Magic of Pockets, The: Why Your Clothes Don't Have Good Pockets and How to Fix That

By Jess Driscoll

Transform your wardrobe with this step-by-step guide to sewing pockets into your favorite clothes. With simple instructions and line drawings, this book teaches six basic pockets, with suggested alterations to customize each pocket to your wardrobe needs, while learning the history of what pockets looked like and why they remain a political tool today. All the projects are designed for beginner sewists, and most can be made by hand, with no specialty tools or machine required.For every pair of pants with the pockets sewn shut, for every skirt with nowhere to put your hands, for every jacket missing a place to put your cash, there is one dress with pockets big enough to hold your entire world. Finding that one feels like finding a lucky clover among the grass. But clothes with pockets should not be so rare. There are reasons why (spoiler alert: it’s about patriarchy and capitalism!), and this book will teach you some of the history of fashion and politics, but more importantly, this book will teach you how to fix the problem yourself. With the skills in this book, you can make your old clothes useful again. This book is for sewists who don’t always have the time and energy to make a whole garment, and it’s also for those beginners who have never used a needle and thread. This book is for people who aren’t satisfied with clothes as they are and want to make a change. Most of all, this book is for everyone, because everyone deserves pockets. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Microcosm Publishing
• Release date: Oct 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9781648411823

Jess Driscoll

Jess Driscoll is a writer and teacher who has been blogging since 2001. She lives on Semiahmoo land in the suburbs of Vancouver, BC. When she’s not sewing, she’s baking. When she’s not baking, she’s hiking. Through it all, she makes zines. This is her first published book of nonfiction. Follow the author at jessdriscoll.com. 

Book preview

9781648411823.jpg

MAgic of pockets

Why Your Clothes Don’t Have Good Pockets, and How to Fix That

© 2022 Jess Driscoll

© This edition Microcosm Publishing 2022

First edition - 3,000 copies - October 22, 2022

eBook ISBN 9781648411823

This is Microcosm #611

Edited by Elly Blue

Cover by Lindsey Cleworth

For a catalog, write or visit:

Microcosm Publishing

2752 N Williams Ave.

Portland, OR 97227

https://microcosm.pub/Pockets

Did you know that you can buy our books directly from us at sliding scale rates? Support a small, independent publisher and pay less than Amazon’s price at www.Microcosm.Pub

Microcosm Publishing is Portland’s most diversified publishing house and distributor with a focus on the colorful, authentic, and empowering. Our books and zines have put your power in your hands since 1996, equipping readers to make positive changes in their lives and in the world around them. Microcosm emphasizes skill-building, showing hidden histories, and fostering creativity through challenging conventional publishing wisdom with books and bookettes about DIY skills, food, bicycling, gender, self-care, and social justice. What was once a distro and record label was started by Joe Biel in his bedroom and has become among the oldest independent publishing houses in Portland, OR. We are a politically moderate, centrist publisher in a world that has inched to the right for the past 80 years.

Global labor conditions are bad, and our roots in industrial Cleveland in the 70s and 80s made us appreciate the need to treat workers right. Therefore, our books are MADE IN THE USA.

Contents

1. preface •

2. a short history •

3: Sewing Fundamentals •

4: Hand-sewn Patch Pocket •

Running Stitch •

Back Stitch •

5: Machine-sewn Patch Pocket •

6: The Best Patch Pocket •

Pocket Flap •

Front Pants Pockets •

Hoodie Pocket •

7: Apron Pocket •

Café Apron •

8: Inside Pocket •

Fake Pockets •

9: Tie-on Pocket •

10: Pouch Pockets •

Belt Pouch •

Pochette •

Belt Loop Pocket •

11: Conclusion •

Sources and further Reading •

About the author •

1. preface

This book is a practical guide to a single skill that will make a big difference in your wardrobe: how to sew pockets.

For every pair of pants with the pockets sewn shut, for every skirt with nowhere to put your hands, for every jacket missing a place to put your cash, there is one dress with pockets big enough to hold your entire world. When you find that perfect garment, people can tell. When you receive a compliment on your outfit, a cry rings out, Thanks, it has pockets!

But clothes with pockets should not be so rare.

There are reasons why pockets are hard to find (spoiler alert: it’s about patriarchy and capitalism!), and this book will teach you some of the history of fashion and politics. But more importantly, this book will teach you how to fix the problem yourself.

Not everyone can afford to replace their wardrobe, and you probably have favorite pieces you don’t want to get rid of. With the skills in this book, you can make your old clothes useful again.

After a brief introduction to sewing for the absolute beginners, each chapter illustrates a different style of pocket. Read through, if you like, or skip ahead to the pockets you like and start sewing right away.

This book is written for everyone because everyone deserves pockets. This book is for sewists who don’t always have the time and energy to make a whole garment, and it’s also for those beginners who have never used a needle and thread. This book