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You are here: Home / Crafts / How To Make An Upcycled Sweater Mountain Cushion (Pillow)

How To Make An Upcycled Sweater Mountain Cushion (Pillow)

16th October 2015 by Claire Armstrong 55 Comments

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Upcycled sweater mountain cushions pillows

As a reminder of my love of mountains I upcycled some old wool sweaters into a mountain cushion/pillow.

I love living in Bedford, but there are a couple of things I don’t like, it’s as flat as a pancake, and is probably as far from the coast you can get in the UK. I love mountains, in fact my whole family loves mountains.

My husband and boys make an annual mountain climbing pilgrimage. They have now climbed all the major peaks in the UK, so will probably venture abroad for their next trip. We also all love to ski & snowboard, especially in the Alps. However our favourite mountains are those in Norway, we love the stunning fjords where the mountains meet the sea.

Upcycled Sweater Mountain Cushion (Pillow)

When upcycling my sweaters into a mountain cushion I decided that I would turn them into my own little mountain range, as a reminder of what I’m missing.

Create your own little mountain decor by upcycling your old sweaters into a mountain cushion /pillow.  Full tutorial.
Hardanger Fjord Norway
Hardanger Fjord Norway

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What you need to make a Mountain Cushion

  • Old woolen sweaters (65% or more). Preferably in neutral colours like greys and greyish greens.
  • Small piece of cream felt (or cream woolen sweater).
  • Pillow stuffing.
  • Needle and thread, can either be sewn by hand or by machine
  • Pins, scissors, a large sheet of paper (for pattern) & a pen.

How to felt woollen Sweaters

Old Sweaters

Old wool sweaters are one of my favourite fabrics to upcycle. If you felt them then they don’t fray or unravel when cut. This makes them great for crafting and DIY.

Felting wool is really easy. Like me, 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 to wear!

To felt my sweaters, I just put them in a hot ‘cotton’ wash in the washing machine along with my normal washing. I then dry them in the dryer. I have managed to felt sweaters without using the dryer, but it does make them softer.

If for some reason this doesn’t work you can repeat the process again. Basically to felt woolen sweaters you need, heat, water, and agitation.

Felting binds the wool together which enables the sweaters to be cut without unraveling or fraying.

Felting sweaters

How to make a Mountain Cushion

1.. First, lay your sweater down with the front-facing up. Make a paper pattern of a mountain outline as big as is possible for your sweater.

making the mountain paper pattern

2. Next, pin the mountain pattern on top of the felted sweater. Then, draw a snowy outline for the top of your mountain.

drawing snowy mountain top of felted mountain pillow

3. Next, using the pattern cut out 2 identical mountain pieces on from the font of your sweater and one from the back. Cut out your paper mountain top and use this as a template for cutting out 2 identical cream felt snowy mountain pieces.

snowy felt mountiain top

4. Then, pin the cut out cream snow pieces to the top of each mountain piece. Both pieces should be right side up. Sew round the edges of the cream snow piece attaching it to the sweater pieces.

pining the snowy top to mountain pillow

5. Next, pin the two woolen mountain pieces right sides together and sew around the edge, leaving a small hole at the bottom for stuffing. This can either be done by hand or on a sewing machine.

Sweater Mountain Cushion

6. Turn the mountain pillow right sides out. Then, through the hole in the mountain cushion stuff it with fiber fill. Once the pillow is full then, hand stitch the hole shut.

Sweater Mountain Cushion
Sweater Mountain Cushion
Upcycled sweater cushion

I love my snowy topped cushion so much that I made another; one soon I will have my own mountain range. I think my cushion will look great with my piste map chair when I finish it.

Mountain Cushion Tutorial

They would also make a great seasonal gift for any mountain craft loving friends or family. You could make it more personal by repurposing one of their own sweaters.

I loved the my mountian pillow so much, I made it a friend.

Mountain cushion Tutorial- Made from upcycled sweaters

If like me you have a passion for the mountains then you might want to check out these really interesting and beautiful free printable vintage mountain sketches and posters.

Mountain cushions aren’t the only shaped DIY pillows that you can make from felted sweaters. I’ve made sweater Christmas tree pillows and felted acorn pillows too.

Even though you didn’t use the sleeves of the sweaters for these mountain pillows, keep them for a DIY knot pillow.

