Tutorial: How to get your pockets straight when sewing blind

I've heard through the grapevine that a lot of people are having trouble getting their pockets straight on their reversible hoodies. It can be tricky to get them to match up perfectly when you're sewing a zipper in blind, but I thought I'd do a post of all the advice I've been passing on! Obviously, this is most relevant to the people who actually have my reversible hoodie pattern, but it's good general advice for matching up prints and seam lines whenever you're sewing blind, be that inserting zips into bags or just lining a coat! Bear with the 'well, duh' points as I'm sure you're already doing most of them :)

Important factors for getting balanced pockets:

• Make sure that once you've sewn your shell pockets to your lining pockets, flipped them right sides out, and pressed, that they are the exact same height. If they are, great. If they're not, either stitch rip and redo or adjust how it is pinned to the hoodie front so that they match. This means that if you have one pocket slightly taller than the other, pin the shorter one to the hoodie first and use the top edge of that one as the basis for pinning the other one. They'll be a slight overhang along the bottom edge, which you can trim off after basting. But once trimmed, they will have an identical / balanced top edge. Lay it down and match up to be sure.
• It might help to put a contrasting thread in the bobbin when you sew the pockets on. You can't see it from the right side, but it'll be easier to match the top edges if you can see the stitch lines from the wrong side.
  
• When you're sewing the ribbing along the bottom edge, make sure that you are using a uniform seam allowance for both shell and lining, paying particular attention to the four centre front bottom corners. If one of those corners has even a 1/4" difference in the amount of fabric or ribbing caught in the stitch, that could be enough to throw your pocket alignment off.
• When you lay it down to insert the zipper, have the side with the pockets facing up so you can see the stitch lines. you will see that the stitch lines for the pockets should be even, the stitch lines for the ribbing should be even, and the amount of ribbing extending down should be even. Readjust your layers until they are. Before I pin in the zipper, I pin the layers together about an inch from centre front so no more shifting is possible.
• After you've pinned the zipper in, hand baste it in position very close to the teeth. Nobody likes doing it but honestly it's the best thing you can do to keep your pockets straight! Basting means that you can remove the pins so it's a nice flat surface to sew, and close to the teeth means that there will be less shifting of layers.
• Sew the left side of the zipper in with the pocket side facing up. You can see my basting stitch in black.
• Now to the other side of the zipper. If you're anything like me, you'll desperately want to flip the hoodie over and sew it from the other side just to stay out from under the arm of the machine. But don't, please. When you flip it over and sew with the other fabric facing up, it will be fed through the machine a bit differently (at least my machine is notorious for this) and can shift the pockets out of alignment. And you can't tell if the pocket layer is shifting because you can't see it. You really should roll it up and sew with the pocket side facing up. I find this hard to do, so I go really slowly. If it starts to tug, shift or bunch, stop with the needle down and smooth it out with your fingers before starting again.
  
• Now that both sides of your zipper are sewn in, make a final check that the pocket stitch lines still match up and that the ribbing is still even.
• Turn it right side out and it should be perfect!

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If I was at school I'd get a A+ for effort and a C- for execution

Oh, joyous pumpkin carving time. When kids squick out about pumpkin guts, go to soft play with their Dad and leave me in blessed peace to get my geek on. Everyone chose a design relevant to their interests...

Jamie's classic pumpkin face

Maia's more genteel cat

My Eric from True Blood. Obviously. Maybe. Bad photo.

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Second verse, same as the first, but a little bit camper and a little bit worse.

I'm afraid I will not be surprising you with the second of my Halloween costumes. Unless you're surprised by extreme camp-ness, in which case you'll be shocked.

There is not a child on this Earth that was more pleased with his costume. He lent it more gravitas than it deserved.

Being a Superhero is some serious business.

The kids both wore their costumes to soft play this morning and I have it on good authority that their costumes inspired awe and friendship.

I know you've seen enough pictures of Maia rocking her costume to last you a lifetime, but I defy you not to LOL at this. The brief was 'look tough'.

It kills me. But not as much as this one.

Just. Look. At. That. Sassy. Pose.

/bookmark for teenage years.

