A friend recently asked me to make some tent pockets for him. A simple design – basically open pouches that would be secured to the tent inner with safety pins.
After a bit of discussion we settled upon using my remaining scraps of Hilleberg inner tent fabric. I decided also, having seen a picture of his old worn out tent pockets, to add a strip of grosgrain along the top where it would be secured by pins to the tent wall. This would protect the fabric from pin damage and also add a bit of stiffness and shape.
The design was quite simple – essentially a rectangle of fabric folded and hemmed. He wanted them to all be the same size though, so some care was needed to make sure the hemming was accurate in each case.
Method
I cut out the 4 rectangles (plus another as prototype/spare) and hemmed the opposing sides that would form the open top of the pocket.
I then sewed a strip of grosgrain along one of these – this both covered up the edge of the hem where it would otherwise have been visible and also provided the structure for attaching to the tent itself.
Next I folded in half with the grosgrain on the outside. Formed a hem down the two sides and then sewed them down.
Then I turned it all right side out and it was done.
I repeated 4 times, then gave them all a very gentle cool iron.
Dimensions 20cm wide by 10cm tall.
Here they are in action (photo credit: my friend):
