These items are in the works. Each item is designed and fabricated by me – drawn, cut, and sewn from start to finish.
Below are design and development details of the “Pocket Print” shirts and bag.
Pocket print bag and shirts
I love designing educational kits and wearable designs that provide more than one function. I consider sewing, hand or machine, a lost skill that is very useful and one that anyone can learn. It’s also a great way to have some say in what your clothes look like, you can hem here and take in a seam there. Creating something also reminds us of the labor and skill associated with an object that I feel is easily forgotten about in our best-deal, ready-made, off-the-shelf culture. For these reasons and more, I decided that I wanted to make a kit that teaches how to hand-sew a patch pocket onto a garment. Below are the final versions of many iterations.
The kit includes a zine that has instructions on how to hand-sew a patch pocket using three stitches step-by-step. You can choose what to sew the pocket to (recommendations are given) including a shirt or a bag I specifically designed to go with the zine. The shirts and bag have a textile design that stands on its own as a repeating graphic but is also instructional. There are two textile prints to choose from, both can be used to help place and align a rectangular pocket. One is more suggestive of a pocket using dashed lines, the second is made of crosses approximately 1 inch apart from one another, it offers more placement options for a pocket and is more visually ambiguous.
These items are sold on their own with at least one sewn pocket (not shown) for people who just want a cute and functional item. Buying a zine with a Pocket Shirt or Pocket Bag is not required.
The cut patterns for all items are designed to be low-waste meaning they are designed from rectangles and triangles that fit edge to edge. This greatly reduces the fabric waste caused by cutting out each item from fabric yardage. Any waste that is produced is taken to a clothing and textile recycling center.
The Pocket T-shirt (knit)
Because it is a knit, I consider this shirt to be for the bit more advanced hand-sewer who understands the nature of sewing a woven pocket onto a knit garment. The knit is a wonderfully structured mediumweight organic cotton interlock knit which makes sewing to it easier and much more enjoyable than a thinner and slippery knit.
The Pocket Shirt (woven)
This garment is made from crisp lightweight cotton and is perfect for beginners.
textile print
The Pocket Bag
This bag is made from a lightweight cotton twill and is also perfect for learning how to hand sew with.
It has two modes: a tote bag and a backpack.
From the top left corner going clockwise: tote bag front, tote bag back, backpack back, backpack front.
The Pocket T-shirt, Shirt, and Bag will be sold blank with the zine and will be sold with pockets for people who just want a cute and functional item.
