Prima Diva Sew Along Day 3 – Card Pockets

This blog post is majorly overdue (which seems to be the ongoing theme of my life) and I apologize!  Since returning from Houston 2 weeks ago things have been a bit nuts – In a great way!  My husband and I own an auto repair shop which has been steadily picking up.  Great news, yes of course, but that also means more work for me.  I am my husband’s secretary / office assistant / errand runner / everything he doesn’t want to do person.  I am also super excited to announce that I am writing my own book!  Yeah!!  I have been talking to C&T publishing for months now and it’s finally happening.  I can’t say much more at this point but just to let you know, I am over the top excited!!

Now let’s get talking about Prima Divas.  At this point you have already finished your cutting, pressing and made your zipper pockets.  Now it’s time to complete the card pocket.  As per Step 3 of your pattern, go ahead and grab your supplies, press your card pockets and topstitch.  You will also want to draw the center line on your outside interfaced pocket base.  This line will be important later for adding the last card pocket as well as for the final steps of assembling the wallet.

Here are a few tips for finishing this unit:

For the large card pocket, after sewing you will want to press the seam in the center.  But don’t worry – it doesn’t have to be perfect at all!  See below; the seam is pressed towards the center.  It just needs to not be on the edge of the pocket.

The center line that you drew on the base should be drawn in the same direction as topstitching, across the 7 1/2″ width.  You will align the center of the large pocket with this line.  You can fold the pocket in half & press or mark the line.  Mine is marked with a pen so you can see it better.

When adding the pockets it helps to use a walking foot if you have one.  Because the base has interfacing but the pockets don’t, they will stretch on you (see below the sample made without a walking foot).  You can always trim but using a walking foot will make them look smoother and not stretch out.

Once all the pockets are sewn in place (Step 4 of your pattern) and trimmed you will need to divide them down the center.  I always like to start in the center and work my way out.  If you start and stop in the center (which will later become the bottom) you won’t have to worry about any threads popping and you will stitch twice on each side for extra durability.  Since the center can become a stress point you want to make it as strong as possible.  Also, starting and stopping on the bottom will keep it looking neater too!  You only  have to sew to the top of the pockets but if you choose to stitch to the top of the base that’s fine too.

Remember to ask questions as we go.  You can post them here, on Instagram or Facebook.

Happy Sewing ❤

Jess

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