Sock Pocket Couture for Fashion-Forward Adults

Sock pockets in action

For an introduction to the concept of sock pockets see the previous post, An "Aha" Sewing Moment: Sock Pockets. In that post I pointed out that sock pockets solve two problems: lost socks and lack of pockets. In the course of adapting the concept to couture for savvy adults who don't give a crap if they look like victims of static cling, I have tackled a third problem: socks with worn heels. We all have them — favorite socks that have become so worn at the back of the heel from shoes rubbing that they become an embarrassment in the security line at the airport. And yet we don't want to throw them away. Voila — sock pockets!

How-to details

As explained in the last sock pocket post, when using an adult sock you will want to stitch horizontally across the sock somewhere that makes sense in terms of creating a functional pocket. See the gray sock above for an example. If you don't do this, whatever you put in the pocket will work its way down into the toe and be impossible to get back out.

The new innovation is illustrated by the red sock above. This was a sock with a badly worn heel. The sock was cut off at the ankle, inserted into the large pocket on the shirt, and then the cut bottom of the sock was stitched horizontally inside the shirt pocket (only to the back of the shirt pocket, leaving the original pocket free and fully functional) to create the sock pocket bottom. With this shirt, this also solved the problem of large, floppy, non-functional pockets. Before, if you tried to stash a pair of glasses in the original pocket they would fall to one side, get snagged, and be a hassle to remove. Now, with the addition of a snug sock pocket, the glasses are easily accessible while the original large pocket remains free to store other things.

How-to details

Following the procedure outlined above, here a sock with a worn heel has been cut at the ankle and then again at the arch of the foot. The worn heel section was discarded. The top section of the sock is used to create a snug pocket-within-a-pocket, while the toe of the sock forms another little pocket. See close-up photos below.

Sock pocket inside original pocket

Pocket from toe of sock

Sock pocket inside of original pocket