Baby, it’s cold outside! January has the temperature gauge dropping in my hometown which causes me to spend my time crafting in my cozy home. A warm, sweater is not only comforting but is also the perfect base for craft projects. From one thrift store sweater, you can create many projects without bringing a chill to your pocketbook.
My love for wool sweaters started this summer-odd, I know.
I noticed a trend in crafting. Many of my favorite crafters were starting to use felted pieces on:
- home décor pillows
- creating their own glasses cases
- camera cases
- notebooks
- journals,
--After a little searching, I found the most inexpensive way to gather felt was to buy thrift store wool sweaters and wash them in H-O-T water.
- They shrink to a smaller size with the fibers tightly together that you can cut the wool sweater and it won’t unravel.
- No need for you to sew a hem -- the felted sweater was a magic cut-and-create fabric with endless colors and patterns.
- My search began like a scavenger hunt for 100% wool sweaters.
- You can use sweaters with a lesser wool percentage but you may experience some unraveling.
How to wash a wool sweater for felting:
- Place the wool sweater in the washing machine and choose a hot cycle to clean it.
- If it doesn’t shrink enough, wash it again in a cold cycle and then a hot cycle.
- Place in the dryer and be prepared to clean out the lint tray often.
- Don’t leave it in the dryer when you are not home.
- Lay it out to finish air drying.
The first project I attempted using a wool sweater was an ornament for a swap.
Place the wool sweater in the washing machine and choose a hot cycle to clean it.
I signed up for the swap because I thought it would be so fun to have a Christmas tree full of handcrafted sweater ornaments. I plan to leave my pink Christmas tree up all year long in my studio as a reminder of the new friends I made in the swap and as inspiration for upcoming projects.
Here is a peek at what each artist made. Visit Jen Kershner and see her dress form decked out with our felted ornaments!
Once I completed the ornaments, I was on a roll. My friend, Rachel, taught me how to create these little brooches using cotton fabric.
We stayed up late one night creating them in a hotel room. I didn’t have much fabric with me but I did have a wool sweater.
- I cut a piece approximately 1 yard long and ¾ inch thick.
- I coiled it with glue on a felt circle to create a rosette.
- A few buttons for the flower’s center and leaves cut from felt and embellished with embroidery floss and dried flowers were the “icing on the cake” for my flower brooch.
- I added a pin to the back and it made the perfect accent for my daughter’s sweater hat.
These were so easy to make, and you could create dozens and dozens from one sweater.
Rachel made them for each of her teachers as little thank-you’s.
With the help of Rachel and the inspiration of Charlotte Lyons,
I created my own one-of-a-kind winter hat.
- It was made by trimming a felted sweater into a square shape.
- The top of the square is smaller than the bottom.
- I used my head to measure the width. I also kept one sewn seam from the original sweater when I was cutting out the square shape. That way, I only had to stitch one side of the sweater square.
- To close up the top of the sweater, stitch all the way around the top section of the hat.
- Carefully pull the string to draw the top of the hat closed. Depending on how far you stitch from the top of the hat will create a beanie at the top.
- I stitched approximately ¾ inch from the top.
- This hat was embellished with the trim of an ivory colored sweater. It has a blanket stitch of red embroidery floss around it.
- I added a die-cut branch using felt for my fabric and felted beaded balls for the berries.
- The bird was cut from a scrap sweater and so was its wing. I added a button on the wing and a bead for the eye.
- I even felted the beak.
- A decorative backstitch gives the bird its personality.
Are you feeling “green” this winter? I decided to stop using my favorite coffee shop’s cardboard holders and created my own from the cuff of a sweater.
- I simply cut off the cuff, fitted for size, and added a blanket stitch to it.
- The design on it is, of course, a steaming cup of Joe! When creating my coffee mug and saucer, I thought of simple shapes.
- Notice the saucer is a long skinny oval and the coffee mug is a half of a circle with a handle.
- I continued the simple shapes by needle felting pink circles onto the mug and into the sweater.
- The coffee is needle felted roving.
- Small pieces of roving and a single needle will give you the best detail when you needle felt.
- I think these little coffee cozies would make great girlfriend gifts or even teacher gifts. My friend created them for her Diet Coke can because she isn’t much of a coffee drinker.
- I also made a wine bottle cozy using the sleeve of the sweater.
- Wool absorbs water so your sweaty drink won’t get you wet for quite a while.
- Here is a link to drink box cozy. They are so cute...and a great way to tell who's cozy belongs to whom.
Another “green” idea is to create a sweater book bag for the library.
My library gives out plastic bags to carry your books home in. Why not create your own?
- To create the bag, use the side seams for the bottom of the bag and the handle.
- That leaves only the sides of the bag to stitch on the sewing machine or to hand-stitch.
- Sew the bag inside out after cutting your handle.
- I cut one side of the bag and then flipped the piece that I cut out and used it for the pattern on the other side.
- I cut the letters from a gray sweater and hand-stitched them.
- The owl is made of 100% recycled sweater pieces with button eyes.
- I used all my scraps to create the owl. Waste not, want not!
- The sweater bag is stretchy so don’t overload it with reading material.
This lovely brooch was the easiest of all projects to make. You know the saying “saving the best for last.”
- Take two strips of sweater approximately 18 inches long and 1½ inches wide.
- The measurements will be different depending on the size of you flower brooch.
- Sew a running stitch all the way across the sweater strips, binding them together, and then cut fringe in the sweater and coil and glue to a felt circle base to create a flower.
- Add a fancy button, fabric brad, or an old earring for its center.
- Cut leaves and secure a pin to the back of the flower.
- The brooch would be lovely on a winter coat or as an accent for your scarf.
Save all your leftover sweater felt for new projects. Place the scraps in zip-lock baggies that are sorted by sweater color. This will make it easier to find what you need for future crafting projects.
Stay warm this winter and snuggle up with a felted sweater craft or spread the felted love by organizing your own flower brooch swap!
Happy crafting and stay warm!
~Kara (Studio Pink)