Later that evening, I decided it was time to do a practice welt pocket. It has been about a year since I made a welt pocket, so practice is necessary. I made the pocket flaps first, using some satin back crepe from the stash as it was light purple and would work with the wool. I may use this for lining the jacket, or I may go and get some bemberg which is more breathable.

I didn't use any interfacing in this jacket, as the wool melton is quite thick and stable. The only place where interfacing might be required is behind the pockets to stabilize the area that is cut for the welts and underneath the buttonholes.

And, since the fabric is so thick, I didn’t make the pocket flaps from double fabric, but cut them in the wool and in lining fabric. Then trimmed the lining smaller than the fabric, so that it will pull the seam to the underside when pressed. This worked out fine. The flaps are shaped with points on one edge and a curve on the other. There are 5 lines of topstitching around the flaps, all 3/8” apart. This is tricky going around the curve and keeping it right, I find it best to go slowly and keep turning the fabric gently. If you stop and start, you will get a jerky curve. Since this shade of purple isn’t available in topstitching thread, I used two strands of the purple thread to do the topstitching. One strand would not stand out, I also remembered to lengthen the stitch to 3 to make the stitches more noticeable.

Close up of the flaps - 5 rows of topstitching on each flap

The flaps went well. On to the practice welt. I guess I have done enough welt pockets because it all came back to me. I use the method I learned from Anneke Henderson many years ago. Anneke is a clothing designer here in Halifax who used to have a shop that carried her own line of dresses, suits, and coats. She closed her shop in 1999 and focused her attention on her custom clients and teaching, and is now assistant professor in the Textile/Fashion Dept. at NSCAD University. She also teaches evening tailoring classes in the Con. Ed. Program at NSCAD and has a new class coming up in the New Year, ‘Beyond Intro Sewing- Skirts’. Her welt pockets are the best I have ever seen. She was taught by an Italian tailor in Toronto when she studied at Ryerson and I think she got the best method.

Link to Anneke's website

The flaps went well. On to the practice welt. I guess I have done enough welt pockets because it all came back to me. I use the method I learned from Anneke Jans many years ago. Anneke is a clothing designer here in Halifax who used to have a shop that carried her own line of dresses, suits, and coats. But ready to wear became so cheap that she couldn’t compete, so now she teaches at the art college and also teaches tailoring and pattern making at a community college. Her welt pockets are the best I have ever seen. She was taught by an Italian tailor in Toronto when she studied at Ryerson and I think she got the best method.

I am glad that I took the time to do a practice one. I didn’t even bother putting in the pocket bags, because I know that part is a piece of cake. It is the two welts (or lips) of the pocket that are crucial. The rest can all be worked out from there. I had thought that I would not interface this jacket front as the fabric is so thick, but the practice welt showed me that you always need to interface the pocket area even if you don’t interface the rest of the garment.

The first thing I had to do was to sew the front jacket to the side front – in this pattern, there is no side seam so the side piece actually is part of the front and back, a feature I really like. I pressed this seam open and topstitched it on the front piece at 3/8” from the seam, using a double thread.

Then I placed the finished flap on the jacket to determine where to position the pocket. Being short, I cannot use the markings on the pattern as they have changed when I altered the pattern. I want the pockets to be where my hand naturally goes. So I placed the front on myself and pretended to put my hand in the pocket. Then marked where that was on the jacket. From previous mistakes, I knew that I also needed to check that this was not too low, as the pocket will be caught in the hem. So I turned up the hem, placed my hand on the front again to make sure there was enough space for the pocket bag.

The flap positioned on the jacket front

Using the flap as my guide, I marked the pocket line by stitching it in a contrast thread. I simply pinned the flap to the jacket, then sewed right beside it. I extended the line an inch or more beyond the pocket opening. Then I also stitched the ends of the pocket in white thread so that I have everything marked clearly. The threads will pull out later and they are much better than a chalk marking which is hard to see, not well defined, and sometimes leave a permanent mark.

Lines for pocket marked on jacket in contrasting thread; later I redid one of the vertical lines as it was not straight.

Now I am ready to sew the welts to the jacket. Best to do this in the bright light of day, not at 10 pm at night, so I left this step until tomorrow. Don’t attempt to do difficult sewing tasks late at night or when you are rushed.

Then you cut two strips of fabric for your welts. They should be about 2” wide and a few inches longer than your pocket opening. These will be trimmed later so better to cut them bigger and longer than not to have enough fabric to begin with.

Place the strips on the right side of the jacket on either side of the line you marked. Butt them right together. (they should be cut really straight in order to do this) Pin in place. Mark the ends where your stitching should begin and end. I used the finished flap to determine this. Then I sewed from the marked ends along one strip, using the edge of the presser foot as guide, so that I was sewing 3/8” from the cut edge. Backstitch at the ends.

Sew both strips onto the front of the jacket, making sure that the stitching begins and ends where that straight line is at the end of the pocket opening. The welt strips have been sewed to the jacket front, taking care to start and stop the stitching exactly at the lines drawn in chalk on the welts.

