Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Adding an Inner Breast Pocket to a J Jill Blazer

I wear a lot of jackets and blazers, and I'm alway upset that 
they don't have breast pockets like a man's jacket or blazer.
I'm a writer.  I need to have a recorder (or a small notepad) 
and my cell phone on me all the time.

Why is that?  I carry an iphone and other gadgets, and I don't always carry a purse.  Why no nifty pocket to reach to inside my jacket?  (I used to think it was always so cool when 007 did that.)

My best guess at why manufacturers don't include this as a regular design feature (other than it adds cost) is that women like a good line to their clothing and we have breasts.  Many clothing manufacturers like to emphasis princess seaming for shape, but only high-end sportswear manufacturers find a way to make a shapely, functional garment with pockets.  Power walking is not the only time I need a reliable pocket.

Usually I check the construction of jackets before I purchase them, to see if I can add my own pocket.  This J Jill jacket was a good candidate because even though it didn't have a lining, it had very nicely finished seams with added binding for strength.  That's a plus if you need something to anchor a cell phone pocket to.

I started by using some gridded quilt backing to trace the design of a pocket and see if it would fit to my jacket.  I put the jacket on wrong-side-out, and pinned the grid to the inside of the lapel, then marked where to cut it.  I wanted it to match the curve of the arm-hole in one corner of the pocket:


If you go back to photo #1, you'll see this shape will result in a pocket that is almost sideways, but which slants over the top of my breast toward my armpit.  I like this design because it keeps things from falling out, and it's easier to work with than a regular vertical pocket when sewing it to the jacket (especially if there's no lining to work with).




Here's the fusing pressed to my pocket fabric along a fold, and the pocket cut to match the fusing.




I sewed the pocket along the curved edge, the short edge, and the edge parallel to the fold, then turned it out and ironed it flat.


While wearing the jacket inside out, I pinned the pocket to the seams, then hand-sewed it to the armpit seam, the side seam, and along the seam of the lapel.  For extra support, I took a ribbon and anchored the pocket from its top to the shoulder seam.  The pocket opening is at the lapel seam and it holds my cell phone nicely.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks so much for this tutorial. I'm an event planner, so I always have my phone, a printed agenda, two pens, business cards, etc... and I'm sick of passing up adorable blazers just because they don't have a pocket for my cell phone!!

    ReplyDelete

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Adding an Inner Breast Pocket to a J Jill Blazer

I wear a lot of jackets and blazers, and I'm alway upset that 
they don't have breast pockets like a man's jacket or blazer.
I'm a writer.  I need to have a recorder (or a small notepad) 
and my cell phone on me all the time.

Why is that?  I carry an iphone and other gadgets, and I don't always carry a purse.  Why no nifty pocket to reach to inside my jacket?  (I used to think it was always so cool when 007 did that.)

My best guess at why manufacturers don't include this as a regular design feature (other than it adds cost) is that women like a good line to their clothing and we have breasts.  Many clothing manufacturers like to emphasis princess seaming for shape, but only high-end sportswear manufacturers find a way to make a shapely, functional garment with pockets.  Power walking is not the only time I need a reliable pocket.

Usually I check the construction of jackets before I purchase them, to see if I can add my own pocket.  This J Jill jacket was a good candidate because even though it didn't have a lining, it had very nicely finished seams with added binding for strength.  That's a plus if you need something to anchor a cell phone pocket to.

I started by using some gridded quilt backing to trace the design of a pocket and see if it would fit to my jacket.  I put the jacket on wrong-side-out, and pinned the grid to the inside of the lapel, then marked where to cut it.  I wanted it to match the curve of the arm-hole in one corner of the pocket:


If you go back to photo #1, you'll see this shape will result in a pocket that is almost sideways, but which slants over the top of my breast toward my armpit.  I like this design because it keeps things from falling out, and it's easier to work with than a regular vertical pocket when sewing it to the jacket (especially if there's no lining to work with).




Here's the fusing pressed to my pocket fabric along a fold, and the pocket cut to match the fusing.




I sewed the pocket along the curved edge, the short edge, and the edge parallel to the fold, then turned it out and ironed it flat.


While wearing the jacket inside out, I pinned the pocket to the seams, then hand-sewed it to the armpit seam, the side seam, and along the seam of the lapel.  For extra support, I took a ribbon and anchored the pocket from its top to the shoulder seam.  The pocket opening is at the lapel seam and it holds my cell phone nicely.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks so much for this tutorial. I'm an event planner, so I always have my phone, a printed agenda, two pens, business cards, etc... and I'm sick of passing up adorable blazers just because they don't have a pocket for my cell phone!!

    ReplyDelete