Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Pocket Lining

NancyK asked for a little more info on my pocket lining method, saying it was different than she'd done before. I have to say that it's different than what I've done before, too.

You can see photos of the pocket lining in the previous post.

I'm planning to use Marji's patch pocket attachment method for these. It consists of constructing your pockets completely and then hand stitching them to the coat from the inside of the front pieces. So, I cut my coat fabric, attached sew-in interfacing cut to the exact pocket dimensions, pressed up the hems and edges and basted. I then topstitched by hand, using doubled thread (Mettler Silk-Finish Cotton) to look (I hope) like saddle stitching. I could have done a regular faced-pocket method of stitching the lining to the fabric RST and turning, but I remembered reading an article by Claire Schaeffer about telling a fake Chanel from a real Chanel and one of the things she mentioned was that the topstitching did not go through the lining. Silly me, but it stuck in my head and I thought "I can do that", so I did.

I pressed the hem edge of the lining first, then laid it on top of the WS of the completed pocket. I then turned the other edges under to fit, and pinned it. I did the whipstitching first, then just stitched invisibly (ladder stitch?) for the other edges. The lining doesn't go clear to the edges, which is hard to see from the photos in the last post. The main thing was making sure I wasn't pulling the lining too tightly. It needed just a little room to make the pockets lie perfectly flat.

I'm sure there are better and certainly faster methods, but this is what came to me.

4 comments:

Ann Made Studio said...

I like the pocket tip - telling a fake Chanel from a real Chanel :)
I will definitely store this tip for future use.

Nancy K said...

I understand what you did now. I like to used Bobbie Carr's method of applying a pocket, which is stronger than hand sewing the whole pocket. (I have had issues with this) It's a little complicated to explain, but you could do the hand top stitching that you did without it going through to the lining. The lining is sewn on by machine and the pocket top is sewn by hand.

Liana said...

Nancy, I think I've used that method too. Didn't she have the greatest tips?

BCN - UNIQUE designer patterns said...

Liana .- happy Christmas to you and yours and my best wishes for the new year..... ahhh, and happy sewing, of course.

Hugs, Paco