Hello Sewing Friends! My name is Tamar, and I’m so excited to be on the blog for the first time! How many of you have fallen in love with Baby Ash? I know I have! There is just something precious about babies in overalls. And Ash is just so perfect and timeless. I find myself wanting to make every color for every season! I have also fallen in love with embellishing that cute little front pocket. A little embroidery or applique can totally personalize the whole outfit. Today I’m going to show you how to make a puppy pocket. And you can do this whole tutorial with only a simple sewing machine!
First, you are going to want to draw your design on paper and cut out the pieces. These will be your pattern pieces.
I decided to draw a puppy face, but let your imagination run wild and make whatever animal your heart desires.
Pick out your fabric scraps for your applique and iron fusible web to the back of your scraps.
Trace your pattern pieces on the paper side of your fusible web.
Cut out your pieces.
Make a pattern for your ears, and cut out two mirror image sets. Make sure to add ¼ inch seam allowance. Note: my ear pattern piece is 3 inches long and 1 ¼ inches wide at the widest point.
Place two ear pieces right sides together. Sew the curved edges with a ¼ seam allowance. Clip the curves or use pinking shears.
Turn the ears, iron, and topstitch.
Lay your ears right side up on the right side of your pocket main. Align the raw edge to the top edge of your pocket. Determine the spacing based on the size of your face pieces. Make sure the ears are at least ¾ inch away from the sides of the pocket.
Place the pocket lining on top of the pocket main right sides together with the ears sandwiched between the pocket main and lining.
Iron the first layer of your applique to your pocket. Edgestitch to attach. Tip: go slowly around the curves. Stop frequently with the needle down, lift the presser foot and pivot the fabric.
Iron the second layer of your applique to your pocket piece. Edgestitch to attach. Draw the mouth on the muzzle piece.
Set your sewing machine to zigzag. Set the stitch length to .5 or smaller. For the wide part of the mouth, set the stitch width to 3. For the corners of the smile, set the stitch width to 2. Slowly sew along the line you drew. Optional: tack the bottoms of the ears to the pocket along the bottom part of the ear topstitch.
Follow the instructions to assemble your Baby Ash overalls. When you get to the pocket instructions, use a 1 inch seam allowance for the bottom of the pocket and the normal ⅜ inch seam allowance for the top and sides of the pocket. Topstitch the pocket ⅛ inch from the top rather than 1 inch from the top.
Finish assembling your overalls, and you’re done!
Now go make all the animal pockets!