Ugly Christmas Sweaters | DIY
An Invitation! Ugh!
So! You’ve been invited to an “ugly sweater party,” but, you don’t own one of those despicable pieces of clothing.
Not to worry. You don’t need to go buy one special to wear only once. There are other options that will allow you to “play the game” without going broke or becoming ill at the thought.
First, try looking for such a garment at any of your local charity/thrift/second-hand shops. You just might find what you need, for a tiny price. Then, you won’t feel bad about either hanging it in the back of your closet, never to be worn again. (Until the next such invite.)
Or, you can toss it right back into the donation bin when you’re done with it, and you won’t be worried at having wasted a lot of money.
Alternately, you can rig up your very own temporary “ugly sweater,” and still have your own garment to wear after the holidays.
For this, you can either use a sweatshirt or sweater, and attach assorted holiday craft items and cheap plastic “bling” bits here and there to accomplish the effect you want.
What the Heck?
For some reason, my own wonderful husband has been seeing this theme on some TV ad, and thought it would be funny/fun/interesting, to turn our own annual holiday party into an ugly sweater party, complete with a prize for the ugliest/tackiest. Oh. My. Gosh.
Now, WE had to go shopping for such things for ourselves, for what kind of hosts would be be if we did not deign to wear what we were asking everyone else to don?
I did find a suitable sweater on the cheap for myself at our local Goodwill store; but there were none for men. Not to panic. I fixed it all up myself. It's easy; just takes a little time.
Tools You’ll Need
Extra-fine crochet hook (don't worry; you don't need to know how to crochet!)
Scissors
Needle and thread
Yarn
Craft Goodies
Glue Stick
How to Proceed
First, he selected a red, long-sleeved thermal-knit shirt, , which will be warm, and useful every winter. At the Goodwill store, it was only $8.00. (See photo at right) So far, so good.
Now, to transform it into an ugly Christmas sweater. No problem. Out came the craft supplies.
First, select the materials you want to use, then lay out the design in a ‘dry fit,’ if you will, on top of the garment. I decided to do a sort of forest theme, since I had quite a lot of green garland from our holiday decorations.
I picked a section that was too short to use for anything else, and it became the centerpiece, with tiny plastic 3-D snowflakes tied on here and there. (I am noticing that the little tie-strings that came with them don't quite want to stay tied, so I may use a hot glue gun to attach them to the garland. That won't be a problem for undoing the sweater, as the hot glue won't be in contact with the garment, only the garland.)
Next, pom-pom “snowballs” were added. They are ridiculously easy to make; even kids can have a hand.
Of course, to be really obnoxious, you have to add jingle bells, so yes, 8 of them; one for each snowball.
I found a few green over-sized sequins that I tacked on here and there, and for the finishing touch, I cut a large snowflake from a sheet of white felt, and affixed it to the back of the shirt with an ordinary glue stick. It is not terribly sticky, and it is water soluble, so any residue will come off in the wash once the decorations have been removed at the end of the season.
Presto, change-o! One ugly Christmas sweater!
Temporary Change
Since none of the items are attached permanently, they are easily removed after the holidays, and your garment returned to normal duty.
Whether using a yarn tie-off poked through the weave of the fabric, or safety pins from inside on a tighter weave such as a sweatshirt, or a simple needle and thread tack-on job, it is all simple to undo, and more quickly undone than the time spent affixing it all.
Have fun with it, and don't worry about those party invites!
What do You Think of the DIY Ugly Christmas Sweater?
All photos ©12-6-2014 by Liz Elias