Welts for Vogue 1015

In my review of my new Alice + Olivia pants, the one thing I didn’t like was the instruction for applying the welts. Generally speaking, pattern instructions for welts have you flying blind – that is, working from the back side of the garment. That means that you can’t see what the welt actually looks like until after it’s in. And if you have seen some of the welts made that way (and that includes many of my own in past days), you know that the results can look very Becky-Home-Ecky. So now I never follow the instructions. I do it my way instead. Here’s how I did the welts for these pants.

The Welt Itself
First off, I use the advice from Kathleen Fasanella. I cut my welts much bigger than the pattern. In this case, my welts started as rectangles that measure 3 inches by about 7 inches. Fold the welt in half lengthwise and press.

The Pocket Opening
Staystitch the pocket opening at the corners and clip exactly up to the stitching. This is important. I use tailors sharps to get right up to the stitching. If you don’t cut exactly, you’ll get a little bubble. Press:

(BTW, Please pardon the grainy photos. DH had my good camera at the Little League parade, so I ended up using my old crappy point and shoot.)

Place the Welt
Flip your garment piece over. Working from the right side, position your welt exactly where you want it. Pin, then either hand-or machine-baste in place close to the folded edge, as you see here:

Affix the Welt
Working from the wrong side, baste your welt to the extension of the opening as you see here. Remove the original basting from the step above. Open out your garment and stitch the welt to the lower pocket opening in the crease. Leave the sides of the pocket opening free for now.

From the right side, you can see that the welt is placed exactly as it should be.

Continue applying the pocket bag and facing per the instructions.

Now, you may be saying – Wait a minute. I have to baste, then baste again and remove the first basting, like, two seconds after I put it in, then stitch in the same place?

Yep. Do it. You’ll get good results. The point of all that basting is to give you complete control over the finished result. And it only adds a minute or two to your sewing time. I’d say you’re worth it, wouldn’t you?

Happy sewing!