Easy Cookie Cutter Sweater Upcycled Christmas Ornaments

Instead of making cookies with my Christmas cookie cutters, I used them to make cute, upcycled Christmas ornaments.

Sweaters are one of my favourite fabrics to upcycle, and I keep a stash of them for crafting with. I especially love repurposed sweater Christmas crafts.

Crafting with felted wool sweaters is lovely, as the fabric doesn't fray. And it turns out that Christmas cookie cutters are the perfect templates for classic Christmas shapes. This fun and easy craft costs nothing as you use mainly repurposed materials.

Sweater Upcycled Christmas Ornaments using Cookie Cutters

I did This very relaxing craft in an evening while watching a Hallmark Christmas movie to get me in the mood. I have a few Christmas cookie cutters and a pile of upcycled sweater Christmas ornaments.

These included a reindeer (which I think might be a moose), a gingerbread man, a star, a snowman, Christmas trees, a stocking, and a heart.

I have a Norwegian mother-in-law, and in Scandinavia, hearts aren't just for Valentine's Day but also a big deal when it comes to Christmas decorations.

As I made a whole pile of upcycled sweater ornaments, I had enough to hang them in a garland. I preferred to stick them on the Christmas tree where they could get lost. I think the ornaments look great together as a collection.

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What You Need

Old Wool Sweaters

If using old sweaters for the first time, felt them in the washing machine. Put the sweaters on a hot wash with some washing powder in the machine (like my mountain pillows).

The agitation and hot water will make the fibres tighter in the wool sweater, and they will shrink. Tumble drying the sweaters will also help with the shrinking process. This felting of the wool sweaters will ensure the fabric can be cut and won’t fray, making it great for crafting.

Even if your sweaters don't have enough pure wool in them to felt, you may still be able to use them. Just cut them, and if they don't unravel or fray, then you can use them.

Top tip: If you don't happen to have any old sweaters, you can, of course, use craft felt for this project.

• Christmas cookie cutters - I have drawn around mine for those of you who don't have a collection of Christmas cookie cutters. Download the cookie-cutter template here, and use them to make your cardboard templates.
• Fiberfill - I also use the stuffing from old pillows.
• Scissors
• Embroidery needle and embroidery thread
• Twine
• Old buttons and Christmas craft bells.
• Mini craft pegs.

How To Make Sweater Upcycled Christmas Ornaments

Step 1: First, felt your wool sweaters. Felting wool is easy. You have probably done this in the past where you have accidentally shrunk your sweater in the wash so that it is only fit for a toddler!

Step 2: Decide what colour of felted wool you will use for your ornament. For example, I used green coloured sweaters for my tree-shaped ornaments. White for the snowman, red for the heart and camel for the gingerbread man. But it doesn't matter what colour sweaters you upcycle; a patterned sweater may look great for the stockings or tree. Just use what you have.

Step 3: Place the cookie cutter (or template) on the sweater and draw around it with a chalk pen.

Step 4: Then cut out the shape. For each sweater cookie cutter ornament, you will need two identical pieces of felt.

Step 5: Pin the two shapes together, and then, using an embroidery thread in a contrasting colour, stitch two of them together.

The stitch to use for this is a blanket stitch, which is a very simple hand stitch. Don't forget to leave a gap for stuffing.

Step 6: Stuff your felt ornament with fiberfill and stitch to close. At the same time, stitch in a twine hanging loop into your ornament.

Step 7: Finally, either leave the sweater felt ornament as it is or adds some embellishments. I used buttons on the gingerbread man and snowman. Bells were added to the Christmas tree, and eyes were embroidered on the moose and snowman.

Hanging Up The Upcycled Christmas Ornaments

These cute ornaments can be hung on the tree using the twine loops you stitched in.

However, I felt my ornaments would get lost on the tree, and I wanted to show them off together, so I hung them from a branch using some tiny craft pegs.

I enjoyed making these upcycled Christmas ornaments. This is a simple Christmas sewing craft while watching a box set in the evening. (I'm one of those who finds it hard not to do something with their hands when watching TV).

I suggest making some sweater balls or funky felt garlands if you have any leftover sweater scraps. Also, any leftover green sweaters can be used to make tabletop felt Christmas trees or white felt for embroidered Scandi Christmas trees and Scandi felt baubles.

There are many more wonderful upcycled Christmas ornaments here.

Upcycling for Christmas

As with most of my crafts, I prefer to upcycle and repurpose them wherever possible, and I have written about the benefits of upcycling. So most of my Christmas decorations are upcycled, from tin can advent calendars, rustic lampshade Christmas trees to using maps for decoration. Sweater wool isn't the only fabric I upcycle for Christmas. I have a few unique denim Christmas decoration tutorials too.

Don't forget to check out my other upcycled sweater and felt Christmas crafts:
Giant Christmas Felt Letters
Christmas Elf on the Shelf

Using Cookie Cutters

Cookie cutters are handy in the kitchen and great for upcycling and crafting. I use them in so many of my crafts and upcycles. For example, I have used the Christmas tree cookie cutter several times to make Christmas decorations, including my lovely tartan trees and shrink-plastic Christmas lights.

The heart-shaped cookie cutter has been used to make upcycled denim hearts and map heart treat bags.

I used the same Christmas cookie cutter collection used here to make an upcycled paper bag advent calendar. I've also made a kraft paper advent calendar with just the gingerbread man.

If you want to see some more great Christmas ornament crafts visit allfreechristmascrafts.com