Other post you might like too:

DIY Fabric Stags Head
Upcycled Sweater Bunny Cushion
DIY iPhone denim pocket pillow

You can find more clever upcycled craft ideas at favcrafts.  Or for more sewing patterns subscribe to allfreesewing.com


Filed Under: Crafts, DIY Upcycling, Sweaters Tagged With: cushion, felted jumpers, felted sweaters, fjords, jumpers, mountain cushion, mountain pillow, mountains, pillow, repurposed jumpers, repurposed sweaters, sewing tutorial, sweater cushion, sweater pillow, sweaters, upcycled jumpers, upcycled sweaters

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sarah Lee

    21st October 2020 at 6:30 am

    amazing idea and tutorial!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      21st October 2020 at 9:37 am

      Thank you so much.

      Reply
  2. Christina Woodcock

    1st October 2019 at 7:12 pm

    Claire

    These are so adorable! What an awesome way to use the wool sweaters!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      2nd October 2019 at 6:37 am

      Thank you so much. There are loads of things you can do with wool sweaters.

      Reply
  3. Diane

    18th November 2017 at 6:57 pm

    Love your idea and I live in Vermont .. are wool sweaters the only kind that you can use. Thought of going to our local thrift store to look around

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      18th November 2017 at 7:46 pm

      The thing about wool sweaters is that they can be felted and felt doesn’t fray. You could try other sweater fabrics and see if they would work too, as with this project fraying is not a big issue. You could of course just make the trees with craft felt.

      Reply
  4. Toni | Small Home Soul

    15th September 2017 at 2:57 pm

    I might have commented on these awesome pillows before, and I’ve surely pinned them to my favorite pillow board. But I just now saw the tip about how to felt a wool sweater. I didn’t know that’s what it was called. But now I’ll be looking for wool sweaters at my local thrift stores 🙂

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      15th September 2017 at 5:05 pm

      Thank you, Toni. I’m lucky in that my family hands me all there old sweaters and jeans that’s why I have loads to upcycle.

      Reply
  5. ΙΟΑΝΝΑ

    19th May 2017 at 8:10 am

    I want to make a mountain-pillow!!!Yours are great!!!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      19th May 2017 at 10:20 am

      Cheers and thank you!

      Reply
  6. Sam @ Raggedy Bits

    2nd May 2017 at 5:21 am

    These have to be the cutest cushions! So clever Claire!!!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      2nd May 2017 at 6:30 am

      Thank you so much Sam.

      Reply
  7. Carolann

    28th April 2017 at 10:21 pm

    Super cute! I can’t wait to try and make one. I love the snow caps!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      29th April 2017 at 7:10 am

      Thank you so much. I just love the mountains and I thought it would be fun to have some mountain cushions.

      Reply
  8. Katy SkipTheBag

    22nd October 2016 at 6:33 pm

    These are so fun! I love the snow cap. Thanks for sharing on the Waste Less Wednesday Blog Hop!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      23rd October 2016 at 5:38 pm

      Thank you !

      Reply
  9. Ashley ~ 3 Little Greenwoods

    22nd February 2016 at 2:41 am

    Adorable pillow and perfect for an adventurous little boys bedroom! Pinning!

    Thanks so much for sharing your creativity at the The DIY Collective this week! Hope to see you again next Thursday. The party begins at 6:00am EST.

    Hope you had an awesome weekend!
    ~ Ashley

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      22nd February 2016 at 7:27 am

      Thank you very much ! And thank you for hosting.

      Reply
  10. Sigrid

    31st October 2015 at 6:10 am

    This is so original! I love your mountain cushions! Thank you for the inspiration!
    Greetings from Belgium, Sigrid

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      31st October 2015 at 6:48 am

      Thank you for your kind words, and greetings from England !

      Reply
  11. All that's Jas

    27th October 2015 at 4:05 pm

    Super cute mountains at your fingertips! Thank you so much for sharing with us at Thursday Favorite Things blog hop.

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      27th October 2015 at 4:56 pm

      Thank you, for visiting !

      Reply
  12. Catherine Elizabeth

    26th October 2015 at 9:56 am

    This is such a great idea! And how lovely that you now have a tiny, cuddly mountain range to remind you of mountains. I recently saw a crochet pattern for mountain cushions, so there’s clearly a mountain movement emerging!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      26th October 2015 at 10:10 am

      Thank you ! I will definately be adding to my mountain range. Not sure about crocheting some though, I just have too many things on my crochet list at the moment, I’ll stick to felting as its quicker and easier. So much crafting to do and just not enough time !

      Reply
  13. Jane @SustainMyCraftHabit

    24th October 2015 at 9:32 pm

    Such a great idea. Love these! Your love of the mountains is like my love of the beach- am always trying to bring more of it into my home.
    Stopping by from the Weekend Retreat Link Up.

