How to Make Your Own Light-Up Christmas Sweater For the Festive Season

Tools and materials:

• An old solid-colored sweater
• An old solid-colored glittery sweater
• Pine leaves
• Pinecones
• Small Christmas ornaments, baubles, and bows
• Small red fluffy balls
• Thick brown pipe cleaners
• Two strings of battery-powered small Christmas lights
• Hot glue and glue gun
• No shame!

DIY light-up Christmas sweater 1 - Christmas tree

1. Arrange pine leaves and cones on a sweater

Using some pine leaves and pinecones that you’ve collected, lay them out on the front of your sweater in whatever pattern you wish. For this tutorial, we’re making a Christmas tree pattern, because that’s a natural choice for a light-up sweater!

Tip: Check the items you’ve gathered from nature, to make sure there are no bugs or other unwanted bits of nature left behind. It’s supposed to be an ugly sweater, not a scary sweater!

2. Glue your design

Once you’ve got your design in place, slide a piece of cardboard inside your sweater so that when you start applying hot glue, you won’t risk accidentally gluing the front of your sweater to the back. Attach all the pieces to your sweater using a hot glue gun.

3. Add Christmas decorations

Think you have your design done? Think again! It’s not nearly ugly enough! Add some more to your design, like the tinsel on the tree in this tutorial. Of course, your Christmas tree sweater needs some tree ornaments. Throw those on too, with a bit more hot glue.

Don’t forget your tree topper. And while you’re at it, add some joy to your ugly Christmas sweater by scattering around a few small gift decorations.

Is there still a bit of old sweater showing through? You’d better take care of that. Glue some small decorations, like gold Christmas bows, around the neckline, hem, and wristbands of your sweater.

4. How to add Christmas lights to a sweater

Using a battery-powered string of small lights, start attaching the lights to the back of your sweater. Poke each little light through your sweater from the inside back to the outside. 

When all of the lights are attached to the back of your sweater, create a small fabric pocket to hold the battery. Cut a square of fabric large enough to hold the battery pack and hot glue the fabric to the bottom inside the back of your sweater. Now, just insert the battery pack.

Add a dab of hot glue to each of the holes you made poking the lights through, to strengthen them and keep them from tearing. The hot glue patches will also keep the lights on the outside of the sweater where they belong.

DIY light-up Christmas sweater 2 – Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer

1. Create the reindeer face

Use red fluffy balls and large, thick pieces of brown pipe cleaner to create a reindeer design on the front of a glittery old sweater.

Hot glue it all in place and add some googly eyes and a big fluffy ball nose.

2. Decorate the reindeer

Not ugly enough? That’s because you forgot to add the ornaments and some baubles to Rudolph’s antlers.

3. How to make a Christmas sweater light up

Trim the neckline, hem, and wristbands of your sweater with small bow ornaments, use the same lighting technique as with the Christmas tree to light up the back of the sweater and Rudolph’s antlers. 

How to make your own light-up Christmas sweater tutorial

Fa la la la la! OK, so we’ve called these ugly Christmas sweaters, but you have to admit, really, they are pretty darn cute! And you can probably think of lots more original designs. We can’t wait to see your comments about what you came up with!