Tiny, badly-placed or non-existent: the pockets in our clothes today are a total disgrace. Our ancestors however, had it sussed.
Tie-on pockets were a staple of female western clothing from the 17th until the late 19th century. They were often worn in pairs, tied around the waist using linen or cotton tapes.
They were usually worn under the skirts and were accessed via an opening in the side seam of the skirt. They were roomy and practical, and women kept all kinds of useful things in them – books, money, sewing paraphernalia, gin, and kittens – to name just a few.
Amongst wealthy women, pockets were often made from high-quality fabrics and richly decorated with embroidery or quilting. Women would sew their own pockets or make them as gifts, along with all the other gentle pursuits they were expected to busy themselves with because they weren’t allowed to do anything else other than give birth to the heir – but I digress…
For less well-off women – and those with little or no leisure time – pockets would have been sewn from simple, cheap fabrics, and often patchworked together. Ready-made pockets were also available to buy.
In the late 18th century, the fashion of wide, hooped skirts and masses of petticoats developed into the slimmer, high-waisted silhouette that we associate with Jane Austen’s Regency heroines. Tying pockets round your waist would have ruined the line of your dress.
There are some surviving pockets that are an extreme teardrop shape, intended to tie under your bosom and hang right down to your hips, but this was also the era when reticules (basically handbags with drawstring closures) came into fashion as an alternative to concealed tie-on pockets.
Then we hit the Victorian age and dresses got huge again, with crinolines galore and plenty of space for pockets. They were seen as sensible, practical, and a bit old-fashioned. Sewn-in pockets began to appear at this time, and there was a lot of overlap between these two styles.
As the 19th century became the 20th, silhouettes got slimmer and skirts became less voluminous. Tie-on pockets became obsolete and we had to make do with no pockets at all – or pockets that were pretty useless.
Historybounding is a term coined by Morgan Donner, one of the many people who make and wear historical clothing. The idea with historybounding is that you incorporate historical or historically-inspired clothing into your everyday wear.
I don’t really count myself as a historybounder, but tie-on pockets are just so very very useful and practical that they really need to make a comeback for all our sakes.
Take a stand – become a Pocketeer
Reclaim a bit of history AND have a place to keep your stuff by wearing a pocket. You don’t need skirts with side openings. I wear my pockets over my jeans and now I feel underdressed without one.
The image at the top of this page is of a large patchwork linen pocket I made using historically accurate materials and methods from around 1790.
Here’s my good friend and style icon Nic modelling a silk pocket I made for her birthday.
However you wear your pocket, and whatever it’s made from, it’s going to change your life or, at the very least, change the way you carry your phone/emergency snacks/gin/kittens.
Want to learn more?
Pockets
The best place to find out more about pockets, their history and significance is in this wonderful book: The Pocket: A Hidden History of Women’s Lives by Barbara Burman and Ariane Fennetaux.
Historical costuming and historybounding
There are so many people making, wearing, selling, and spreading the love of historical costume. Here are some of my favourites (I’ve put their Instagram names but you can also find websites and YouTube channels by googling the names):
@foundationsrevealed: an online school of costuming, corsetry and couture. So many lovely pictures to drool over!
@izabelapriorattire: Izabela owns Prior Attire and is a ridiculously skilled seamstress, designer, and author of pattern books. Her Instagram feed is just heaving with amazing clothes and her Prior Attire YouTube channel is definitely worth a look.
@morgandonner is on Instagram and has a great YouTube channel.
Search Instagram, Pinterest, Google or YouTube for historical costuming and historybounding and you’ll find a whole world of inspiration.