A Pocket Story
Since last week’s post about the ROO pocket in TAUKO magazine’s Pockets issue, some really fab examples have popped up on Instagram.
2. Bonnie of @knitbunnie made one for her DIL who loves gardening (and also loves the pocket).
3. Dominkia of @baste_it went next level and patchworked the front from scraps. So striking!
2. Karin of @herzenssachennaeht added a cute label to the binding and plans to use the pocket later for doggy walking.
3. Anne Lise of @museflette used denim scraps, enlivened with striped binding. The scraps are from a previous make, and she plans to wear them together.
2. Christiane of @nani_christiane_sews used oilskin with a contrast binding, sturdy enough to hold sewing scissors.
3. @shes_crafty made twin ROOs! Who knew it could hold a whole bottle of wine?!
As part of TAUKO magazine’s celebration of pockets, I thought it would be fun to share a pocket story.
Here’s mine:
When I was a child, my Dad who was a life-long pocket knife carrier, issued me and my siblings with pocket knives. To his daughters as well as his sons. He thought it was good for children to carry pocket knives – not because we lived in a rough area (we didn’t) but for wholesome activities such as whittling, sharpening pencils, opening envelopes neatly, etc. We were discouraged from carving our names into things.
The pocket knives were a basic, entry-level double-bladed silver affair. You weren’t allowed to bring knives to school, but Dad encouraged us to (possibly one of his “stick it to the man” notions). However, everyone knows that only a foolish child would go flashing it around. Smart children would carry it discreetly in their pocket, their own secret, and maybe use it on the walk to and from school.
I know my brothers carried their pocket knives (one brother’s accidentally went through the wash and emerged as a rusted lump, and Dad gave him a new one) but I never carried mine. The pockets in my clothes were either decorative, pathetically small or non-existent and I was afraid I would lose it, so it lived in my jewelry box.
On reflection, I don’t think the size of pockets in girls’ clothes was even remotely on Dad’s radar. Equally, I had no idea of the deep and abundant pockets that men enjoyed.
The story has a happy ending: when I grew up, I sewed my own clothes with excellent pockets, carried a pocket knife and lived happily ever after. The End.
The silver one is Dad’s last pocket knife.
Do you have a pocket story? Did you ever carry something unusual in a pocket? Had a pocket sewing failure or success? A childhood memory involving pockets? I invite you to share in the comments.
I love pockets. I discovered tie-on pockets some years ago, and have been using one ever since. Not all clothes can comfortably or aesthetically accommodate pockets, and you still need to empty the jolly things at the end of the day, so tie-on pockets are in many ways more practical than built-in ones.
I worked out a way to zero-waste cut four aprons at once, with the cut-outs used to make a tie-on pocket. I’d be happy to share the details if anyone’s interested.
Thanks Rachel for sharing your love and the longevity of tie-on pockets. You are so right that not all clothes can be made with sewn-in pockets. A tie-on pocket is far classier than a bum bag!
Love you to share your apron and pocket details, that is very generous. It’s not possible to put diagrams in the comments section, but if you email me I can put it at the end of the post.
Looking forward for the sharing as I need to make some more aprons for my sons, thank you!
I totally agree with you on the difference in the size of pockets: men’s clothes usually have much bigger and better pockets than women’s…
I once up-cycled a pair of jeans: I used my brother’s discarded jeans to make a much smaller pair of jeans for my daughter, who was in first or second grade at the time. Since the rather large (!) back pockets had this really cool design on them, I really wanted to use them and attached them on the side of the leg. My daughter was very pleased with them: “My new jeans are really cool. I can now smuggle my book into the cafeteria and read if the school lunch is too boring…”
The jeans had quite a long life with us, were worn by both daughters on repeat, were mended several times and ultimately fell apart, but one of the pockets is still somewhere in this house and is waiting for my brother’s daughter to be old enough to need a pair of jeans with book-size pockets…
Love love love the idea of a book-sized pocket. Every child needs one! Beautiful that the jeans pocket will come full circle back to your brother’s family.
I love your happy ending pocket story! I’ve got many too but I think the one I like best is about a colleague who was complaining about her lovely coat which had only one issue, the pockets were fake. I always have a seamripper in my bag and 30 seconds later, she discovered that her coat was even better with open pockets (and the silly cross in the back cut out too).
As for your pattern, I’m looking forward to test if it’s child-compatible. I think the little children around me would LOVE the concept of having an extra big removable pocket for their treasures but as the pattern has been ordered a few minutes ago, I’ll have to wait a bit to get the answer!
I love a happy ending too:)
A very cool moment with that unpicker!
I’m sure little children would love a pocket to put treasures in. Did you order it as a pdf? If it’s too long for them, you could print it out at smaller % (or just make it shorter).
I was also interested in the other patterns of the magazine and didn’t see that it was possible to buy one single magazine in PDF. I’ll see how I’ll manage once it gets to my place, the first pocket will anyway be for myself 😉
I’ve always had a tummy, & preferred men’s jeans for the extra room & pockets.
Now I just make my dresses with large pockets that have extra pockets
I haven’t nailed pants for myself yet though. This is the year!
You’re livin’ the dream!
Love that 2026 is your “Year of Pants”.
My five year old granddaughter loves any little living thing that creeps, crawls, flies, swims… you get the picture. After a visit one day my husband and I found special treats in our bathroom. (Mind, the room is 25 feet from both the front and back doors.) An army of tiny green tree frogs (1/2″ at most) must have fallen from her pockets! We actually had a delightful time catching and releasing the hoppy little creatures. She needs more pockets for her treasures!
You can never have too many pockets or too many scissors…
Thank you for sharing this adorable story!
A pocket story:
My mother gave me a RTW quilt jacket with what I thought was an interior pocket. I put my wallet in it. It fell out in the grocery store parking lot. Lucky I saw it and didn’t loose anything. Turns out what I thought had been an internal pocket (ie: accessible form the inside of the jacket) was actually the pocketbag of the external pocket (accessible form the outside of the jacket). Because the jacket was made from pre-quilted fabric, the pocket welts went thought all layers of the jacket and the pocketbags were exposed on the inside of the jacket, attached to the sideseams and centrefront, but not the hem.
I made a pocket with a zipper and handsewed it to the lining of the jacket. My wallet has been secure ever since.
Easy to see why you assumed it was an interior pocket, and maybe you thought what a nice design feature it was?!!! Glad it had a happy ending.