XMarks vest on the bias

**sydnie7** · 23rd January 12, 06:43 PM

Pocket patch on the vest front. Now, how to mark where I want to sew it?

Fold and crease at upper line. . .

Fold and crease at lower line. . .

And you have established the top and bottom edges of pocket opening.

Mark those lines for future reference.

**sydnie7** · 23rd January 12, 06:49 PM

[Sorry I haven't gotten all the photos rotated to same view -- hope you're not getting whiplash!]

Now to chalk corresponding lines on the vest front.

And pin the pocket patch to the vest front, matching those two marked rectangles. Lots of peeking between the layers to make sure the pin is going in the right place.

Then sew around the rectangle.

**Aspiringloser** · 23rd January 12, 06:56 PM

This is awesome. Give me more!

**Alan H** · 27th January 12, 10:57 AM

I'm watching THIS thread!

**FatherWilliam57** · 27th January 12, 12:50 PM

This is a great thread! Can't wait for the "money shot," when Bob models it with his kilt. (And he better be giving his lovely wife a big smooch on the cheek when the picture is snapped.) Oh, boy, Oh, boy, Oh, boy....

**idyllicchick** · 28th January 12, 05:57 AM

Sydnie, I think this is my most favorite thread on X-Mark ever! Looking forward to seeing the 'in use' photos!

**sydnie7** · 23rd January 12, 06:56 PM

Clip straight along most of the opening, branching out to little "Y" cuts at each end. You'll notice my stitching doesn't go all the way to the end of my marked rectangle -- pockets ended up being 4 in. rather than 4.5 -- this is a result of what we call "Sydnie math" and you can just ignore it, thank you very much.

Trim and grade the seam allowance (I cut the pocket patch close to stitching, left the tartan as is).

Turn and press. . .

Then topstitch as close to the opening as you can.

**sydnie7** · 23rd January 12, 07:04 PM

Pocket opening with the welt pinned beneath it. Now, if I were Really Good (like Lady C or paulhenry good), the welt would have been sewn into the lower part of the pocket opening and become an integral part of the whole turned piece. But I am Not That Good, so I'm doing it this way.

The welt hides the pocket opening, and still aligns with the vest front.

Remember to hold the pocket patch out of the way when pinning and stitching the welt in place!

Welt stitched in place and pressed upward, over the pocket opening. Notice that the grey lines have gotten a little wonky, but the white and yellow lines are OK.

Here we are back inside, looking at the pocket patch. . .

Which will now get folded down to create the pocket, err, pocket.

**sydnie7** · 23rd January 12, 07:15 PM

Measuring up to mark the eventual hemline -- you don't want the pocket seam allowance to be longer than this.

Fold the vest front out of the way and sew around both sides and bottom of folded pocket patch.

I sewed around twice for strength, then trimmed and graded seam allowance.

I slipstitched the lower edge of pocket opening to the inside layer of welt, both to help hide the raw edge of welt and to help the user (that is, Bob) to more easily slide a hand into the pocket. Otherwise, you might get hung up in the little area between pocket and welt.

For final pressing, I cut another piece of cardboard to slide beneath welt, just to that line of slipstitching. Helps to prevent the different layers beneath from leaving press marks on the outer welt.

Finished pocket, with pretty good yellow and white alignment. It looks better in real life than it does at this angle of photo. But boy did those greys get out of whack! Not at all sure how that happened. Hard to see here, but the grey aligns pretty well at right-hand end -- just in the center that they look drunken. Oh well, my hope is that in real life the white and yellow will carry the day and nobody will see the greys. . .

There sure is a pretty pocket hidden underneath!

One done, now lather, rinse. . . OMG, I have to do this again?!?