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This Ugly Christmas Sweater Craft is one sweater you can make as ugly or as pretty as you like! Includes a free printable so you can start right now!

They say that ‘beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder’. Now, if that’s true, shouldn’t ugliness also reside in the eye of the beholder? What’s ugly to one person may not be ugly to another, and nothing explains this fact as well as the Ugly Christmas Sweater!

So what exactly is an ugly Christmas sweater? Well, it’s any sweater with at least one Christmas motif on it, like Santa, reindeer, elves, candy canes, etc. The more embellishments and decorations it has, the ‘uglier’ it becomes!

It is believed that sweaters and knitwear with Christmas themes started appearing in the 1950s, but it was in the 1980s that it became popular thanks to TV shows and movies like ‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation‘.

By the 2000s, people started holding ugly Christmas sweater parties, and it was an event in Vancouver that turned the ugly Christmas sweater into a ‘thing’. In a few years, major fashion brands like Stella McCartney, Givenchy, and Dolce & Gabbana joined the trend.

Now, we even have a National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day, observed on the third Friday in December, although you are officially allowed to wear an ugly Christmas sweater from the start of Advent till the 5th of January.

Since we’re still in the ugly Christmas sweater season, we think it’s the perfect time to have fun with an ugly Christmas sweater craft! This features our free printable ugly sweater template with which you can decorate or design your own ugly sweater ornaments, gift tags, or banners!  

Free Printable Ugly Christmas Sweater Craft

Supplies required:

•  Thick printer paper or card stock
• Multicolored pom poms
• Embellishments
• Glue stick
• Scissors
• Ribbon or twine (optional) 

How to make the Ugly Christmas Sweater Craft:

1. Download and print the ugly Christmas sweater craft template. The printables are free and include two activities. One is a full-page sweater design craft and the other has 4 smaller designs for you to color in. Let’s start with the ugly Christmas sweater craft coloring pages.

2. As you can see, there are four ugly sweaters for you to color in. With so many patterns, you can go completely bonkers with the colors you want to use without worrying about how they’ll look together – after all, this is an ugly Christmas sweater craft!

3. Once you’re done with that, you can move on to the ‘design your own ugly Christmas sweater craft’. Here you have a full page-size sweater that you can decorate to your heart’s content. You have the option of coloring in the sweater first if you like, or you can leave it white for the decorations to pop. 

4. Gather all your embellishments and pom poms – it’s time to go nuts! Stick them on in any order, in any place, or you can create a pattern of your own. 

5. If you’ve used sufficiently thick paper for the craft, you can turn the ugly Christmas sweater craft into ornaments or other festive items.

• Ugly sweater ornaments – Glue a little ribbon loop to the back or use a chenille stem to create a hanger
• Gift tags – Add a little bit of twine to the ugly Christmas sweater craft and attach it to your gifts for a fun, personal touch
• Party banner or garland – Create a banner by stringing a bunch of smaller ugly sweaters together

What we love about this ugly Christmas sweater craft is that it’s perfect for all age groups. Even preschoolers can get involved by sticking whatever they like anywhere they like – it’s an open-ended project! They’ll love making their creations and then decorating the Christmas tree with ornaments they made themselves!

Click the image below to download the template – 

Don’t forget to join our Artsy Craftsy Club which will give you free access to a bunch of festive printables and downloads!