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Embroidered Sweater Stocking

Embroidered Sweater Stocking

Recycle a favorite old sweater into a cherished Christmas stocking! This project is wonderfully quick and easy. Make up as many as you need for the whole family, with a perfectly personal embroidery design on each! Embroidery Library has  thousands of Christmas embroidery designs  to choose from.

Read below for these free project instructions!

Supplies & Materials:

Supplies:


**An old sweater - this one is cotton, but wool and other fabrics are fine choices too

**2/3 yard coordinating fabric for lining - we used printed quilter's cotton

**Stocking pattern - click here to download

**Jingle bell

**Medium weight cutaway stabilizer

**Water-soluble topping - we used Sulky Solvy

**Air-erase pen

**Scotch tape

The designs used in this tutorial include: 


For this project, the design we used was the Rosemaling Christmas Bells. The design we used for the stocking is also available in the following design pack: A Christmas Rosemaling Design Pack 


There are thousands of Christmas designs that will also look great on this stocking. Choose your fa-la-la-favorites and stitch away!


Finished Size:
12 inches wide by 19 inches high

The designs used in this tutorial include:

- E6034, Rosemaling Christmas Bells

Gather Materials:

To begin,  click here  to open a PDF of the stocking pattern. The pattern is split into four pieces. Print out the pieces on 8 1/2 inch by 11 inch paper.

Four printed paper pattern pieces labeled Section 1, Section 2, Section 3, and Section 4 laid out on a wooden surface, each with cutting and sewing instructions.

Cut out the sections and align them together as instructed on the printouts. Tape the pieces together to form the stocking pattern.

(Alternatively, you can use one of our other stocking patterns , or draw your own - any stocking shape will do!)

Paper template for a stocking pattern laid flat on a wood surface, labeled with sections 1-4 and attachment instructions for assembly.

Lay out the sweater on a flat surface. Place the pattern on the sweater so that the top edge of the stocking is aligned with the bottom edge of the sweater. Trace around the pattern with an air-erase pen (or other marking tool).

Blue sweater laid flat on dark wood surface with white paper template of a stocking shape pinned or placed on top, covering most of front side.

Create paper templates of the design by printing it at full size using embroidery software. If you don't have embroidery software, you can cut a piece of paper the shape and dimensions of the design to help with placement and centering.


Using an air-erase pen (or other marking tool), poke a hold in the center of the template and mark the fabric. Also mark the horizontal and vertical axis points. Remove the templates. Draw lines connecting the axis marks - these will be used for hooping.

Blue knitted sweater laid flat on a wooden surface with a stencil of a bell and ribbon design taped to the center front for embroidery placement.

Start Embroidering:

Spray a piece of medium-weight stabilizer with temporary adhesive, and smooth the fabric on top. If the knit is coarse, lay a piece of water-soluble stabilizer over the top of the area to be embroidered, to keep the stitches from sinking into the fabric. Hoop the stabilizer, fabric, and topping together by aligning the marks on the hoop with the lines on the fabric.


Click here for more information on embroidering sweater knits.


(Tip: You may want to cut along one side seam of the sweater in order to make hooping easier.)

Blue knit sweater fabric stretched in a rectangular embroidery hoop on a blue towel over a wooden surface, with faint blue grid markings visible.

Embroider the design.

Close-up of a blue fabric featuring an embroidered design of two beige bells with blue and yellow accents, surrounded by swirling green, blue, and gray leaves.

Carefully trim away the excess stabilizer on the back of the embroidery.

Embroidered patch on blue fabric featuring abstract floral design in shades of blue, green, and yellow threads with swirling shapes.

Smooth out the sweater on a flat surface again, making sure to align the bottom edges of the sweater front and back - these will become the top edge of the stocking. Pin both layers together, just inside the cutting line.

Light blue knitted fabric with a sketched stocking shape marked by multicolored straight pins and a floral embroidery patch with blue, yellow, and white threads above it.

Cut through both layers to create two stocking-shaped pieces.

Light blue knitted sweater laid flat on a wooden surface with a multicolored embroidered floral design near the bottom edge on one side.

Lay the sweater pieces right sides together, and pin together along the edges.


Blue fabric stocking shape pinned with multicolored pins on wooden surface; white patch with abstract blue and green embroidery attached to stocking front.

Sew around the sweater pieces, leaving the top of the stocking open.

Close-up of blue knitted fabric with pins attached being sewn on a white sewing machine on a wooden surface.

Turn the sweater pieces inside out. This is the outer layer of your stocking.

Light blue knitted stocking displayed flat with an embroidered design of two white bells tied with a blue ribbon and surrounded by green and blue swirls.

Hand-sew a bell to the tip of the stocking toe.

Close-up of a light blue knitted stocking corner with a silver jingle bell attached, resting on a wooden surface.

Using the same stocking pattern, cut out two pieces from the lining fabric.

Light blue stocking cutout with repeated white and blue vertical stripe pattern on wood surface, showing front and partially flipped back side fabric.

Lay the lining pieces right sides together, and pin. Stitch around the edge of the stocking lining, leaving the top edge open.

Blue and white patterned fabric pinned and being sewn on a white sewing machine on a wooden surface. The fabric is shaped like a stocking.

Press open the seams on the stocking lining, starting at the top and going as far as you can. Press under 1/2 inch around the top of the lining.

Light blue fabric with a dark tree pattern featuring bare branches and white dots resembling snow, sewn into a gathered pouch shape against a brown textured background.

To create the stocking loop, cut out a 3 1/2 inch by 10 1/2 inch rectangle from the lining fabric. Fold it in half the long way, right sides together, and stitch. Turn it right side out, and press.

Close-up of a sewing machine stitching a folded strip of blue and white fabric with a snowy birch tree pattern on a dark wooden surface.

Fold the piece into a loop and pin it to the inside seam of the sweater stocking (the one toward the back side of the "foot"). Stitch in place, about an inch from the top.

Close-up of a sewing project with blue knit fabric and a pinned piece of folded gray fabric with black and white feather-like patterns on a wooden surface.

Insert the lining into the sweater stocking. Pin it in place, matching seams, with the folded edge of the lining about 1/2 inch below the edge of the sweater.

Close-up of a light blue knitted fabric folded with a looped cuff, pinned with multicolored sewing pins on patterned lining fabric inside, on a wooden surface.

Hand-stitch the top edge of the lining to the sweater.

Close-up of a blue knitted sweater cuff with embroidery stitches and silver needle thread on a fabric with gray and white leaf patterns.

This festive stocking, personalized with any Christmas design, is now ready to hang by the chimney!

Light blue stocking with ribbed cuff and loop for hanging, featuring embroidery of two silver bells with blue and green swirls, and a small bell attached at the toe.