I’m so chuffed at how I managed to make a cute and cuddly Christmas tree pillow out of a plain boring old wool sweater.
When I saw this green jumper in my junk trunk (yes, I have a trunk full of old sweaters and jeans waiting to be upcycled), it was screaming out to me, Christmas tree!
I’d made cute sweater mountain pillows and acorn-shaped pillows before, so it wasn’t a huge leap to Christmas tree pillows. Just a different colour, with a few decorations! This pillow was really simple to make. Upcycling sweaters for Christmas is one of my favourite crafts.
DIY A Cute Upcycled Christmas Tree Pillow
Pom poms were the perfect decorations for my Christmas tree pillow as they look like colourful baubles. And who doesn’t like a pom pom!
It also helped use up some of my embarrassingly large yarn stashes. However, I’m going to need to make a whole forest of Christmas tree pillows to make a real dent in it.

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What you need to make a Christmas tree pillow
- Old wool green sweater – (Needs to be at least 70% wool to felt.)
- Some brown felt (can be from a sleave of a wool sweater)
- White Chalk
- Small balls of yarn in various colours
- Small Pom Pom maker
- Fiberfill
- Scissors
- Needle & thread
How to Make an Upcycled Sweater Christmas Tree Pillow
- First, felt your sweater by putting it in a hot wash in the washing machine. If you’re like me you have probably done this loads of time by accident, where you shrink your favourite sweater to a size only fit for a toddler to wear.
2. Next, lay your felted sweater out flat. Using the chalk mark out the biggest triangle shape the sweater will allow.

3. Then, cut out the triangle shape. If you have a brown felted sweater, you can cut out a trunk for your tree at the same time.
Pin and sew up the cushion outline, right sides together, leaving a gap at the bottom.

4. Next, turn the pillow right sides out and stuff with fiberfill before sewing up the bottom. There is not a lot of sewing, so it can easily be done by hand if you don’t have a machine.
5. Finally, using the pom pom maker make the pom pom decorations in various colours and sew them to your tree. I made 10 pom poms to adorn my repurposed sweater Christmas tree.



I’m always making pillows out of repurposed old sweaters and have one for other seasons too, such as these acorn fall pillows and bunny pillow for Easter.
Don’t forget to keep the sweater scraps, they can be used for other Christmas crafts. Such as these repurposed sweater balls and funky felt garlands.
Pom poms are also a great way to use up scraps of yarn and colours can be combined to make multicoloured pom poms. I combined different coloured yarns into one pom pom when making Marimekko styled pom pom flowers. I even made a Christmas tree entirely out of pom poms.

If you want some more DIY Christmas pillow ideas check out favecrafts.com.
Pam @Threading My Way
Friday 12th of January 2018
Super cute, Claire. Sorry for the late comment. Pinning for next year.
Claire Armstrong
Friday 12th of January 2018
Thank you, Pam.
Ivory
Saturday 23rd of December 2017
You never disappoint, I love these, will be pulling out old sweaters. Thanks, and Happy Holiday's
Claire Armstrong
Saturday 23rd of December 2017
Thank you, Ivory and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too!
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Wednesday 13th of December 2017
[…] How To Make a Christmas Tree Pillow […]
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Saturday 9th of December 2017
[…] Upcycled sweater Christmas tree pillow by Pillar Box Blue […]
Jessi @ Practically Functional
Friday 8th of December 2017
This turned out so cute! Perfect for getting the sofa in the holiday season!
I just wanted to let you know that you were featured as a Rockstar at last week's Creativity Unleashed party! Congrats, and thanks for sharing at our party! https://www.practicallyfunctional.com/creativity-unleashed-201/
Claire Armstrong
Friday 8th of December 2017
Thank you, that's awesome!