Do you have holiday parties coming up in December that you want to look your absolute best for? Are you a huge fan of showing off your DIY skills through the art of fashion alterations and custom embellishments, particularly in the form of flashy Christmas wear? Are you convinced that you have the perfect attitude for rocking homemade sweaters, especially themed ones, like nobody else has ever rocked a sweater before? Then it’s time to buckle down and make yourself your very own ugly Christmas sweater!
Check out these 15 DIY clothing alteration and embellishment ideas that will guarantee you first place in the year’s biggest event: the office ugly Christmas sweater party!
1. Fireplace mantle sweater
What’s better than an ugly sweater look? An ugly sweater look that actually makes use of your whole body, of course! If you really want to win the competition, then wearing a sweater that simply looks good while you’re standing normally might not be enough. Surprise your coworkers by throwing your arms out to the side so they look like the top of the mantle with stockings hanging down from the sleeves!
2. “Stuck in the chimney” sweater
Maybe you’re looking for something just a tad more eye catching? You know, nothing too over the top, but not understated either. Something with a little mystery. Then you need to check out this sweater from Instrcutables that transforms you into the chimney Santa got stuck in! You probably don’t need to be able to see your computer screen on the last day before the Christmas holidays anyway.
3. Gingerbread house sweater
Have you always said that you eat so many gingerbread house pieces during the holidays that one day you might actually turn into one? Well, we imagine this is how you might look if you did! Between the lace “icing” and the pom pom “jujubes”, you’ll be the sweetest looking belle at the ball that day.
4. Sick reindeer sweater
Have you ever eaten way too much Christmas candy or enjoyed a few too many spiked egg nogs and lost your (literal) cookies at a holiday party? Well, this Imgur user imagined what it might look like if Rudolph the red nosed reindeer did the same thing! Recreating this one for your office work party is bound to gain you some brownie points (or maybe just cause your coworkers to subtly steer you away form the drinks table).
5. Complete Christmas tree sweater
Did you love the idea of involving your entire body in your ugly Christmas outfit but you’re just not sure that transforming yourself into a mantle is quite your style? Then try making yourself a beautiful Christmas tree instead! Just imagine how much fun you’ll have showing everyone what happens when you raise your arms! On top of that, tinsel is awesome and your coworkers will totally appreciate you shedding cheerful, sparkly strands all over their desks all day.
6. Ugly Christmas tie sweater
What’s better than an ugly Christmas sweater? An ugly Christmas sweater made out of ugly Christmas ties, of course! It’s like a case of Christmas themed inception and we’re not mad about it at all. Visit thrift stores, novelty Christmas pop up shops, or your dad’s closet and collect all of the gorgeously tacking neck ties you can find, and then tack them to the front of your sweater arranged in a pyramid like a Christmas tree. Bright buttons and ribbons make the perfect decorations for your tie tree, and you get more bonus points for creativity the less your buttons match the ties. Check it out in more detail on I Love to Create!
7. Pet ugly Christmas sweaters
Okay, okay, so you probably can’t take your rabbit to work with you to compete in the ugly Christmas sweater contest as well, but we’d be willing to bet that he’d win if he could! This Imgur user knitted their bunny an ugly Christmas sweater and we think it’s so darn stylish that we’re considering knitting differently sized versions for our cats and dogs too.
8. Yarn scraps Christmas sweater
Are you an avid knitter with an eye for colour who wants to show off your crafty skills and your personal style all at once in the office this holiday season? Then you definitely need to make your own version of this Imgur user‘s ugly Christmas sweater made from leftover yarn scraps! You’re pretty much guaranteed to be the brightest person at the whole party, if not the outright winner upon walking through the door.
9. Cat lady Christmas sweater
Are you looking for a DIY sweater design that does a little more than show off your personal style when it comes to clothes? Maybe you want a sweater that really says something about who you are in your life outside of work? Well, if we were to choose a sweater like that for ourselves, it would certainly be this crazy cat lady design from Instructables! Besides being an accurate depiction of what your living room at home looks like every year when we try to set up the tree, the sweater lights up. If that doesn’t sweep the competition, then we’re boycotting Christmas all together.
10. “Buried in the snow” sweater
Obviously even we know that, no matter how good your DIY skills are, there’s no way to make an ugly Christmas sweater that actually involves real snow in any way unless you want to attend your work party soaking wet. Instead, simulate fluffy white snow by sticking shredded cotton all across the bottom like this Instructables design! We love the idea of “burying” Santa and a reindeer in the snow, but watch out for silly coworkers trying to catch snacks in there when you’re not paying attention.
11. Snow globe sweater
When it comes to sweaters that will entertain your coworkers, then this snow globe design by ryeomans1, which they can actually kind of participate in by watching the snow as you move, totally takes the cake! As if all the trimmings, like the tinsel and the felt snow, weren’t enough, there’s actually loose snow inside that will “blow around” like a storm if you jump up and down. There’s no harm in fixing the competition by using your distracting visual apparel to hypnotize your coworkers into crowning you winner of the ugly Christmas sweater competition, right?
12. Ugly Christmas bows skirt
If you’re going to wear ugly Christmas clothing, you might as well go all out, right? Instead of just making yourself an ugly Christmas sweater, try making yourself a complete Christmas outfit instead! We’re completely in love with this gift bow and tinsel dress by EroSennin and we also quite enjoy that, in the event one of your coworkers hasn’t quite finished wrapping their gifts yet, they can just borrow your outfit after to get everything wrapped and ready to go!
13. Ugly Christmas poncho
Yes, you read that right. It’s an ugly Christmas poncho. Just in case the sweater designs we’ve been listing didn’t quite have that flair of classically ugly style on top of their amazingly tacky embellishments, this design from Toglefritz is here to really take things over the top! Just in case it’s not enough that the garment resembles the tree skirt we put around the base of our Christmas tree, it actually lights up too!
14. A Christmas story sweater
If you weren’t considered the story teller of the office before you wore this sweater to the Christmas party, you will be now! Besides hearkening back to the classic Christmas film A Christmas Story, this sweater by scooter76 actually tells part of the story visually all across your middle. Thank goodness for the visual tale spinning tool that is felt!
15. Bottle cap sweater
Whether you’re more of a pop drinker or a beer drinker, you probably have the ability to collect a lot of bottle caps between now and your office Christmas party. This bottle cap tree design by Pop Sugar takes quite a few, so we hope you’re thirsty! We can’t guarantee your coworkers won’t be alarmed by how many sugary drinks you’ve downed or how many different brands of beer you’ve tried before, but we can guarantee they’ll be impressed with how thrifty your idea was. You’ll be like a walking advertisement for upcycling!
Have you made other DIY ugly Christmas sweaters that you’ve convinced are even more glorious than these ones? Perhaps you even have a couple of seasoned contest winners in your closet? Tell us about how you made them or link us to pictures of how great you look in them in the comments section!
