Sylvan Jacket: Pocket Placement and Tips

Since the Sylvan Jacket has a wealth of pocket options, you might have questions about how to position the pockets. There’s a resource included in your pattern downloads, called the Sylvan Pocket Planning Sheet. It shows the line drawing of the Sylvan jacket, and all of the pockets. (The pockets are to scale of the jacket in a size 12. Some of the pockets grade down for the smallest sizes and up for the largest sizes.) You can cut them out and arrange them to try out different ideas.

Another option for pocket planning is your muslin! Making the jacket muslin itself is pretty quick and simple, so making pocket muslins to move around is a great way to figure out what’s comfortable for you, and if the pockets fit your own must-carry items exactly as you’ve dreamed. 

One really helpful way to get the pockets to a predictably comfortable position is to place them between the waist and hip level, towards the side seam from the Facing stitching line that you can see marked on the Front pattern piece. You can customize the angle of the pocket opening to suit you, or place them as we’ve shown in our drawings and samples.

Welt Pockets

Perhaps the trickiest pocket to position is Shaerie’s Pocket – the Welt Pocket.

You can use the Pocket Bag Outer Layer pattern piece to help you position the pocket. The finished welt will be positioned right along the inside of the angled seam line, and the optional final topstitch around the pocket bag will be right on the seam line of the Pocket Bag Outer Layer as you see it on the pattern piece.

We love pockets!

We included as many pockets as we possibly could in the Sylvan Jacket pattern so you could truly choose your own adventure and make a jacket to suit your needs, whether that’s taking knitting everywhere, holding art supplies, going hiking, or wearing it to run errands.