Then the scary part - cut the jacket. You have to cut exactly right between the two welts, in the middle of your marking, ending about ½” from the ends and then cutting diagonally up to the stitching. It is very important to cut right to the last stitch, so that the welts will turn nicely to the inside. If you don’t cut enough, you will get a pucker at the end of the pocket. And if you cut too far, you will see the slash on the outside of the jacket. So, using a very sharp pair of scissors, cut between the welts, then diagonally up to the 4 corners as shown in the diagram.

Now turn the jacket over and press open the seam allowance. This means that you will be pressing the jacket fabric back against the inside of the jacket, leaving the seam allowance of the welt where it is. This is a very crucial step because you will be folding the welts over one seam allowance.

Now from the right side, push the welts through to the inside and work them with your fingers so that they are wrapped over the seam allowance that is facing the outside. (this is the seam allowance of the welt, not the jacket). Now you can see why you had to stitch with an exact seam allowance when attaching the welts, because this determines the width of the finished welt. On thick fabric such as this wool, I sewed with a 3/8” seam allowance so that the welts are quite wide actually. On a finer fabric, I would sew with a ¼” seam allowance so that the welts would be skinnier. Kenneth King actually makes his welt pockets with piping, which is about 1/8” wide. Now that is a pro!

Pin the welts through the middle while you are wrapping them to the inside. Work them till they look good, and remember they must meet in the middle. At the ends, take time to get them looking exactly the same. Your corners should look nice and square. Once you have finished this, baste by hand through the middle of the welts to hold everything in place. Just baste the welts themselves, don’t extend your basting beyond them.

Welts are now hand basted in place ready for the next step. Give everything a good press now, using a press cloth to protect your fabric.

Now, with the jacket right side up, pull back the fabric to expose one end of the pocket opening. You will see the little triangle of fabric that has been left when you clipped between the welts. You must secure this to all the fabric on the inside. This is the weak spot of the pocket, so it must be carefully and well sewed so that the pocket does not rip open at the ends. Sew over the ends of the welts catching the triangle of fabric. Sew as close to the folded fabric as you can, but don’t catch anything in your stitching. You are attaching the triangle to the welts and stitching through everything to keep it where it is. I sew back and forth over this 3-4 times so that everything will stay there forever.

Sewing the ends of the welts, and catching that little triangle of fabric. Sew over this 3 or 4 times, exactly beside the fabric folded away from the welts.

The triangle and welt ends have been stitched together. They are only attached to themselves, not to any part of the pocket or the jacket.

Now you have to sew the welts on the inside of the jacket. The pocket flap has been tucked into the opening between the welts (it covers the bottom welt) and it is pushed up until it is even and the edge of the top welt covers the 5/8” seam line on the top of the flap.

Now the pocket bags have to be added to the pocket. These are really not a big concern, if you have the outside of the pocket done, the bags are easy. And they don’t even have to look all that pretty or neat because they will be covered by the jacket lining.

If your pattern has pieces for this, go ahead and use them. It does save you having to figure out the angle of the top of the pocket bag, where it is sewn to the welts. One pocket is sewn to the top welt, right sides together, and in the position that it will be when finished. The bottom pocket bag is sewn to the bottom welt, but it is positioned upwards, and sewn right side together, so that it can then be turned down and the seam will be underneath the pocket.

Pocket bags ready to sew to back of welt pocket

Often the top bag has a piece of the jacket fabric stitched to the top few inches. This forms a facing on the pocket bag, so that when the pocket is used, you will see jacket fabric on the inside of the pocket rather than lining fabric. With a flap inserted, I didn't feel the need to do this as the flap nicely conceals what is inside.

Sew one bag to lower welt, facing upwards, so that seam will then be hidden when bag is turned down

Pocket bag is pressed down

Then you press the bottom pocket down. Lay the top one over it, pin the sides together and sew around the pocket. Sew over the ends of the welt, otherwise you will have a hole in the side of your pocket, but you don’t have to worry about getting close to the opening, since you already sewed all of that previously and it is secure. All you are doing now is closing up the pocket. After it is sewn, trim away the excess fabric and neaten everything up.

Top pocket bag is pinned to upper welt, with raw edge at the upper edge and pocket flat

Top pocket has been sewed in place, now pocket is pinned around the edges. Notice that it doesn’t matter if the pockets don’t match up, if they are bigger than you require, you simply sew them the size you need and trim them afterwards. Also you simply sew around the pocket, not worrying about catching the welts as they were stitched permanently before.

Pocket is now trimmed and ends of welts are trimmed as well. Everything is neatened up and given a final press. The pocket is now finished.

Tip: a pocket is nicer to use if it has rounded corners, rather than square ones. It will also be less likely to collect lint.

The fronts of the jacket are now complete

The nice thing about this type of pocket is that you can actually insert the flap into the pocket and have a double welt pocket. Flip the flap out and you have a double welt with flap pocket. One thing is for certain: the more welt pockets you make, the better you get at them! It has been a while since I made my last one, and I can feel that I am rusty.

Time to move on with this jacket.

Read part one on this jacket here Fearless Cardigan Jacket part one