How to Make a Homemade Christmas Stockings from a Sweater

This is a quick tutorial on how to make a Christmas stocking from a sweater! It’s one of many ways you can DIY Christmas stockings this year!

No matter if you need a new stocking for a family member, or just want to be festive and creative for the holiday season, you can easily make new stockings at home to add to your Christmas decorations. These DIY stockings are a great way to reuse old sweaters this time of year. Choose from different designs and various colors to make this one of your favorite DIY projects for your own homemade Christmas stockings.

Read below the easy steps to make your own DIY Christmas stockings!

I saw this great pin on pinterest called “Christmas Stockings Made from Sweaters” over at the blog The Complete Guide to Imperfect Homemaking and I thought to myself… My daughters need Christmas stockings, I have a sewing machine, and it’s an inexpensive craft, so I think I should do this!

While I really want to buy/knit stockings like the one my grandmother hand-knit for me and rest of my siblings growing up, the patterns are a bit pricey and I don’t know how knit.  I’ve seen a few etsy sellers that make them, but they are above what we can afford right now too.

It is my goal to figure out how to knit and make stockings like the one I have for my family some day.  In the meantime, however, my girls need Christmas stockings, now!

So, I did it!  I decided to give this pinterest find a try!

I made Christmas Stockings from a sweater!

I went to the flea market down the street (though a thrift store would work the same) and looked through the various booths looking for just the right sweater.  I found one that I really liked that was a pretty blue with silver thread, very wintery, and at a great price – $2.25.

I decided to just buy one sweater, both to make sure I was actually going to make it, and that two, in case it didn’t turn out well or I didn’t like it, I didn’t waste my money on two sweaters (since you can’t return them to flea markets).

I ended up deciding that instead of buying two sweaters, I would just use the same sweater for both stockings since I could trace two stocking outlines on it.  So, it really worked in my favor that I only purchased one sweater.

I pretty much followed the directions exactly as I found them on the tutorial blog post about it.

Easy Tutorial for Making Homemade Christmas Stockings from a Sweater:

1. Turn the sweater inside out.

2. Lay a stocking on top of the sweater and trace around it.  Make sure that the stocking is flipped backward if you want all the toes to be pointing the same way.  I didn’t know what I was supposed to use to mark on the sweater, so I ended up using a dry-erase marker because I had one handy and it would show up.

Ideas for a good fabric pen/pencil/marker would be great for my future reference.


3. Pin the sweater to itself inside the outlines, front to back to keep the sweater from shifting or bunching while sewing.  Note: Don’t cut out the stocking yet.

4. Sew along the outline with your sewing machine!  This was a bit challenging for me since this was the first time I have ever used my sewing machine (gifted to me from my mother-in-law three years ago).  I wasn’t sure if I should use a straight stitch or zig-zag, how long, which needle, or any of that, so I pretty much winged it.

The hubby was home and told me to use a zig-zag stitch, so I did.  If anyone has recommendations on what settings to have your sewing machine at when sewing sweater-like material, that would again be appreciated!

5. Sew along the lines one more time for good measure.  Overkill?  Needed? I don’t know!

6. Cut out the stocking, staying fairly close to the sewing line.

7. Turn the stocking right-side out.

8. Cut a long narrow strip of some of the remaining sweater.  This will become the loop used to hang up the stocking.

9. Pin the long edges together, inside out.

10. Sew along the edge.

11. Turn it right side out.  I used a pencil to help me do this since it was pretty long and slender.  I’m sure there are better tools and ways of doing this.

12. Iron the tube of fabric.  This helps lay it flat and makes it easier to sew.

13. Fold the tube of sweater and sew it onto the stocking.  Make sure to sew it onto the backside of the stocking so you won’t see the thread.

14. Iron the rest of the stocking so that it hangs well and doesn’t have lumpy parts.

15. Hang by the chimney with care (or wherever it is you hang your stockings).

And you’re done!!

This project took me maybe 2-3 hours to complete, but I made two stockings in that time.  Also, I spent much of that time reading my sewing machine’s instruction booklets and setting it up.  I also had to chase away some toddlers once or twice. 

But, two or three hours to make cute Christmas stockings from a sweater for only $2.25??  AWESOME!  And if I can do it, I’m pretty sure anyone can.

Now I just need to figure out how to put my daughters’ names on them…  Suggestions?

Can I use extra fabric pieces to make adorable stockings?

You bet! This is one of the best DIY Christmas stocking ideas. You can easily make a special stocking during Christmas time and give it a unique look just by using different fabrics. Homemade stockings also make great gift ideas – and are so much more cute than a store-bought stocking!

What do you put inside handmade Christmas stockings?

When you make your own stockings, you can add anything that you want inside. I like to add candy canes, gift cards, and other stocking stuffers right inside. The good news is that you get to fill the stocking with whatever you want, so it’s a great time to have that job!

Where do you hang stockings?

We put ours in the living room, but you can hang the finished stocking anywhere that you have fun. If you don’t have a mantle, you can even just pin them to the wall to give the house a festive look. That’s the great thing about stockings – the perfect stocking can be hung up anywhere in the house! All you need is a hanging loop on this easy DIY project, and the whole family can display their own Christmas stockings easily.

You can also just lay them on the ground under Christmas trees as well. Any of these are fantastic ideas!

If you want ideas on what to put INSIDE your brand new handmade stockings, check out my list of 8 traditional stocking stuffers. It’ll be all you need.

• 5 Traditional Reasons to Put Oranges in Stockings
• 36 Practical & Traditional Stocking Stuffers for Men