The Magic of Pockets: Why Your Clothes Don't Have Good Pockets and How to Fix That

Transform your wardrobe with this step-by-step guide to sewing pockets into your favorite clothes. With simple instructions and line drawings, this book teaches six basic pockets, with suggested alterations to customize each pocket to your wardrobe needs, while learning the history of what pockets looked like and why they remain a political tool today. All the projects are designed for beginner sewists, and most can be made by hand, with no specialty tools or machine required.

For every pair of pants with the pockets sewn shut, for every skirt with nowhere to put your hands, for every jacket missing a place to put your cash, there is one dress with pockets big enough to hold your entire world. Finding that one feels like finding a lucky clover among the grass. But clothes with pockets should not be so rare. There are reasons why (spoiler alert: it’s about patriarchy and capitalism!), and this book will teach you some of the history of fashion and politics, but more importantly, this book will teach you how to fix the problem yourself. With the skills in this book, you can make your old clothes useful again. This book is for sewists who don’t always have the time and energy to make a whole garment, and it’s also for those beginners who have never used a needle and thread. This book is for people who aren’t satisfied with clothes as they are and want to make a change. Most of all, this book is for everyone, because everyone deserves pockets.