How to Make Animals Out of Old Wool Sweaters
A cute way to recycle old wool sweaters is to felt the fabrics first, then cut them up into animal shapes and give them as gifts or use them as stocking stuffers at Christmas time. Patterned sweaters or colorful sweaters work just as well as plain sweaters. Check the fiber content of sweaters before attempting to felt them, since you need to use either 100 percent wool or sweaters with a high wool content.
Things You'll Need
- Wool sweaters
- Washing machine
- Dryer
- Animal template
- Pins
- Scissors
- Needle
- Thread
- Pencil
- Embroidery floss
Instructions
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1
Felt your sweaters. Do this by putting them through a hot wash cycle in the washing machine, and then tumble dry them with the heat set to maximum.
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2
Cut the side seams of the sweater so you can open it out and lay both sides flat on your work surface.
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3
Choose a template of the animal you wish to make, and pin this to the felted sweater. Cut around the template, remove the template from the cutout piece, then flip it over and re-pin it to the sweater so you can cut out a second piece that is the mirror image of the first piece.
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4
Put the right sides of the animal shape together, then sew around the outside edge with backstitch, leaving a gap along the animal's back for stuffing.
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5
Turn the animal to the right side out, then fill it with batting. Use a pencil to help push the batting into the legs.
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6
Close the gap on the animal's back with either a small whip stitch or ladder stitch to make the seam as invisible as possible. Embroider facial details on the animal using embroidery floss, and add any flat sections such as ears.
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Tips & Warnings
Wash and dry sweaters a second or third time if the first washing doesn't produce enough felting action. When the felting process is complete, the sweater will feel thick and will cut without unraveling or fraying.
Use lengths of yarn to add tails or manes to horses.
Use blanket stitch or whip stitch to sew the two halves of an animal's body together if you prefer to work with the right sides of the sweater facing outwards, and you don't mind the stitches showing.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images
