Upcycled Sweater Christmas Tree Ornaments - Free Pattern

Welcome to the 2017 Ornament Exchange & Blog Hop! This year, there are 47 amazing bloggers participating in the exchange. The rules of the challenge were simple: be partnered with a fellow blogger, create a handmade ornament for $15 or under, create a tutorial, and ship the ornament off to a new home!

My partner was Marie from The Inspiration Vault.  Her blog is packed with awesome craft and DIY tutorials!  She puts up several trees so I had plenty of inspiration to choose from.  In the end, I decided to create an ornament for her growing collection of purple ornaments.

After the requisite brainstorming and stressing and second guessing that’s always part of creating for someone else, I saw that I had an old magenta sweater in my donate pile.  From there, it wasn’t long before I had a little soft cone shaped Christmas tree ornament made from the cable knit sweater.  An upcycled sweater Christmas tree ornament!

They’re really quick to make, so I ended up making a set of three for her.  (I also made one from an off-white sweater for my own tree, and that’s the one you see in a photo later in this post.)

I’ve got a tutorial and free pattern to make your own upcycled Christmas tree ornament below.

And if you’re wondering about the ornament that Marie made for me… well, I can tell you it’s GORGEOUS.  Like, just about knocked me out when I opened up my package.  I don’t have a photo for you right now because the light is no good and would not do it justice, but you can see photos and a tutorial for it over on her blog.

Meet the 2017 Ornament Exchange Hosts

Erlene ⋅ My Pinterventures Kim • Made In A Day Amanda • The Kolb Corner

Shirley • Intelligent Domesticatons Michelle • Our Crafty Mom

Beverly • Across the Blvd. Christene • Key to Inspiration Pili ⋅ My Sweet Things

Nicki • Sweet Parrish Place Megan • C'mon Get Crafty

Hilary • Raising Fairies and Knights Emily • Two Purple Couches

Tina • One Crafty Mess Marie • The Inspiration Vault Debra • Shoppe No. 5

Trisha • Rosewood and Grace Jeanie • Create and Babble Katrin ⋅ Kreativ K

Terri • Christmas Tree Lane Maureen • Red Cottage Chronicles

Toni ⋅ Small Home Soul Ula ⋅ Lulu & Celeste Sue ⋅ A Purdy Little House

Pamela • Home On The Corner Lorelai ⋅ Life with Lorelai Cindy ⋅ DIY Beautify

Debbie ⋅ Tweak and Style Stephanie ⋅ Swoodson Says Chelc ⋅ Inside the Fox Den

Susan ⋅ Super Mom - No Cape! Molly ⋅ Just a Little Creativity

Roseann ⋅ This Autoimmune Life Angela ⋅ Simply Beautiful by Angela

Vicki and Jenn ⋅ 2 Bees in a Pod Joanne ⋅ Our Unschooling Journey

Tylynn ⋅ Bitterroot DIY Sam ⋅ Raggedity Bits Mary ⋅ The Boondocks Blog

Cyn ⋅ Creative Cynchronicity Dione ⋅ Clever Chameleon Quilting

Erica ⋅ Erica Ever After Chelsea ⋅ Love Paper Crafts Evija ⋅ From Evija with Love

Samantha ⋅ Little Bits of Home Hope ⋅ Hopes Crafty Niche Anne ⋅ Orange Bettie

Pam • P.S. I Love You Crafts

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Materials

Old sweater

Fiber fill

5/16” dowel, cut to 3” long (one 3” piece for each tree you plan to make)

Chipboard

Hot glue

Embroidery floss or thin yarn for hanging

Felt and trims for decorations

Free pattern

 

Sand the dowel pieces and paint (if desired).  These will be the trunks of your trees.

I left a small bit unpainted because that's where I was holding the dowel, and that part is not going to show.

Cut tree out of sweater fabric.  Sew a basting stitch along the curved edge.

Fold in half right sides together, with long straight sides matching.  Stitch down that side with a ¼” seam allowance to make a cone.  Stop the stitch line just above your basting stitches.

Turn right side out.  Use a dull pencil to poke the point out.  It looks a little like an elf hat right now.

Stuff with fiber fill stuffing.

When you get to the bottom, add a circle of chipboard (cut using the pattern).  There should be a hole in the center of the chipboard so the tree trunk can go through.

If you notice that my circle is cut from the edge to the middle, that's because that was the only way I could get my scissors to the center of the chipboard.  You could also tape over the cut if you want, but really it doesn't hurt anything to just leave the cardboard cut.

Pull the basting threads to cinch the bottom.  Leave the hole big enough for the dowel.  Tie the thread ends and poke inside the hole.

Put a good amount of hot glue on the dowel, leaving about an inch at the bottom without glue.

Push the dowel up into the hole in the bottom of the Christmas tree.  If some of the glue ends up on the bottom of the tree, you can just paint it to match the trunk.

Thread a length of embroidery floss or thin yarn through the top of the tree and tie to make a hanging loop.

Embellish your tree as desired.  I opted to keep it simple with just a felt star at the top.

You're done!!

Here's one I made for my own tree in white.

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FIND ALL 47 HANDMADE ORNAMENT TUTORIALS BELOW AND SHARE YOURS TOO! Use Hashtag #2017OrnamentExchange so we can see your creations on social media.