Changing Pattern Details: Pockets

A month or two ago, when temperatures were still in the 90s, I decided it would be a good time to make a fleece robe. I've already made two robes in the last couple of years, so it seemed like a nice, quick project, and I already had the fleece. It has taken a little longer than I thought, but it's about halfway done now. I used Simplicity pattern 1562, and two different colors of anti-pill fleece.

The first was a nice, solid dark grey, and the second was a black, white, and red plaid print. But I wanted to change a few details of the pattern to add the print fabric, namely the pockets, cuffs, belt, belt loops, and lapels (or front facings).
The belt and front facings were easy: I just cut them out of the plaid fleece. Same with the belt loops, although I did change the style a bit. I sewed them as small tubes, but I folded the top and bottom edges down about a 1/2 inch before sewing, so that when I sewed the side and turned it right side out there wouldn't be any raw edges. The top and bottom edges were still folded in. That way I could just sew them on to the robe by stitching across the top and bottom once the side seams are stitched. I've found it easier than trying to sew them into the side seams, but that's more of a personal preference and an adjustment for my machine, which doesn't like to sew through too many layers.
Pockets, however, proved to be far more difficult. I wanted to add a 2 1/4" band of plaid across the top of the pockets, while the rest of the pocket was grey. In the past, I used a different pattern that had contrast bands on the pockets, but the method required hand stitching, because the resulting layers were too thick for my machine to sew through. It seemed like it would be relatively easy to devise a different method with fewer layers.
As it turns out, it was at first not so easy. The initial attempts resulted in raw edges showing at the top of the pocket when I folded the sides to attach it. After driving myself crazy trying to devise a way to fix it (which included ripping out serged and regular seams multiple times), I messaged a friend to lament the pocket dilemma. I called it the Kobayashi Maru of sewing. For those who aren't Star Trek fans, Kobayashi Maru is the name of a test featuring an unwinnable situation. The only person to ever solve it was Captain James T. Kirk, and he did it by cheating, and reprogramming the computer that was running the test. A bit over-dramatic, yes. But when I said it, I was convinced that finding a way to add the band at the top without cutting brand new pockets and hand sewing them was impossible. "If only there was a way to cheat like Kirk did," I thought. And then it hit me. There is! Here's how to do it.

Pockets with Contrast Top: The Kobayashi Maru Method

The whole basis of this method is 'cheating'. The original pattern included directions for pockets that are all one piece (no contrast on them). To cheat, we're going to sew the contrast on in such a way that we can pretend, for the most part, that it's all one piece of fabric. But first, we have to do some measuring.

Step 1: 
First, you need to decide how tall you want the contrast band to be. I decided to make mine 2 1/4". Then you need to subtract the seam allowance. You can use whatever allowance you'd prefer, but I wouldn't recommend using less than 3/8" for this. I went with the standard 5/8" for the seam allowances just to keep things simple. Subtracting the seam allowance, 5/8", from the height of the band, 2 1/4", I ended up with 1 5/8".

I measured from the fold line on the pattern paper, and cut the pocket 1 5/8" shorter from the fold line. In the photo, the pocket and the band have already been pinned together, but you can see the difference from the pattern piece.
Right about now you're probably thinking, "That contrast band looks quite a bit taller than 2 1/4". . . ", and you'd be right. You might also be wondering why I stuck some interfacing on there when it's not really necessary. You'd be right again. In retrospect, I don't think I would use interfacing for this. It was difficult for the machine to sew through so many layers on the last few steps (the fleece was quite thick), it wasn't really necessary. I tacked it on there because I recalled using interfacing on the previous pattern that had contrast bands, but it was a different method/style.
Now to figure out how much to cut for the contrast, take the height (mine is 2 1/4"), and add the seam allowance to it. I ended up with 2 7/8". Then take that number and double it. I got 5 3/4". Because fleece is so thick, I also added 1/4" for all the folding that's going to be needed, so my final piece was 6" tall.

If you're using a lighter material, like cotton, you probably won't need to add that much extra, but I usually prefer to have a little extra that I can trim off than to have a piece that's too short. I also cut the band following the same grain line as the pocket. We don't need to worry about the width, since we're cutting all the pieces the same width as the original pocket.

Step 2:
Once everything is cut out, pin the contrast and the pocket with the right sides together and stitch with the chosen seam allowance.

Press the seam towards the band. Be careful not to pull the band piece too tight along the seam; leave the fold a bit puffy so it looks softer. It might help to put a couple of pins to hold it that way, but it's easier to put them on the wrong side. I put them on the right side, as you can see in the picture below, and had a little trouble when I got to the next step.

Once the seam is pressed up, fold the seam allowance at the top edge of the band and pin it in place. Turn the pocket over so that the right side is facing up.

Step 3:
Now we're ready to finish the pocket and attach it to the robe. This is the easiest part; we're basically following the original pattern directions.

The first thing we need to do is fold the band down so that the folded edge is even with the seam that attaches the band to the pocket. Pin that in place.

Next, stitch along the seam allowance of the entire pocket, stitching the contrast band together as shown in the photo. I actually stitched about 1/8" closer to the edge than the seam allowance just so that the stitching wouldn't show when I turned it.

Turn the band right side out and turn under the edges along the stitching. After it's all turned, stitch across the bottom of the band about 1/4-3/8" from the edge, making sure to catch the folded edge at the back. It helps to pin it together to make sure you'll be catching the back edge. All the raw edges of the band should be enclosed.

Once that's done, we're ready to pin the pocket on. At this point, it's just like sewing on a regular patch pocket.

There we have it. The pocket is all attached. No hand sewing was required, and there are no raw edges poking out at the top. We have successfully cheated the Kobayashi Maru!
Come back next time, and we'll look at how to add a contrast cuff to the sleeves of the same pattern. Until then, happy crafting!