A friend at work texted me 2 weeks ago on a Saturday night…”I’m in need of a horrible Christmas sweater, any ideas?” Well..of course I have ideas! My first thought was “it’s 5:33pm on a Saturday – I hope he doesn’t need the sweater today.” Luckily he needed it a week from then. He informed me that he had been to 3 thrift stores and some others (Wal-Mart, etc) and couldn’t find anything (besides the woman who walked in one store wearing such a thing).
I ended up telling him that if he just bought a cheap sweater I would decorate it with extra fabric and stuff I had in my sewing room – and then the wheels in my head started turning. I did, however, have a fleeting moment where my inner self said “you can’t create anything ugly!”
This is the BEFORE picture of said sweater (vest).
The first thought around the design was that it must have a snowman. And, if it was going to have a snowman, then it must be a stuffed snowman. And if it was going to be a stuffed snowman, then it must curve around the body from back to front. And this is how the snowman was born.
And from there I added a real stocking to the front which my friend filled with candy canes to hand out at the party. Next we a bunch of little Christmas trees across the bottom front and a large Christmas tree with buttons and large sparkly star on the back. I added a bell to every tree on the front, a couple of sequin decals on the back (I found them in the scrapbook area at Michael’s craft store but sewed them on) and the piece de resistance for me was the thick felt deer I put on the front and giant red ric rac around the collar.
So…now I just need to figure out how to market these and make them for parties next year! It was so fun putting it together. And, I should mention – IT WON FIRST PLACE AT THE PARTY!
11/23/13 – **Update** You can purchase your own customized Ugly Christmas Sweater in my GeminiRed Creations Etsy shop
FEATURED ON:
I’d love to hear your ugly Christmas sweater stories…
This is so funny! I hope you get lots of orders for these! I would love if you would share this at Celebrate It! It’s a blog party where we celebrate the everyday things in life!
http://thefreshmancook.blogspot.com/2014/10/celebrate-it-blog-party-15.html
Ha! That’s a riot!
It was so much fun…would love the opportunity to make another one!
Oh yes…this is definitely a good entry!
NICE!! I can see why it won first place!
Thank you so much! It was so fun to make!
lol I think these Christmas sweaters are so funny!! They remind me the sweater that Colin Firth wears in Bridget Jones’s Diary! =)
i love it!!
i’d totally wear it all december long 🙂
i did find plenty of “ugly christmas sweaters” at the local thrift stores, but it’s getting more difficult to find them since they’re all the rage for christmas parties!
market ’em – i think you’ll do well 🙂
It turned out cute! A real showstopper!
I know this is a huge craze now to have Ugly Sweater parties.. I love it! We attened two parties this year and had a ton of fun. It’s a great way to make everyone feel comfortable at a party.
I think your design for your Ugly Christmas Sweater is cute! I do not think it is ugly at all. I think you did a great job in creating this sweater. Good job!
I think this is a cute sweater.you did a great job .Very festive for the holidays.
I love this, and I have been to an Ugly Sweater Party…this would be a contender!
OMG!!
This is incredible!
I almost spend $45 at Urban Outfitters for an Ugly Sweater party, before I found one at K-Mart for $10.
I neve thought I could actually make one that doesn’t look that UGLY!
Thanks for the great idea!
now you just need it to light up and play music 🙂 Great work!
Actually…we are going to add to it. We are on the search for some lights that won’t require us to put holes in the sweater. And we are going to try and find a singing Christmas animal that we can cut the little box out of and use. Thanks for the note!
Instead of cutting up a stuffed animal, I’d think it would be easier to get it from a musical Christmas card. Or you could use one of the record-your-own-message cards!
That is a fantastic idea! Thanks!
very cute in the ugly sweater kin of way lol
OMG you are so talented. I would have never come up with an idea like that. You did a wonderful job and it turned out fantastic. Thanks for sharing.
It’s still cute and not ugly though!! Good idea I would have never thought of that, I probably would’ve kept looking and shopping for an ugly sweater but if my Grandma’s were still around I could just raid their closets.
It wasn’t an ugly sweater after all! You did a great job on this! Happy New Year!
I actually like this sweater! What a great idea!
Hee hee that’s cute. If you don’t have one just make it!
What a great idea! I got a similar call from my daughter who is in med school. She didn’t have time to find one for her and her husband, so I hit our local thrift shop and there were quite a few to choose from. I took pics and messaged them to her. She answered and I walked out in less than 30 minutes with just what they needed. I will keep this idea in mind if I can’t locate one in the future, though! THanks!
I have an ugly Christmas sweater, but the person who gave it to me thought it was pretty. 🙂
That is the most awesome ugly sweater….EVER!
LOL ok…seriously , this is nicely done! 😛 My husband wouldn’t be caught dead wearing that, but it is still nice !
You did an excellent job for your friend, very creative. Great for winning first place
what a great idea!
I am glad you won 1st place!! You certainly deserved it with that sweater!!! LOL and Happy New Year!!
I love ugly christmas sweater parties…. good one.
I love how you decorated it to make it “ugly”.
I was always wondering where people get ugly sweaters, i don’t have one! This gives me an idea that i can always make my own =)
I don’t think it was THAT ugly. Pretty festive I’d say. I wouldn’t wear it any other time of the year but I would wear it!! I mean, Christmas is the time of the year when you wear those types of sweaters!!
Imagination at its best 🙂