Cotton Print Pocket
Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Patchwork pockets were an everyday accessory two hundred years ago.
These bags were a good place for girls to practice their stitching.
Stars were apparently a popular pattern
In my Alice's Scrapbag repro collection I named a small calico
"My Pocket" to remember when girls practice patchwork stars
and stitched pockets.
The document print that is the source for "My Pocket"
was in Alice's four-patch quilt.
The print reminds us of a time when pockets were tied around the female waist.
Skirts had side slits and so did the pockets.
Pockets weren't always patchwork. Here's
a very simple pink calico example with a frayed applied binding.
I remember this nursery rhyme,
which made no sense to me when I was 5.
It's clearer today.
Lucy Lockett lost her pocket....the binding round it.
How could you lose your pocket I wondered. It was a negative space.
Unlike Alice I was born after the invention of pants and pockets.
Coco Chanel gets the credit.
Read more about pockets
http://www.vads.ac.uk/collections/POCKETS