Ugly Christmas Sweater or Tree Skirt?
We have entered into December, and it’s time to get serious when it comes to pulling together your Ugly Christmas Sweater garb. Unfortunately, it’s already slim pickings as the thrifts in my area have been nearly wiped out of tacky sweaters.
That’s ok because I have a few more ideas to help you get party-ready using an easy-to-find holiday staple – the tree skirt. Whether you’re thrifting, buying it new, or swiping the one from under your Tannenbaum, any tree skirt will do.
On a recent trip to the thrifts, I grabbed two tree skirts. One is a vintage felt material with some retro trim which I will be showing in an upcoming post.
The other is a crochet piece that features large evergreen trees – this is the one I’m going to tackle today.
I appreciate the work that went into this piece. It’s hand-made and, even though it’s not my style, I don’t want to alter it permanently. So instead, I will show you a simple and inexpensive way to decorate it by using the space between the stitches to our advantage. This method will allow us to undo it later.
But first, we need some embellishments. So, at Dollar Tree, I grabbed some Christmas garlands (with both packages and ornaments), and some battery-operated lights.
Before getting started, I removed the mini packages from the garland. The packages are held on by a twist-tie located under each package, making it easy to disassemble.
Keep the twist-ties as we will need those here in a bit.
With the packages removed, I cut the garland into pieces approximately 4″ in length.
To reassemble, I used a twist tie to secure the garland to the side of a package.
Once all of the packages are attached to pieces of garland, I poke the tinsel through two different spaces in the stitches of the skirt under one of the trees. Then, I twist the ends together on the inside. I repeat this process under each tree on the skirt.
I removed the balls from the ornament garland and cut the tinsel into 20-22″ pieces. I then attached the tinsel pieces to the trees on the skirt and reattached the ornaments.
Other embellishments can be added the same way, so do as much or as little as you like.
Finally, I take the battery-operated star lights and sprinkle them across the skirt. I chose to place one at the top of each tree with one in between in the “sky.” Poke them through from the back to the front of the skirt and use tinsel to secure them as needed. Next, I use tinsel to fasten the battery box to the inside of the sweater, leaving access to the on/off switch.
To wear, I can use the existing yarn ties or string festive ribbon or tinsel onto the tree skirt.
And, now, our Ugly Christmas Sweater is complete.
I think it’s safe to say that no one else will be rocking this same look at the party.
I love how this turned out, and I think it pairs well with the Ugly Christmas Earrings I recently made.
So, what do you think? Does this inspire you to hunt down a crochet tree skirt? Let me know on Instagram or Facebook.
Be sure to check back to see the next tree skirt to Ugly Christmas Sweater makeover.
Until next time, keep it kitsch.
