Cotton + Steel Dirndl & a Pocket Matching Tip

I'm in the midst of taking a suit-making class (!), and stitching a dirndl between classes has been just my speed. This one is made from Melody Miller's "I Heart Bees" for Cotton + Steel. I originally intended to add on patch pockets, but turns out I didn't have enough fabric for it. I still wanted to pass along a tip from my tailoring teacher on matching up the print, though, so there's a small tutorial here, too.

Here's your standard front, back, and side photos, plus a few "non-standard" ones just to keep you guys on your toes. There's not too terribly much to say about the construction - I did a lapped zip, used ban roll in my waistband for extra stiffness, and hand-stitched the hem.

Now that all that silliness is out of my system, let's talk about pattern matching on pockets. I couldn't find a good tip for doing this, so I asked my tailoring teacher. She said you want to use a pattern making or tracing paper (here's what I use) to roughly sketch the pattern, then use that as a template to cut. So simple! So brilliant! 

First, I cut out 2 squares that were the size of my desired pockets plus seam allowance and pinned them in place to my skirt. This gave me a chance to also test out the size and placement to see if I liked it. Turns out, these would have been too small for my tastes (if I had the fabric to actually make them). 

Then you sketch out the pattern onto your tracing paper. Be more detailed around the edges, and then just focus on the general shape in the middle. So on my edges, I actually drew the little hearts.

From here, it's smooth sailing. Take some tailor's chalk and mark the edges of your pocket on your skirt. Then you can remove the pins and use the tracing paper as a cutting template, making sure to match your pencil drawings.

I also learned a neat trick in class for attaching a pocket without topstitching. I'll post up a tutorial on that next week!