Thursday, October 23, 2014

Simplicity 1696 and Faux Welt Pocket Tutorial

Hi, everyone!  This is my second creation from Simplicity 1696, also known as my new favorite pants pattern ever.  We just took these photos after I've worn the pants all day, and we rode bike to my kids' school and walked around for a couple of hours for a Fall Festival.  So... they've been through a lot today and still look great (if a little baggier than they did this morning, and you can see there's something in my pocket).

 I rolled them up today, but they hit right at my ankle bone unhemmed.
 The fabric is from my recent shopping trip to Pennie Fabrics.  I think it's just a cotton bottomweight.  It feels and behaves a lot like denim.

 I knit the sweater years ago.  I have no idea what the pattern is.  I remember knitting it from a magazine pattern.  Not very helpful  :-)

Here is how I made my faux welt pockets, different from in the
instructions:

This is a pretty quick and dirty tutorial.  It's not the best if you have never made a welt pocket before.  If you've made one or two and are curious how I make basically a welt pocket with no pocket bag, here it is:





Start with a rectangle of fabric about four inches tall and two inches wider than the welt opening.  Place it with the top edge just barely under the top stitching.  Stitch two parallel lines as shown on the pattern.  This pattern only has one line, so I added the second one half inch above.

Here you can see the stitching on the wrong side.

Use your seam ripper to start the slit between the stitching lines.

Use small scissors to finish the job, cutting one long slit and then diagonal slits right to the edge of the stitching lines.

 like so:

Now, shove the welt piece through the slit to the wrong side.

Adjust the welt to fit nicely in the window.
 Fold the welt piece down in the back so that the  fold just reaches the top of the window.  Press in place.

This is where you would add the pocket back for a real welt pocket, but I just fold the excess back up, covering the gap between the top of the welt and the top window seam allowance.

Topstitch everything nicely in place, making sure to get those tiny triangles tucked away to form right angles at the sides.

1 comment:

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