Pocket full of wishes

Merry Christmas.  I enjoyed some time today stitching up this little project and I thought I'd share the "How To" with you. It only took a few hours, and is going to actually be one of the more useful things I've made. I have a wonderful barn coat that I wear often, but am always wishing it had an inside pocket. So I added one made from scraps of silk, linen, and lined with flannel.

The design I chose is "Holiday Magick" with a few extra snowflakes from "Square Dance" below it. The little reindeer's antlers have an antique protection charm woven into them, and was found with instructions to make the (original) charm stitched in red silk and worn near the heart. I think this is perfectly fitting. Obviously you can use any design you like.

Using a garment with a good pocket size and shape, make a pattern template out of paper. My linen was a bit small, so I added a flannel strip on the top. It works well as a decorative element too. Press the linen and the flannel and place right sides together. If you like, you can use interfacing behind the stitching.

Pin the paper pattern so that the stitching comes out straight and centered. Leaving a 2" gap on one of the long sides, stitch the rest of the way around at the outline of the paper.

Trim the excess fabric and turn this assembly inside out, so the right sides are now out. Fold the sides of the opening so they match up. Use a chopstick or something blunt but pokey to crispen up the corners. Hand whip stitch the opening so that it now resembles a pillow with no stuffing. At this point (pocket is not attached yet), Sew a row of stitching evenly around the perimeter. This helps to stabilize the raw edges inside the pillow pocket. I used one of the decorative stitching patterns my sewing machine has built in.  

Put the garment on, to decide where the best pocket placement is and pin the pocket in that place. Using a double length of sewing thread the same color as the linen (and beeswaxed) hand whip stitch the pocket sides and bottoms to the lining of the coat.

Ta Da!