Directions to Make a Sweater Christmas Ornament

Turn an unwanted Christmas center into a lovely ornament.

Homemade sweater Christmas ornaments will not only make your tree beautiful, they are also ideal stocking stuffers or inexpensive gifts. Don't worry if you aren't an expert knitter. Creating a sweater ornament does not involve spending hours crafting or holding knitting needles. All that is required is a few Christmas sweaters, scissors and homemade starch to stiffen the knit material.

Things You'll Need

• Christmas sweaters
• Felt-tipped marker
• Sharp scissors
• 3 cups warm water
• 3 tbsp. cornstarch
• Fabric markers
• Glitter
• Rhinestones
• Spray glue
• Red or green ribbon

Instructions

1. Locate Christmas sweaters at thrift stores, antique stores or raid the closets of friends and family members. If possible, find ugly sweaters that will make your homemade ornaments more comical.

2. Lay the sweater onto a flat surface, such as a kitchen table and draw the outline of a sweater with a felt-tipped marker. The size of your ornament is based upon personal preference. Draw the outlines around decorative areas on the sweaters to make the finished products more attractive.

3. Cut out the sweater shapes with a pair of sharp scissors. Remove the shapes inside the lines to remove any unsightly marker lines.

4. Mix together 3 cups warm water and 3 tbsp. cornstarch. Stir the ingredients together until the cornstarch is well incorporated. Dip the sweater ornaments into the cornstarch bath.

5. Allow the sweaters to dry completely. The cornstarch bath will slightly stiffen the sweaters, which will prevent them from flopping over when hung from the tree.

6. Create decorations on the sweaters with fabric markers, glitter, rhinestones and other embellishments. Use spray glue to attach glitter and rhinestones and draw Christmas sayings or scenes onto the sweater ornaments with fabric markers. Allow the glue and fabric markers to dry completely before continuing.

7. Turn the miniature sweaters over and glue an 8-inch section of red or green ribbon to the back of the sweater. Glue either end of the ribbon on the bottom-center of the sweater. Continue to glue the ribbon against sweaters vertically until you reach the top of the neck. Allow the glue to dry completely.

8. Tie the other end of the ribbon onto the Christmas tree or wrap the homemade sweater ornaments.

References

• Crochet Uncut; Miniature Sweater Ornament; Melissa Mall
• Hodgson Mill: Corn Starch Tricks
• Stain-Removal-101: Homemade Laundry Starch Recipe