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      24th October 2015 at 9:44 pm

      Thanks ! I love the sea too, that’s probably why the Norwegian Fjords are my favourite as they are where the mountains meet the sea the best of both worlds.

      Reply
  14. Cheryl@ Sew Can Do

    24th October 2015 at 12:50 pm

    So clever and cuddly! Visiting from CraftGossip’s Blog Handmade link-up:)

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      24th October 2015 at 12:56 pm

      Thank you so much for visiting glad you like them they are lovely and soft.

      Reply
  15. T'onna @ USS Crafty

    24th October 2015 at 4:38 am

    Such a cool pillow! We have really gorgeous mountains here in Washington, so maybe I should make a similar pillow, too! Thanks for sharing at Submarine Sunday!!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      24th October 2015 at 7:07 am

      Thanks, you should give it ago, they do make me smile.

      Reply
  16. Anna | ANNAdventure Blog

    22nd October 2015 at 3:53 pm

    I LOVE this idea!!! I live in Colorado so I will definitely be making these 🙂 <3

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      22nd October 2015 at 5:36 pm

      Lucky you living near mountains. Thanks !

      Reply
  17. Michelle L

    21st October 2015 at 1:26 pm

    This is so brilliant! And adorable! I imagine these in every mountain cabin in the land. Also looks pretty doable for a beginning sewer like me. Thanks so much for the idea!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      21st October 2015 at 1:28 pm

      Thank You ! It is very easy to do, and I think they would look great in a mountain cabin.

      Reply
  18. Kate

    20th October 2015 at 11:30 am

    These are darling! Seriously, I can’t get over how cute they are!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      20th October 2015 at 1:34 pm

      Thank you very much ! I really like them too and they are really soft and cosy.

      Reply
  19. Noa Ambar Regev

    20th October 2015 at 7:06 am

    So beautiful! I love this idea. You could also make them from colorful/patterned sweaters and create colorful mountain cushions 🙂 (pinned!)

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      20th October 2015 at 11:01 am

      Yes colourful ones would look great too! Cheers!

      Reply
  20. Laura H.

    20th October 2015 at 3:17 am

    How clever. I would of never thought of using a sweater like this. I love it. Thanks for linking up to the Home Matters Party with you! #HomeMattersParty Hope to see you next week. http://lauraslittlehousetips.com/home-matters-linky-party-59/

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      20th October 2015 at 6:37 am

      Thank you ! I keep all the families old sweaters for upcycling projects especially the soft ones.

      Reply
  21. Anne

    20th October 2015 at 12:51 am

    So fun!!! A little sweater mountain range!! I’ve got a Craft Gossip post scheduled for tomorrow evening that links to your tutorial: http://sewing.craftgossip.com/?p=85005 –Anne

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      20th October 2015 at 6:35 am

      Thanks a look forward to seeing it.

      Reply
  22. Christine

    19th October 2015 at 3:19 pm

    Hi Claire, I love these pillows, they remind me of our Mt Rainier here in WA State. Thanks so much for leaving me some comment luv on my spool table post. I tried to reply directly to your comment, but you came up as a non reply blogger. Are you from Norway????? christinevandorm@gmail.com

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      19th October 2015 at 7:45 pm

      Thanks for your lovely comments, my husband is from Norway. I was actually born and bought up in Hong Kong, where I lived on Mt Nicholson but it never had snow on it.

      Reply
  23. KariAnne

    19th October 2015 at 12:09 am

    What a super cute idea! Thanks so much for sharing and I love the detailing on the pillows!

    Happy day friend!
    karianne

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      19th October 2015 at 6:29 am

      Thank you ! They really do look sweet on my sofa and are lovely and soft.

      Reply
  24. creativejewishmom/sara

    18th October 2015 at 2:50 pm

    love it! and now maybe I’ll just have to use my husband’s cotton sweater with the bleach stains on it to make something too…..no felting of course, but could still be great…though I just realized it has a zipper down the front, hmmm. thanks so much for sharing on craft schooling sunday!

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      18th October 2015 at 5:49 pm

      Thank you ! I’m sure with your creative brain you could come up with something !

      Reply
  25. Ginny

    17th October 2015 at 5:25 pm

    What cute cushions. I am always making those felted jumpers without intending to. I also love your map chair. I have an old atlas set aside, with the idea of doing something like this to a table.

    Reply
    • Claire Armstrong

      17th October 2015 at 9:39 pm

      Thanks glad you like the cushions I’ve done a post about a map table my friend did it worked out really well. You should definitely give it ago.

      Reply

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