IT’S ALMOST HERE GUYS!!! In less than a week, Christmas will be here! And if you’re like us, between now and the New Year, you have lots of fun holiday parties to attend. The famous “ugly Christmas sweater” has made quite the come-back in the last few years, and now you can find tacky sweaters at just about every big clothing store. However, I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time spending $30-$50 on an ugly sweater that I’m going to wear once as a gag. So this month, I took a trip to Goodwill to create my own ugly sweater at less than half the cost.
The trick to creating a great ugly Christmas sweater is to first find a great plain ugly sweater to work with. You can use something in red or green, but it doesn’t have to be in holiday colors either. The first sweater I worked with was a white sweater that someone had done a little hand-crochet on. It was perfect because the crochet gave it a little “personality” but it was still a blank canvas to add things to. I think that the easiest, cheapest way to decorate a sweater is using felt. You can buy sheets of it for super cheap at Walmart or any craft store, and it is easy to cut into shapes and hot glue. For my first design, I cut out some lettering, and ornament shapes, and with a little glue, my sweater was finished! This one cost me a total of $5!
Next I worked with a Red sweatshirt that I found in the men’s department. For this one, I used a pattern with white designs, and for the words, I shaped pipe cleaners into letters, and glued them in place. To give my sweater a little extra sparkle, I glued on a light-up Christmas necklace to the front. This one cost me about $10 to make.
Finally, I will admit that I love a good pun, and an ugly Christmas sweater pun is even better! So for my last sweater, I used a vintage striped sweater and created a clear pocket in the front by using a page protector sheet cut down to the size of my cell phone. Then, I put ribbon and a bow around the clear pocket to look like a present. To finish it off, I set my phone camera to the reverse-selfie setting, then slipped it into the clear pocket so it became a mirror of whatever was in front of me. And thus the pun was complete – “Christmas Present!” Get it!!? Genius, I know. Minus my cell phone – this shirt cost me about $4.
So get creative, have some fun, and save yourself some shopping money this Christmas at Goodwill!
Michelle is a Goodwill guest contributor, writing monthly fashion articles and modeling her thrifted finds. In addition, she is a local TV personality and former Miss Kansas. She also has her own YouTube channel, Chic on the Cheap. As a third generation thrifter, Michelle grew up shopping at Goodwill. She loves finding deals on clothes and accessories for her family of six or upcycling home decor items.
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