Natasha Luepke

I’ve just completed my third pocket. Here’s a look at my process. I hope this post may inspire you the way I’ve been inspired by archived websites from c. 2010.

History

Pockets are fascinating! Sewn-in pockets are fairly new; the original pockets tied on at one’s waist. At that point, what’s the difference between a pocket and a purse? Is a fanny pack a pocket?

Some clothing styles in the European Middle Ages included slits or open sides. A person could tie on their purse, and then reach through the slits to access it. Otherwise, the purse remained hidden, but still accessible. Women might wear their purse so that it hung near the ground, and then hike up their skirt to reach it.

The tie-on pocket, as we modern people think of it, was developed in the 16th century. Perhaps growing urban centers led to new ways of deterring thieves.

I originally wrote “pickpockets” without even thinking. Turns out that word dates to 1585-95.

The 17th century brought the innovation of sewn in pockets. For men. Generally in this time period, lower class women wore their pockets on the outside of their clothes, and upper class women inside their clothes.

Pockets were usually embroidered; sewn and decorated by the wearer. They were a good way to practice these domestic skills, and of course a way to create a fully customized item.

People still carried bags, of course. At the end of the 18th century/beginning of the 19th, the fashionable slender silhouettes led to women giving up their pockets and carrying handbags instead. (Again, generally, there are always exceptions.) Reticules were the first version of what we’d recognize as purses/handbags today. They were small and attached to the wearer’s wrist.

Throughout the 19th century, purses grew in size. Some women still wore tie-on pockets, or made use of things like chatelaines, a decorative brooch. From the brooch hung chains or ribbons which were attached to items like keys, scissors, and watches. The chatelaine was then hung from the belt or pinned to the chest or waist.

Sewn in pockets for men appeared in the late 1600s and have been standard ever since. There are theories about why the same isn’t true for women’s pockets. A common argument is they interrupt the silhouette. Or perhaps it’s a way to sell more stuff: you need a purse, you need a bag, you need to buy the materials to make a new pocket. Or perhaps it’s way to curtail women’s freedom. It’s much harder to leave if you have to grab your purse versus just having your items already on your body.

I like this pattern from a 1941 magazine (pictured above) because it seems to confirm and refute those theories. To my eyes, the pockets don’t interrupt her silhouette, but then why didn’t the skirt have sewn in pockets? It’s tied to her waist, so her items are on her if she needs to go. . .but does she wear the pockets in the house? When she’s sitting down? And while this pattern is “free,” you had to get the magazine and have the materials to make the pockets.

Further Reading

Burman, Barbara and Ariane Fennetaux. The Pocket: A Hidden History of Women’s Lives, 1660 – 1900. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2019.
www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/history-of-pockets