about 1/2" seam allowance around the sides and bottom. By increasing that to closer to 1", it would have been much easier to sew and turn.

The fabric that I used is Michael Miller's Seafarer Circles. The design and colors are so fun and summery!