A DIY ugly Christmas sweater beats anything on the rack at the big box store, because you made it and nobody else at the party has it. These nine start with a plain sweater or a thrift store sweatshirt and a bag of craft supplies: felt, pom poms, jingle bells, glitter vinyl and a hot glue gun. There's a Rudolph with googly eyes, a cat with mouse elbow patches, a llama in a scarf, a snowflake sweatshirt you can make at the party itself, a kid sized felt masterpiece and our own HO HO HO sweater with letters that stand up off the knit. Most take an hour and cost less than ten dollars. Perfect for the office party, the family photo and ugly sweater day at school.
1. Rudolph Ugly Sweater
Angie's Rudolph is the sweater that wins the contest, and it's mostly one piece of felt. A big reindeer head cut from half a yard of brown felt gets glued to the front of a plain green sweater with fabric glue, two extra large googly eyes go on, a cluster of red pom poms makes the nose and a pair of brown felt antlers glue on at the shoulders. She says the googly eyes were the hardest part to attach, so white and black felt circles work just as well.
2. Ho-Ho-Ho Embroidered Sweater
This one is ours, and it's the sweater people keep asking about. A plain red waffle knit sweater gets HO HO HO across the chest in white cord, but the trick is a line of hot glue under each letter first, so the stitching sits up off the knit like puffy embroidery instead of lying flat. Draw the letters, glue along the lines, then stitch the cord over the glue with an embroidery needle. It reads from across the room, it survives the wash and it takes one evening.
3. Meow-y Christmas Cat Sweater
Steph's cat sweater is iron on vinyl and a very good pun. A gray thermal shirt gets Meow-y Christmas in black vinyl, a gold glitter cat face in the middle and, the best part, black oval elbow patches with a little white mouse on each one wearing a pink glitter bow. Everything is cut on a cutting machine, mirrored, positioned and ironed on. She even trims a dollar store Santa hat down to cat size. Remember to mirror the images before you cut.
4. Fa-La-La Llama Sweatshirt
Alexis made this llama sweatshirt for her daughter and then needed one for herself. Her free cut file, a llama in a coral scarf and earmuffs surrounded by fa la la la la llama in script, gets cut from black and coral heat transfer vinyl on a cutting machine, flipped before cutting, then layered and ironed onto a plain white sweatshirt. The file is free for personal use and comes in a version with a white llama for dark sweatshirts. It's the not so ugly ugly sweater.
5. Make It At The Party Snowflake Sweatshirt
Scavenger Chic hosted twenty one relatives and put them all to work decorating their own sweatshirts while dinner cooked. The supply table is the secret: thrift store sweatshirts at half price, the ninety percent off Christmas junk nobody bought, tinsel, pom poms, googly eyes, bells, ribbon, felt and two hot glue guns. Her own version is a white sweatshirt with two big glitter snowflakes, a jingle bell in the center of each, a polka dot ribbon and a zigzag of rickrack. Start collecting supplies now for next year.
6. Kid Designed Felt Sweater
Charlotte's daughter had ugly sweater day at school, so they made one the night before from a thrift store sweatshirt and the craft drawer. The kid sketched the design, cut felt into a big square, a border of green tabs and a row of colorful ornaments across the top, laid it all out on the sweatshirt and hot glued it down, then added pom poms, a lace snowflake and a stripe of glitter fabric paint. Jingle bells along the collar finish it.
7. Rainbow Pom-Pom Sleeve Sweater
Laura got jealous of a pom pom sleeve sweater she bought for her toddler and made a grown up one. About twenty six one inch pom poms per sleeve, sorted so each sleeve gets the same mix of colors, get pinned in place with safety pins from the underside, then the sweater turns inside out and every pom stitches on with matching thread. It's tedious, so put a movie on. Do it in red, green and white for a Christmas sweater, or rainbow for one you'll wear all winter.
8. Tropical Palm Tree Ugly Sweater
Aww Sam went tropical with hers, on the theory that wrapping a palm tree in Christmas lights is its own kind of holiday tradition. Two crocheted palm trees, one worked with doubled stitches so it stands taller, get sewn onto a pink sweater with a tapestry needle and felt sand glues along the hem. The lights are teardrops cut from colored felt with a little brown cap on each one, strung along brown embroidery thread. A pink felt flamingo in a tiny santa hat finishes it off.
9. Santa Baby Maternity Sweatshirt
Nothing at the thrift store worked for a pregnant belly, so Swoodson Says made a maternity version with no sewing at all. A big circle traced around an embroidery hoop gets divided into three stripes, cut from iron on glitter transfer sheets and pressed onto a plain gray sweatshirt with a cotton cloth between the fabric and the iron. Freezer paper cut with a craft knife stencils the words above it, brushed with glue then buried in loose glitter, and dimensional glitter paint makes the ornament topper.
