Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater

“Ugly Christmas Sweater” parties and contests are a recent holiday trend. If you don't have your own ugly Christmas sweater already hanging in the back of your closet, you can easily create your own with a few supplies, some creativity, and a little time.

Method One: Full-Body Christmas Tree Sweater

 * 1) Glue the hula hoop to the bottom of the sweater. Insert a miniature hula hoop into the sweater through the bottom opening. Use a hot glue gun to hold the fabric to the plastic hoop.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 1.jpg|center]]
 * 2) *Fold the bottom of the fabric over the bottom and inner side of the hoop, then glue it to the inner side or top of the hoop. The entire hula hoop should be covered and hidden by the sweater.
 * 3) *Alternatively, you could wrap the bottom of the sweater around the hoop and hold it in place with a few loose stitches.
 * 4) Put the sweater on. Put on the sweater and stand in front of a full-length mirror. You'll decorate the sweater while it's on your body.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 2.jpg|center]]
 * 5) Wrap the metallic garland around your torso. Pin the metallic garland to the bottom of the sweater on one side of your body. Wrap the garland up and around your torso until you reach the space just beneath your arms.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 3.jpg|center]]
 * 6) *Wind the garland up and around your torso like you would wrap garland around an actual tree. You'll need to pin it in place at various points as you work to prevent it from falling off.
 * 7) Wrap the garland around your arms. Pin the garland to the bottom of one arm, then wrap it all the way around and down the sleeve. Repeat with the other arm.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 4.jpg|center]]
 * 8) *Try to wrap the garland in even layers around both arms. The positioning doesn't need to match precisely, but it should be close.
 * 9) *You may need someone else to help you pin the garland onto your sleeves. If you don't have a helper, you might need to take the sweater back off to work on the arms.
 * 10) Attach the bells to the bottom of the sweater. Pin one end of the jingle bell garland to the bottom of the sweater on one side. Wrap it all the way around the bottom opening, pinning as needed, until the opposite end meets the starting point.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 5.jpg|center]]
 * 11) *Only wrap one layer of jingle bells around the bottom opening of the sweater. Trim off the rest of the strand to use for your sleeves.
 * 12) Attach additional bells to the sleeves. Pin any excess jingle bells to the sleeves, doubling over the metallic garland you already attached.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 6.jpg|center]]
 * 13) *Try to keep the same amount of bells on each arm. You may need to cut the remaining strand in half before pinning each half to its respective sleeve.
 * 14) Pin the pom-poms to the sweater. Use safety pins to attach the white pom-poms to the body and sleeves of your sweater, spacing them apart at even but unmeasured intervals.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 7.jpg|center]]
 * 15) *These pom-poms will serve as ornaments, so arrange them as though you were placing actual ornaments on an actual tree.
 * 16) Hang the ornaments. Remove the ornament hooks and replace them with safety pins. Pin the ornaments to the body and sleeves of your sweater, spacing them apart evenly but without a set pattern.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 8.jpg|center]]
 * 17) *Don't be afraid to rearrange some of the pom-poms you already placed to make room for the red ornaments. Continue rearranging as needed until you achieve a look you feel happy with.
 * 18) Adjust as needed. Hold your arms up, forming a point above your head by pressing your palms together. Look in the mirror to determine where any gaps or cluttered clusters might be and adjust accordingly.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 9.jpg|center]]
 * 19) Attach the star to your sleeve. Use another safety pin to attach the point of the star to the opening of one sleeve. Allow the star to hang loosely.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 10.jpg|center]]
 * 20) *When you bring your palms together above your head, the star hanging off your sleeve will turn into the tree topper of your sweater.
 * 21) Wear the sweater. The sweater is now finished. When you're ready to show it off, hold your arms above your head, forming a point by pressing your palms together. Doing so should create the silhouette of a Christmas tree, complete with decorations and a festive tree topper.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 11.jpg|center]]

Method Two: Christmas Tie Tree Sweater

 * 1) Trim the ties. Cut each of the five ties with scissors, trimming each one so that it is approximately the same length as the sweater when measured from the wide end.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 12.jpg|center]]
 * 2) *Try to choose ties that are Christmas themed. The patterns don't need to match--in fact, you can create an uglier sweater if you purposefully look for patterns that clash.
 * 3) *You'll use the broad ends of the ties to create the tree itself. Save the skinny scraps, though, since you'll need them later on to create bows.
 * 4) Glue the first tie down the center. Position the first tie straight down the center of the sweater. Apply hot glue to the back of this tie and press it onto the front of the sweater.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 13.jpg|center]]
 * 5) *The natural pointed end of the tie should face the bottom of the sweater and the cut end should face the collar. This cut end should also land just a little below the collar.
 * 6) *Fabric glue or fusion fabric tape can be used instead of hot glue, if desired.
 * 7) Slant two more ties into the first. Place one tie to the right of the center tie, positioning it at a slight diagonal so that meets at the top in a blunt point. Repeat with another tie, placing that one to the left of the center tie. Glue both ties in place.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 14.jpg|center]]
 * 8) *The bottom points of each tie should remain visible, but the corners above those points should connect to one another.
 * 9) *These outer two ties will overlap the center tie slightly, and the left-hand tie will slightly overlap the right-hand tie near the top. When finished, the bottom should form the base of the triangle and the top should form the tip.
 * 10) Attach the final two ties. Position one tie next to the left-hand tie and attach it to the sweater with hot glue. Position the last tie next to the right-hand tie and glue in place, as well.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 15.jpg|center]]
 * 11) *These outermost ties should roughly follow the same angle and placement as your previous tie layer. They will slightly overlap the ties of your previous layer.
 * 12) *When finished, these five ties will create a "tie tree" on the front torso of your sweater.
 * 13) Tie three bows with the excess tie material. Take three of the tie scraps and tie them into standard bows.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 16.jpg|center]]
 * 14) *If the cut ends of these scraps start to fray, fold them down and hold them in place with a little hot glue to prevent further fraying.
 * 15) *Make sure that at least one bow is large enough to span over the entire top of your "tie tree." The other two bows can be the same size or slightly smaller, but they should roughly match one another.
 * 16) Glue one bow to the top of the tree. Use hot glue to attach the largest of the three bows to the top point of your "tie tree." This bow should completely cover the connecting point of all five ties.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 17.jpg|center]]
 * 17) *Only glue down the center of the bow. Allow the loops and tails of the bow to hang loose.
 * 18) Adhere the other bows to your sleeves. Glue one of the remaining bows to the top side of the right sleeve, near the opening of the sleeve. Glue the other bow to the same approximate point on the left sleeve.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 18.jpg|center]]
 * 19) *The tails of both bows should flare out toward the opening of their respective sleeves.
 * 20) Decorate the tree with button ornaments. Randomly arrange 24 to 48 buttons over the "tie tree," spacing them apart at even but non-uniform intervals. Hold each button in place with a dab of hot glue.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 19.jpg|center]]
 * 21) *Use buttons of varying sizes, shapes, and colors. Space them apart as you would space apart ornaments on an actual Christmas tree.
 * 22) Wear the sweater. Once everything dries, the sweater is done and ready to wear.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 20.jpg|center]]

