A Pocketful of Wool

It's back to working with wool for me, although Spring weather is just around the corner (I hope!).  

The one thing I am not completely in love with on my blue swing coat is the in-seam pockets I added to the design.  They work just fine, as pockets go, but I wanted to go with something a bit different for the wool version.  I knew I wanted pockets of some kind, but I was not going to deal with a welt on this incredibly thick wool.  Instead, I decided to go for patch pockets.

What I didn't know was just how large I wanted them to be, so I made a few mock-ups with some typing paper.  This is an incredibly cheap and yet effective way to play with size, placement, style, etc.

I originally thought I would go with a really over-sized pocket.

In the end, I kept trimming that paper down, and went with something a little more proportional.

I added a fold over flap to the top edge and cut two of my new pockets out of wool, and two out of the lining (minus the flap). 

I did throw a bit of Hug Snug in there, just for fun.

The flap gets stitched, right sides together, as far as the folded over bit.  A bit of pressing . . .

and a bit more pressing . . .

And the lining is ready to stitch to the wool.

The worst part was making sure that the two pockets were placed in the same place on the right and left fronts.

But once that chore was done, it was smooth sailing.

And I think I actually like these more than I would have liked the welt pocket on this length coat!