DIY Ugly Christmas Sweater

I was invited to an Ugly Christmas Sweater party recently and thankfully I didn’t have anything in my closet that I deemed ridiculous enough to wear.  It was probably the first time I was happy I had nothing to wear to a party!  If you’ve never been to an ugly sweater party, it’s exactly what it sounds like- everyone comes decked out in their wackiest or most wonderfully ugly holiday getup and it is a blast!

I checked out Goodwill to see if there were any old fashioned sweaters there, or maybe a bedazzled holiday sweatshirt from the 80s, but no such luck.  So I decided to make my own DIY ugly Christmas sweater.  And I won’t lie, it was a ton of fun to go crazy with the glitter and decorations!

Here’s how I did it.  I started off with a white thermal shirt that actually used to be my hubby’s until it shrunk and was relegated to our give-to-Goodwill pile.  Then it was time to break out the scissors, felt, and glue!  I printed out a Christmas tree template and hot glued pieces of felt cut to size onto the shirt (this project was entirely no-sew).

Of course every Christmas tree needs ornaments, so I broke out the pom-poms and got gluing. 

I realized pom-poms make a wonderful accent, so the collar got trimmed with them too.  But the sweater wasn’t quite over-the-top yet, so I broke out some of my parent’s old soft ornaments and got gluing. 

While I like these ornaments for sentimental reasons, I’ve always found this bear to be a little frightening.  Anyone agree?

The shirt was almost done, but it was still missing something important- glitter!  I used glitter glue to outline the Christmas tree and draw a star of gold.

Now that’s what I call an ugly holiday sweater!  And I use the word “ugly” very loosely, because let’s admit it, it’s a pretty awesome looking shirt!  This shirt very well might be a new Christmas tradition for me.

Unfortunately for you (but very fortunate for me), I didn’t capture any good photos of me wearing the sweater.  But I can assure you it was a hit and it looked wonderful worn with the jingle bell earrings I’ve had since I was a kid.

Have you been to an ugly Christmas sweater party?  I highly recommend going to one or throwing your own, it was so much fun.  Do you have any wacky things you like to wear for the holidays?