In the Pocket

This morning as I was browsing through some old magazines (Designs in Machine Embroidery, of course), re-reading articles I’d written, an unusual thing happened to me. An article, not written by me, caught my eye. The piece, a how-to on embroidering the pockets of your blue-jeans, showed me the light. I’ve been guilty of breaking fashion law. I was wearing jeans with naked pockets! 

Yes, friends, the pockets on my jeans are embarrassingly plain. That’s not to say that these aren’t high end pants. They’re Gloria Vanderbilt jeans, sold at that oh, so fashionable store, Le Costco. I buy them because they happen to fit me amazingly well. And, while they sport a designer’s label on the inside, the outside is shockingly bare. 

I didn’t even know I was moving, but I found myself in my sewing room chair, a pair of jeans in my lap, unstitching the pockets. Next, I had to decide what to put on those oh so naked pockets and how to do it.

I have just finished productizing a new design set so I started with one of those designs. I digitized a design the shape and size of the pocket and put that behind a couple of the designs. Voila! The perfect way to embroider on a jeans pocket.

Before any embroidery on good fabric (or in this case, good pockets) I test. It’s kind of a standard joke for me, that “TEST” is a four letter word. Luckily for me, I have a substantial box of jeans’ pants’ legs hanging around my basement, (doesn’t everyone?) in which there was a piece with a color similar to my pocket. I was ready to test. I hooped the pants leg and started stitching, changing colors intermittently until I found the perfect combination.

The New System:

When I added the pocket outline to the embroidery design I basically set up a no-fail pocket stitching system. Whoo Hoo! 

Step 1 - Hoop a wash-away stabilizer and stitch color 1, the outline of the pocket.

Step 2 – Place your pocket so it is perfectly centered over the stitching. The edges of your pocket don’t have to match up with the pocket exactly. Just center your pocket over the stitching.

 

Step 3 - Using pins or spray adhere the pocket to the stabilizer.

Step 4 – Stitch the design. 

 

Here is the pocket on the pants.  I would have shown both pockets but I didn't want to use a wide angle lens.

While I was on a roll, I pulled out another pair of pants and went embroidery crazy. This pocket showcases a little more bling.

Ahh.... naked pockets no more!   I can now go out in public with pride!