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Super Maia, Scourge of the Universe

Although technically I should have had an additional two sleeps to complete Halloween costumes, Maia's nursery party was this morning so I had to rush, rush, rush to get this done. Did I mention that the silver foil lycra only arrived yesterday afternoon? Before you scroll down, take a moment to appreciate the majesty of the Buddha belly.

If Satan ran a haberdashery shop, all of these fabrics would be on special offer because not even the Devil himself would like to sew with them. The silver foil was at least sturdy, but it came wrapped with paper between every fold because it sticks to itself, and pins leave permanent puncture marks.

The pink silk touch lycra feels beautiful and has such a lovely drape but is so slinky and stretchy it's less stable than my mental health. And that's saying something.

The mask is backed with felt, stitched close to the edge and trimmed. There was nothing else I could do with that pesky lycra.

The 'M' to the chest it's tightly zig-zagged with lime green stitching because I didn't have any pink thread for extra pop.

She was ten times ecstatic to be wearing it on the school run and told countless random people variations of 'I am Super Maia. I am here to save the day. I have so much work to do. There's somebody in trouble.' And our childminder almost died laughing at her 'toddler fetish wear'. My work here is done.

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You all want me to sew a chicken carcass. I won't.

Last week when I was fabric shopping for Halloween costume purposes, I noticed something completely new in my local Mandor's: a table full of leather pelts. I was drawn to the lovely colours and butter soft texture, but the thought of buying actual leather had me a bit flummoxed. Naturally, I brought my ethical quandry over to my Facebook Fan Page and Twitter and we had a really interesting debate. Most people said, 'If you eat meat, then using the by-products in the form of wearing / sewing leather makes sense.' I'm liking the sentiments, guys, but I don't actually eat beef. Can you get poultry skin for crafting purposes? Do not even send me links. Do Not Want.


I went back today, and unfortunately the petrol blue skin I had my heart set on had sold in the intervening week. There was still so much to choose from and in the end I chose cherry red. Speaking to the shop assistant, I found out a bit more about how they came into stock. The esteemed Liberty of London have recently ceased manufacturing handbags and accessories and sold off their remaining leather pieces. Mandor's got their hands of a fair amount, but they were selling very well and once gone, they're gone. And what does Amanda do when confronted by the terror of other people buying the last of something she wants? That's right. She panic-bulk-buys:


This piece verges right on the edge of very dark chocolate brown and grey black. I almost bought a turquoise suede. I almost bought an antiqued fuschia. But that would have been truly insane.

So, what would you do with two large leather skins?

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The Houndstooth Military Duffel of Doom

The winter cold has arrived here early this year. Maia's Fairytale Coat from last winter is a bit short in the sleeve so I stole some time over the weekend to sew her a new winter coat.

I've had this black and white houndstooth wool in my stash since I found it on sale last year, but I was never sure what to use it for. When in doubt, make a coat. That's my mantra.

I used the same pattern as I did for the Sorbet Military Duffel. The wool was a bit tricksy to sew because it's a very loose weave and unravelled as soon as it was cut, so all the edges had to be serged before I started construction. To add to the masochism, the coat is lined with Polar Fleece with snuggly fleece pockets. And I got ten thousand bonus Masochism Points for an inner lining of Thinsulate. It's proper winter warm.

Under that hair cape is a big fat fleecey hood.

The six faux plackets are rather less noticeable than I'd like with all the hardcore houndstoothing. I considered coloured buttons but black ones probably make for a more sophisticated and understated toddler.

Thankfully, it's passed her stringent apparel control standards despite lacking even a smidgen of pink. I'm happy that I've finally tackled wool. And I also attempted another thing for the first time... sleeves inserted in the round rather than sewn in flat! Non sewers call your sewing friends right now to confirm how exciting that is.

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Animal bum leggings

I'm not normally in the habit of sharing kids clothes that I didn't sew with mine own fair hands, but I'm making an exception on the grounds of adorable-ness. To jump on the theme of the blogging world this week, if you complain about this publicly or even insinuate that I'm less than awesome, I WILL SUE YOU. Speaking of awesome, how about these ones?


I first saw the tip off about these tights/ leggings on Bambino Goodies and I rushed right over to their Ebay shop to peruse the full selection:


It was hard to pick just three but without Maia involved in the decision making I could at least avoid the inevitable pink, pink and pink. Panda ones are my favourite.

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