How to Add Pockets to a Men's Dress Shirt

Many men's dress shirts come in no-pocket styles, but you can add pockets by recycling another men's dress shirt that is no longer in wearable condition. Often pockets show the least wear in dress shirts. Remove the pockets from a similar shirt and sew them to the pocket-less shirt. Save collars, cuffs, buttons and pockets from men's dress shirts that have become worn or stained for easy transfer to shirts needing to be spruced up.

Things You'll Need

• Pocket-less men's dress shirt
• Men's dress shirt with pockets to be recycled
• Seam ripper
• Cardboard, 8-1/2 inches wide by 11 inches long
• Straight pins
• Sewing machine
• Thread
• Iron and ironing board
• Spray starch (optional)

Instructions

1. Use the seam ripper to carefully remove the pockets from the worn shirt being recycled. Insert the seam ripper hook beneath a stitch on the pocket, slide the cutter that is inside of the hook until it touches the stitch and push against it, lifting up, cutting the stitch. Continue around the stitches of the pocket until the pocket comes away from the shirt fabric.

2. Spread the pocket-less men's dress shirt flat on a table and slide a piece of cardboard 8-1/2 inches wide by 11 inches long beneath the front chest area of the shirt (or wherever you want the pocket). Using the recycled shirt as a guide for pocket placement, position the pocket. Pin the pocket in place. Repeat for additional pockets.

3. On the sewing machine, with matching thread, use a straight stitch along the previous stitching perforations. The pocket is already hemmed and folded where it needs to be because it was attached to the other shirt. Follow the stitching line with your new stitches. Sew all three sides of the pocket(s) and remove the pins.

4. Iron the shirt and the newly installed pockets. Using spray starch will help set the new stitches on the new pockets.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure the dress shirts are of the same fabric and color or a very similar match. You can also replace collars and cuffs on otherwise good dress shirts by recycling the collars and cuffs from a stained or worn-out dress shirt by using a seam ripper to remove the stitches and separate the collar and cuffs and sew them to the good shirt (after removing the frayed/stained collar and cuffs on the good shirt). With the price of men's dress shirts, it pays to keep a bag or basket of worn out or stained men's shirts in your closet for easy repairs and salvaging of otherwise good shirts.

Resources

• Frugal Village: Turning and Recycling Collars and Cuffs
• Craft and Fabric: Sewing Pockets from Scratch