How to add pockets to a sweater

A short while ago I asked on my social media if anyone had any DIY obstacles or thrifty refashioning dilemmas they wanted me to tackle and boy oh boy did you guys answer! After wading through and (hopefully) helpfully answering a load of comments & e-mails I opened this creative query:

“I got a bag of old sweaters from my Grandma and there are a couple of cardigans that I love but they don’t have pockets and I can’t knit so my refashioning question is: what is the easiest way to put pockets on a sweater without knitting them on?”

A fabulous refashioning question that is best answered with a step-by-step tutorial:

DIY sweater pockets after

Snag my crazy simple no-knit method for how to add pockets to a sweater below:

how to add pockets to a sweater

Grab your sweater, a piece of coordinating knit + a light fabric for the lining.

My knit fabric is the chopped turtle neck from a previously refashioned sweater & the lining is a piece of bedsheet.

You may remember that cozy sweater from my Ode to Thrifted Cardigans post

how to add pockets to a sweater

Double fold your fabrics, cut the basic shape and size of your desired pockets from a scrap of paper and pin it in place on top of your fabrics – et voila! A super simple pocket pattern!

how to add pockets to a sweater

Chop it out.

how to add pockets to a sweater

Separate your fabrics and place each liner piece under a knit piece with right sides facing.

how to add pockets to a sweater

Stitch them together leaving a small section open for turning right side out.

how to add pockets to a sweater

Flip right side out, tuck in the raw edged section and top stitch all the way around your pockets.

how to add pockets to a sweater

Hooray! Two matching, lined pockets!

how to add pockets to a sweater

Arrange your pockets on the sweater and pin in place.

how to add pockets to a sweater

Stitch them on using a tight wide zigzag stitch.

how to add pockets to a sweater

Zigzag around the pocket edges for extra strength.

how to add pockets to a sweater

And your sturdy new pockets are complete!

how to add pockets to a sweater

Awesome, eh?

DIY sweater pockets

And soooo easy!

Need some more DIY pocket ideas?

Discover how to easily repair cardigan holes + add doily pockets too right here!

Get the scoop behind my DIY lace pockets!

Discover all of my upcycled fashion tutorials here then check out my E-courses right over here:

and transform your entire wardrobe for pennies with my groovy CoaR tutorial E-book collections right here:

2 Comments

  1. congrats on your 500th, Sheri. A wonderful accomplishment. And, another super cool idea!

    1. Thanks very much! 500 tutorials out of a total of 774 posts (as of today) in just over 2 years of full-time blogging is a pretty darn huge amount and a load of hard work 😀 I’m pretty impressed with myself now that I’ve added it all up! 😉

Comments are closed.

Check out these fab posts too!