Method Three: Light-Up Christmas Tree Sweater

 * 1) Cut the tree skirt in half. Use scissors to cut the miniature tree skirt cleanly in half.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 21.jpg|center]]
 * 2) *You'll only need one half the the skirt. You can discard the remaining half or use it for another project.
 * 3) Glue one half to the bottom of the sweater. Use hot glue to attach one tree skirt half to the bottom of the sweater. The straight (cut) edge should face and the rounded edge should hang toward the bottom.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 22.jpg|center]]
 * 4) *If the cut edge of the skirt looks like it might fray, fold it under and hide it beneath the body of the skirt. Hold the fold in place with glue.
 * 5) *The bottom of the skirt should hang to the very bottom of the sweater, if not a little beyond it.
 * 6) Adhere one end of the garland to the top of the skirt. Glue one end of the garland to the top of the tree skirt, 2 inches (5 cm) in from the side. Lay the garland straight across until you're within 2 inches (5 cm) from the opposite side.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 23.jpg|center]]
 * 7) *The bottom layer of garland needs to overlap the top edge of the tree skirt. You'll use the garland to create the “tree,” and this bottom layer should look like the bottom of the tree sitting on top of its tree skirt.
 * 8) Wind the garland up the sweater. Zigzag the garland up the sweater, creating horizontally stacked layers. Make each layer slightly shorter in length than the one below it, creating the basic shape of a Christmas tree.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 24.jpg|center]]
 * 9) *You may need to make some adjustments to the positioning of your garland, so don't start gluing it immediately. Wait until after you've arranged it over the front of the sweater. Then, once you are satisfied with the height and width of the tree, use hot glue to secure the placement of the garland.
 * 10) Weave the strand of lights into the garland. Wind the strand of miniature lights into the garland, spacing the lights apart as evenly as possible. Safety pin the strand to the sweater in 2-inch to 4-inch (5-cm to 10-cm) intervals to hold the lights in place.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 25.jpg|center]]
 * 11) *Try to hide the wire in between the garland and the sweater so that only the lights themselves are visible.
 * 12) *Make sure that the battery pack hangs down at bottom of the sweater. Ideally, you should be able to hide this pack in your pants pocket when you wear the sweater.
 * 13) Attach the ornaments. Arrange the ornaments over the garland tree as desired. Hold each one in place using a dab of hot glue.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 26.jpg|center]]
 * 14) *Try to space the ornaments apart as though you were decorating an actual Christmas tree.
 * 15) *You may need to turn the lights on while arranging the ornaments to avoid accidentally crowding them out.
 * 16) Cut out a felt star. Use scissors to cut a basic star shape out of yellow craft felt.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 27.jpg|center]]
 * 17) *You may need to trace the shape of the star onto the felt using pencil before cutting it out. If so, make sure that the pencil-marked side faces down when you attach the star.
 * 18) Glue the star to the top of the tree. Attach the felt star to the top point of the tree with a small amount of hot glue.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 28.jpg|center]]
 * 19) *Alternatively, you can skip the felt star and pin a star-shaped brooch above the top of the tree, instead. Gluing a star-shaped plastic ornament to the top of the tree would also work.
 * 20) Wear the sweater. At this point, the sweater should be complete and ready to show off at your next "Ugly Christmas Sweater" themed party.[[Image:Make an Ugly Christmas Sweater Step 29.jpg|center]]

Full-Body Christmas Tree Sweater

 * Green sweater
 * Mini hula hoop
 * Metallic garland
 * 12 white pom-poms
 * 12 red ornaments
 * Jingle bell garland
 * Safety pins
 * Hot glue gun
 * Scissors
 * Large plastic star
 * Full-length mirror

Christmas Tie Tree Sweater

 * Red or green sweater
 * 5 long ties, Christmas themed
 * Scissors
 * Hot glue gun
 * 24 to 48 miscellaneous buttons

Light-Up Christmas Tree Sweater

 * Sweater, any color
 * Mini tree skirt
 * 20-count mini red Christmas tree lights, battery operated
 * 15-ft (4.57-m) mini green garland
 * 12 to 20 mini Christmas ornaments
 * Yellow felt
 * Hot glue gun
 * Safety pins

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