Slip Stitch Patch Pockets

         

I have been poking at this post since November 2025; work and life have been in waves of upheaval.

And the illustration disappeared and I had to redo it.

Sandra Betzina is a guiding light in construction techniques, in addition to the other talents she possesses. 

https://youtu.be/Zzu6uW8RkYw?si=zdPuOveVkToSOv0-

The subscription website no longer exists, 

There is a DVD with this technique out there in some library systems, but it is out of print. 

The preview is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-QDfg6J9AU&t=135s

I have watched it, and this tutorial is based on that video. I would link you to the video if I could. I am being a little vague here on purpose.

The key is making a cardboard template. To trace around, to iron the edges over onto. Cardstock, cereal boxes, corrugated is too thick.

Click on this image to make it too damn big and legible.

I cut out my pieces the same size and trimmed and eyeballed them to a pleasing proportion of 'how much fold over of the outside fabric I could spare'. 

I didn't have much to spare. These pockets are a little small for my purposes, but they will hold a cell phone until I am forced into a larger phone.

(pocket sizing is another post for another day)

I  am tracing the sewing lines onto the lining fabric.

I have machine stitched the lining part to the garment and am ironing the seam allowance in to the inside.

Using the cardboard template

I held the slipstitching edge like a sandwich in my left hand and slipstitched with my right.

Yes, there were hand cramps and I took breaks. 

What the stitching looks like on the inside of the garment

What it looks like on the outside. I do not have enough of this fabric to match the print, but you could.

All hail the genius of Sandra Betzina. I claim no invention, I am just executing her well considered instructions.