Create your own Ugly Christmas Sweater for Her

For my Ugly Christmas Sweater for her, I wanted a tree that could “stand by the mantle”. I wanted the garland and lights to wrap around the sweater like they would a tree. To complete the outfit I will create a skirt that would resemble a tree skirt and I will attach decorative small presents too.

I started by laying the garland around the sweater and pinning only at the side seams. I did not cut the garland to length because I knew the sweater might want to stretch a little as I sewed the garland down. Begin at the hem and with a wide zig-zag and long stitch I followed my garland around the sweater to the top. I repeated the steps on the sleeves. This way everything was well stitched down to the sweater and the machine sewing went faster than hand sewing would have.

Next, I added the LED strands in the same way. I pinned the stands in place at the side seams as well as in the middle of the front and back. Then again I used as wide of a zig-zag stitch and went slow to make sure I did not ever puncture the clear coating of the wires. I knew that machine sewing on the LED would be the strongest and fastest way to add them on.

As I approached each LED I did a small backstitch and skipped over the double wires.

I also wanted to add green, gold and red Christmas ornament balls as decoration. These ornaments I only added to the front of the sweater so that I would still be able to sit and relax. If you are planning on being in a sweater all night it is important to make sure you will actually want to wear the sweater all night.

While I was in the check out line at dollar general I saw some gift car covers made out of felt. I tested the size and found that I would be able to fit my battery packs inside them. So I covered my battery packs with prebuild small bags to help save some time.

I started by folding the circle into quarters so that I can cut the center out and add a waistband. To find the circumference and radius of a circle you use the formula C=2(3.14)r. Since you know your waist size you can use this formula to find the radius you will be marking. I used a ruler with holes in the middle every half inch. I pinned my fabric down and marked my radius.

Next I cut along my dotted line to create my waist seam.

Finally I cut a slit open 6 inches down one of the folds to provide a placket. This extra opening will allow the skirt to go over the hips with ease.

Start by sewing the placket onto the placket opening. I decided to serge everything edge to edge so I lined up my edges and started serging.

When I came to before the point I laid the fabric so that the slit was one straight line. This can cause some tuck at the base of the slit because you are serging 3/8 of an inch away from the slit instead of 1/8. Once the placket is sewn together press the seam.

The final step to complete the placket is sewing a diagonal line at the base to keep the fabric on the inside.

Now that the packet is done we can move onto the waistband. I also lined up the edges of the waistband and the skirt and serged around. Before I started I folded in the edge to create a clean encased edge. I worked around slowly adjusting the edges as I moved around the curve. Before finishing the other side I folded in the edge as well to create the same cohesive look. This edge also will hang off the edge a little. Once you are done sewing make sure to give the seam a good press.

Now it is time to add the skirt hook and bar. I like to try on the skirt and place a pin where I want my bar to be placed.

I found a headband at the Dollar Tree that already light up so I decided to add my tree topper to that instead of building a whole new headpiece. Sometimes it is important to factor in time and cost to achieve the end look. I was planning a headpiece that look almost exactly like the one I bought. So I added a little glue on the back of one of the lights and added the star tree topper and call the headpiece great.