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How To Make An Upcycled Sweater Mountain Cushion (Pillow)

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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 upcycled craft ideas at favcrafts.  Or for more sewing patterns subscribe to allfreesewing.com


Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Claire Armstrong

      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

  3. Toni | Small Home Soul

    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

  8. Ashley ~ 3 Little Greenwoods

    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

  11. Catherine Elizabeth

    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

      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

    • Claire Armstrong

      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

  16. Michelle L

    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

      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. creativejewishmom/sara

    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

  24. Ginny

    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

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