DIY Ugly Christmas Sweater
…It’s so Ugly, It’s Cute!
My middle son, Son #2, has been begging for an ugly Christmas sweater to wear to school. I guess it’s all the rage in 7th grade. I thought instead of buying a ridiculously expensive ugly sweater, I would make one. I made this sweater without purchasing a thing. However, if you need to buy materials, it is not much. All you need is an old sweater (if you don’t have one, check out your nearest thrift store), felt squares, ribbon, scissors, a string of battery-operated Christmas lights and your handy-dandy glue gun. Of course you can jazz-up your sweater more with real mini ornaments and glitter, but I tried to keep this one a bit tame for Son #2.
What you will need:
- Old sweater
- 5 squares of green craft felt
- Wide-wired ribbon
- Scissors
- Small string of battery-operated Christmas lights (mine had 20 bulbs)
- Hot glue gun
- A smile
Instructions:
- Lay your sweater on a table. Smooth out any wrinkles.
- Make a bow tie with your ribbon and hot glue it to the top of your sweater.
- Lay out your green craft felt squares on your sweater where the tree will be, overlapping.
- To make your Christmas tree shape, use sharp scissors and cut along one side of all the felt squares angling to a point at the top. Do the other side. You should now have a skinny triangle that looks like a Christmas tree!
- Next, hot-glue (to the sweater) the tops only of each green felt section.
- Now figure out how many bulbs of your Christmas lights will fit onto each section of your felt so you use all the bulbs. This took a while but I figured it out. There are 5 sections and I have 20 bulbs: Section 1 (top and biggest) I used 6 bulbs. Section 2 and 3 I used 3 bulbs each. Section 4 and 5 I used 4 bulbs each.
- Once you know how many bulbs per section you can start cutting little slits into the felt layer to insert the lights from behind. This may mean you will be cutting through several layers of felt. When you get to a layer that the top is glued down, just wrap your lights around and under to the next section. Remember this is an Ugly Christmas Sweater so it doesn’t need to be perfect.
- Now that all your lights have been inserted into the felt tree, turn your lights on to make sure they work. Now start hot-gluing the heck out of your sweater. I just started glueing for the top to to bottom. Glue sides down. Glue layers down. Glue anything down you want. This will help support the tree on the sweater.
- Let everything dry, which should only be a few minutes and try your ugly, but cute, Christmas sweater on.
I think it turned out great. Everyone will be impressed and a little embarrassed by Son #2’s sweater at the same time…that’s what an ugly Christmas sweater is all about, right? Enjoy!
P.S. This sweater is not washable. Do not put it in the washer. If it gets dirty, just spot clean it with a wet rag.
Becca Wilkinson has a creative “need” and will do anything to avoid laundry. She writes over at Cul-de-sac Cool about design, DIY/crafts, easy eats, family, funny experiences and of course, motherhood. Becca wants to spread happiness, helpful tips, pretty things and funny experiences throughout the land. She is the proud mother of three boys and married to her college sweetheart. In her past life she was a graphic designer. Becca has learned a lot these past years about juggling boys, blogging, family and suburban life.
