For a tiny apartment with a tiny Christmas tree, I sure do have a lot of ornaments. I can’t stop! They are miniature works of art and I love to look at them on my tree and in every holiday store or catalog. But good ornaments don’t just have to be professionally done. The best part of some trees is the handmade touches from ornaments you can make yourself. So let’s get to making some. And let’s make them ugly.
Ugly sweaters are one of the best parts of holiday fashion, right? People are even throwing ugly sweater parties. And if you’re a little unsure of your crafting abilities, what better way to hide any mistakes than by making something that should be purposefully ugly. Your first step for your ugly sweater ornaments is gathering materials.
I started with a rainbow of wool felt. I like this felt from Purl Soho because it’s high quality wool and comes in really gorgeous colors, but I think any felt would do. Print and use the Rae’s Days Ugly Sweater Template to cut out the shape of the sweaters.
After you have a few blank sweaters, use any materials you’d like to decorate them. I used felt to cut out shapes and hot glue them on. I wanted to use materials I had on hand, but if I had any sequins, you can bet they’d be all over these.
After that, step back and admire your work.
I am no perfectionist, and these sweaters are no exception. I didn’t measure, and I didn’t worry about getting everything perfect. These are *ugly* sweaters, remember? But I have to say, they look pretty cute in the end. One of my favorites is the Santa sweater. If you wanted, you could use this same template to make Santa ornaments instead. All you need is some white felt for the accents, and some black buttons (I used my hole punch again to make the little felt circles). Once you’re happy with your collection, you need to add some string or yarn so you can get them on your tree.
I used some gray yarn I had on hand, and I cut it six inches long. On the template, there is a six-inch ruler you can use to measure your string. Then I made a loop with the yarn and hot glued it into the back of my ornament. The easiest way for me to do this was to use a spare piece of felt and glue that to the back to hold the string in the right place.
You could use any spare piece of material you have. I cut some into circles because I thought it looked like buttons on the back. Then, hang it on your tree!
Pick up the Rae’s Days Ugly Sweater Template here, and get started! If you make any, I’d love to see them. Please share on Instagram (I’m raenudson) or Twitter (rclnudson) with the hashtag #raesdays!
Rae Nudson 