New Pockets

In the 18^th century, a woman wore her pockets on a tape tied around her waist, and accessed them through slits in the sides of her petticoats. My pockets were okay ... a bit on the farby side (one had machine embroidery, and the other was cotton ticking) when I decided that I needed new ones. They were 15 -20 years old and holding up well, but they were obsolete.

How, you ask?

They needed a separate compartment on the inside for a cell phone.

Don't judge. When you're the contact person for your unit, you need to be reachable.

Anyhow, I remembered hearing a suggestion that pockets were a good way to use scraps of 18th century printed fabric. So I made some, complete with lining, and flipped through some of my costuming books only to find that I had the construction details wrong.

So, I took them apart, bound them properly (one with scraps of the same cotton fabric, the other with twill tape) and wore them for the first time at the Battersea event. They worked like a charm, and will hopefully last me another 15 - 20 years. Or until modern technology demands an upgrade.

They have since been sewn onto a length of twill tape to tie around the waist.