DIY Ugly Christmas sweaters

‘Tis the season to deck the halls… or uh your wardrobe if you’re living in Casa de Dorobek! Andy and I are attending an ugly Christmas sweater party this weekend so when the Tulip Holiday Sparkle and Shine team wanted to send me some sparkly goodies to craft with I was totally game!  Check out our ugly beautiful Texas inspired Christmas sweaters!

Here’s what you need to make DIY ugly Christmas sweaters

• A sweater
• Tulip dimensional fabric paint
• Tulip beads in a bottle
• Tulip shimmer sheets
• An iron
• A thing sheet of fabric (to use to iron on shimmer sheets)
• Scissors

Andy and I took a little trip to the thrift store and he was inspired by this lovely Texas flag sweater. I settled on a nice plain red one that was stretchy and longish, perfect for the growing belly.       Tacky and Texas go hand in hand so that was an easy theme for me to work with. My next big decision was should I make Andy and I go together and how should I incorporate the bambino into the ugly sweater costumes? I started working on Andy’s sweater first. The christmas lights were a no brainer to doodle around the Texas flag. I love doodling with Tulip fabric paint. It’s a really forgiving form of paint! Seriously, don’t try to fix your mistakes. Just wait for it to dry and go over it again with the same color or with a darker color! As for the 3 cacti on my giant ornament… that’s Andy, me, and the bambino, ha!

I’m gonna share the after then give some tips and tricks for making your own ugly Christmas sweaters with Tulip goodies…

Tip #1: I cut the cactus out of the Tulip shimmer sheets. I used a pen to doodle a cactus on the back of the Tulip Shimmer Sheets and then cut them out with scissors. Super easy to cut out any shape and then just iron on to your fabric. 

Tip #2: To use the iron with the Shimmer Sheets you need a thin piece of fabric to place over your cutouts, I used a dish towel. They stick quick! You only need about 30 seconds from a hot iron. And voila… glittery goodness was adhered to the fabric without the mess of glitter. I kind of love that.

Tip #3: With those suckers secure, I started sprucing up the bottom 3rd of the sweater with fabric paint… I just doodled on super simple designs. Kind of like I did with my shoes, remember?

Here’s a close up of Andy’s sweater. It’s says “Merry Christmas Y’all!”

Tip #4: I used the lid of a pot to trace a large circle onto the back of the Shimmer Sheets for my giant ornament. Like this:

And then ironed it onto my sweater with the same method I mentioned in Tip #2. This is so, so easy. I want to iron on some sparkle to everything I own!

Tip #5: Outlining shapes makes them feel finished! After I outlined my giant ornament in black, I started doodling on my tacky goodness. I decided to stick with the Texas theme and added 3 little cacti to the bottom of the ornament to represent Andy, me and the bambino. Then I jazzed up the ornament with lots of fabric paint! Oh and I also used the beads in the bottle a lot. Those are fun. Check out the snowflakes… Because snowflakes and cacti go together, right?!

And here we are decked out in our DIY tacky Texas Christmas sweaters:

I know you can’t see the 24 week belly in this sweater, but check out my instagram feed for lots of bump updates! I promise it’s growing! If you’re into tacky Chrsitmas sweaters, don’t miss:

• 15 awesome ideas for hosting a tacky Christmas sweater party