Making Christmas ornaments from old clothes

Got some old wool sweaters you can’t wear anymore? Then follow Ellen Luckett Baker’s tutorial on making felted sweater ornaments. They’re cheerful, adorable and just all-round fabulous, and they’re free. If you don’t have any old wool, check a thrift shop or local garage sales.

To get this look, you must use felted wool. But if you have some old stuff in other fabrics, there’s no end to the ornaments you can make. The easiest – and probably most familiar, since we did these in grade school – is to take a wire clothes hanger, stretch it until it’s round, and tie strips of fabric all around it. Press them tightly together and squeeze as much as you can onto the hanger so it looks thick and dense. Then cover the hanging part of the hanger with another strip, just so it won’t be obvious what it was. And voila, you have a wreath.

You can also sew up little fabric balls stuffed with other fabric (or cotton balls) to make ball ornaments.

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Posted in Crafts on December 11, 2008