Simple Skirt With Hidden Pockets, No Pattern Needed!

Spring is finally here so it's time to start working on my spring wardrobe! I love skirts and I am a believer that skirts NEED to have pockets. It's a personal peeve with women's clothes, either the lack of pockets altogether or lack of usable pockets. I found the perfect remnant for my skirt at Joann for $6. I choose a lightweight, stretchy, jersey type of material that wouldn't need a lot of extra hemming for this project.
You will need:
sewing machine
scissors
pins
elastic
something to mark fabric with
(I use soap slivers)
fabric (I used a nice stretchy, jersey type)

First, I cut about a 10 inch wide strip off my remnant. This is what I made the pockets out of. The left over piece was about 44 inches wide. I folded it in half. I measured my waist and divided by two. I marked those measurements on top of the fabric, centered as much as possible. Then using my measuring tape as a guide, I marked a diagonal line to the opposite end on each side then cut along those lines. To finishing the basic shape of my skirt, I marked and cut a slight curve along the bottom.

To make the pockets, I took the strip I cut first and folded it into four even pieces which I then pinned together. Then I put my hand, fingers open, on the fabric and drew a circle around it. Then, I drew a line through the circle so it looked kind of like a half a heart. Carefully cut out, this becomes four pocket pieces.

Next, pin the pockets to the skirt pieces. I started pinning about 5 inches down from the top. Sew all four pocket pieces to the skirt (two on each side). Sew as close to the edge as possible. Be very careful to make sure the pockets match up on each side! Because I used a very stretchy fabric for this skirt, I sewed it using a relatively wide zig zag stitch.

This is what the skirt pieces look like with the pocket pieces sewn.

Once the skirt is put together, with right sides touching and everything carefully pinned, sew the sides. GO AROUND THE OUTSIDE OF THE POCKETS! I needed to lift my presser foot at the beginning and end of each pocket to reposition things so the seams would look nice.

Add a casing for some elastic and its done! I tried my skirt on before I sewed the waist just to make sure the pockets were where I wanted them. (They weren't. Actually about a half inch too low. I fixed this my hemming the waist an extra half inch.) Sew the casing for the elastic, leaving a small opening. Use a safety pin to thread the elastic through that opening and sew the elastic together, then sew the opening shut. I don't know which instructibles user turned me onto the machine pin cushion, but everyone should make one! I love mine so much!

This was my first attempt at putting hidden side pockets in a garment and I couldn't be more pleased! It was much simpler than I had thought and I didn't even need a pattern!