Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Welt pocket

On Pattern Review there is a contest currently "Try a new technique", managed by NancyK. As I'm in a definitely in a no-sewing commitments phase right now, I'm not participating. But I read a bit on this thread and seeing that welt pockets are regarded as difficult. On another thread on the message board Kathleen Fasanella's method of making welt pockets was mentioned.

I don't regard welt pockets as extremely difficult, as with a lot of things it just requires precise work. But I never tried Kathleens method, and it was on my to-try list. And that's what I did. The first sample is on the upper half of the picture. The welt is interfaced, the fabric is not, which makes quite a difference.

On the second sample you can see that the fabric is interfaced (the flash of the camera made it visible). It's imperative for good results, even on this cotton fabric, let alone on a fabric that ravels more easily. As you probably know, you cut to the exact corners of the welt and fold back.

In my second sample the right corner is not completely straight, I should have taken out a stitch, but it's a sample so I didn't.

All in all, I found this method extremely easy, the first one was made in about 40 minutes from start to finish, the second didn't take me half an hour. Certainly a method to try if you want to make welt pockets.

Instructions on Kathleen Fasannella's blog here and here. (and I've noticed that I didn't include this tutorial on the tutorials blog, clearly an omission that I'm correcting right away and soon I must add more entries there)

6 comments:

  1. Good to know. One of these days I will be making a welt pocket.

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  2. Hmmm . . this method is similar to one of the ways I make bound buttonholes. I love the use of templates to make sure everything is perfectly pressed. I'll have to try this for my next welt pocket. I like to try new things and if it works for me, all the better!

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  3. Hi Sigrid, I'm one of those people with FOWP (fear of welt pocket). I was considering doing the contest, now I think I will just sew-along. This method is one I am considering, as well as a couple of the others you've posted on your wonderful tutorial page. Did you know you hit close to number 1 on a Google search?!!! Thanks for maintaining the tutorial page. Heather

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  4. ...and I've noticed that I didn't include this tutorial on the tutorials blog, clearly an omission that I'm correcting right away

    Oh goody, I was beginning to take it personally :)

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  5. This is on my list to try too. You're right about welt pockets not being hard, but anything that makes it easier to sew more precisely is a good thing.

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  6. It bothers me that people have the perception that welt pockets are hard. They are not, and indeed as you have said, it simply requires precise sewing (and practice). In fact, I was writing a blog entry about this and it's still in saved mode. Maybe I'll finish that up today.

    I'll check out Kathleen's method. I really like Ann Steeve's (Gorgeous Things) method in Threads and want to see how Kathleen's is different.

    So you prefer to interface the welts? For all fabrics? Or just cottons? I'm planning on doing black leather welt pockets on my winter coat and maybe I'll try some sew-in interfacing on the leather welts in a sample--one with and one without. Just to see how they look.

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