How to Knit a Soap Pouch to Prolong Your Bar of Soap

By
Mollie Johanson
Mollie Johanson
Mollie Johanson
Mollie Johanson is a professional needlecrafter with over 10 years of hands-on embroidery, sewing, and knitting experience. She is the author of “Stitch Love: Sweet Creatures Big & Small." Mollie also designs and sells stitching projects, co-hosts a crafting podcast, and has taught online embroidery courses.
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Updated on 10/18/20
Dropped stitch soap pouch and bar of soap

The Spruce Crafts / Mollie Johanson

Project Overview
  • Total Time: 4 hrs
  • Yield: 1
  • Skill Level: Beginner
  • Estimated Cost: $2

Ready to make the switch from bottles of liquid soap to earth-friendly bar soap? Knit this handy pouch to preserve your bar of soap and keep it creating plenty of scrubbing suds! It's like placing a bar of soap inside a hand-knit washcloth. The drawstring bag holds your soap while you use it and keeps it tucked away between each hand or body wash. It's also remarkably easy to toss in the laundry.

Bar soaps have less packaging waste than liquid alternatives, but they can get a little messy. This soap sachet solves that problem. It's also like using a loofah, but without the plastic waste or the risk of mold building up because you can wash it with your towels.

This is a fast and easy project to knit up and makes a perfect gift. Pair it with some amazing DIY soap or your favorite fancy bar of soap. You can knit this up in an evening or two and a single skein of cotton yarn will usually yield two or three pouches.

All you need to know is how to knit and purl, as well as sew up the seams. It also uses a special dropped stitch, which is a way of intentionally making longer stitches. Be sure to read through the whole pattern before you start, but within just a short time you'll have a little bag to keep your soap safe.

Knitted Soap Bag for a Large Bar of Soap

The Spruce Crafts / Mollie Johanson

Original Pattern by Sarah E. White. Updated by Mollie Johanson

What You'll Need

Equipment / Tools

  • US 6 / 4mm knitting needles
  • Scissors
  • Yarn needle

Materials

  • 40 yard medium (4) weight cotton yarn

Instructions

Pattern Gauge and Size

Gauge: About five stitches and five rows per inch in pattern. Gauge is not critical.

Size: Before sewing, the knitted piece is four inches wide and 12 inches long. The finished size is eight inches around and six inches tall after sewing, so it fits a large bar of soap.

Knit the Soap Pouch

  1. Soap Pouch Knitting Pattern

    Cast on 21 stitches with a stretchy cast-on such as a long-tail cast-on.

    Rows 1 to 4: Work in stockinette stitch.

    Row 5: Knit 2 together, yarn over to the last stitch. Knit the last stitch.

    Row 6: Purl every stitch.

    Rows 7 to 10: Work in stockinette stitch.

    Row 11: Knit every stitch, wrapping the yarn twice to make dropped stitches (process described below).

    Row 12: Purl every stitch, dropping the extra loop from the second yarn wrap.

    Repeat rows 7 to 12 until the piece measures about 11 inches long.

    Repeat rows 1 to 6, then repeat rows 1 to 4 again.

    Bind off with a stretchy bind off. Cut the yarn, leaving a long tail.

    Tip

    To change the size, you can reduce or increase the number of cast-on stitches, as long as you use an odd number of stitches. You can also alter the height by the length you knit the rectangular piece.

    Knitted rows of stockinette and dropped stitches
    Mollie Johanson

  2. Sew the Sides

    Fold the knitted piece in half and match up the rows of dropped stitches. Use the tail of yarn to stitch the first side with mattress stitch. Attach another piece of yarn and sew the second side the same way.

    Seam the sides with mattress stitch
    Mollie Johanson

  3. Make a Drawstring

    Braid three pieces of yarn together to make a drawstring that's about 20 inches long. You can also use ribbon for this or knit an I-cord.

    Weave the drawstring back and forth through the yarn over eyelets. The two ends should both come out through the same hole.

    Make a drawstring and thread the eyelets
    Mollie Johanson

  4. Place the Soap Inside the Bag

    Slide the bar of soap inside and tie the drawstring closed with a bow. Your soap is ready to use!

    Place Soap in the sachet and tie it closed
    Mollie Johanson

How to Do the Dropped Stitch Rows

The special dropped stitch for this project is easy to learn but can feel confusing the first time you try it.

  1. Start the Stitch

    On the dropped stitch knit rows, insert your needle to knit the stitch. Next, wrap the yarn around the needle two times instead of just one.

    Wrap the Yarn Around the Needle Twice
    Mollie Johanson

    Complete the knit stitch, but you should end up with two loops on the needle within that one stitch.

    Repeat this for every stitch in the row.

    Two Stitches in One Knit
    Mollie Johanson

  2. Purl

    On the dropped stitch purl rows, insert the needle to purl, going through just one of the loops from the stitch. You should still see the yarn looped around your other needle.

    Purl Through One Loop on the Needle
    Mollie Johanson

    As you finish the purl, let the extra loop of yarn drop off the needle. This will leave a longer stitch that feels strange. Don't worry! It's supposed to be like that.

    Repeat this for every stitch in the row.

    Let the Extra Loop Drop When Purling
    Mollie Johanson

    When you complete the set of dropped stitch rows you should have a row of elongated or dropped stitches like this.

    Rows of Stockinette and a Dropped Stitch Row
    Mollie Johanson

In addition to this being useful, it also makes a wrapped bar of soap pretty for giving as a gift. In fact, you could use this knitted pouch for more than just soap. Knit little bags to wrap small gifts or to use as a travel jewelry pouch.

Knitted Soap Sachet Leaning on a Small Jar

The Spruce Crafts / Mollie Johanson