Posted on by thelongthread

Thrifted Holiday Trees

There are a million felted sweater projects out there, but I think it’s a great idea to save money and recycle wool sweaters.  I found some more sweaters on a thrifting excursion the other day, so I made these plump holiday trees.  They are about 7″ tall and each has 32 felted sweater circles.

Supplies:

  • felted wool sweaters (washed and dried 100% wool sweaters)
  • scissors
  • pins
  • wire
  • wire cutters
  • bead or star for the tree top

Instructions (for one tree):

Step 1: Print out the templates below and cut out paper circles.

thrifted-trees-page-1

thrifted-trees-page-2

thrifted-trees-page3

Step 2: Pin paper circles to the sweaters and cut two of each size.  It helps to cut out a square from the sweater and work with that, rather than trying to cut from the whole sweater.

Step 3: Bend the wire at the bottom and begin slipping sweater circles onto the wire, beginning with the largest first.  It helps to find the center by folding the circle in half, then half again.

Step 4:  Wrap a bead or star at the top and bend the wire around.  Snip.

If you make one of these, I’d love to see a photo in the Make it Monday Flickr group.  Thanks!

43 Replies to “Thrifted Holiday Trees”

  2. Very cute and with some help it might be a nice thing to try with older children. I’m betting I have enough scraps to make at least one.

  4. I love these trees. I make purses out of felted sweaters and have lots of remnants I could use for these. I blogged about you on my blog craftevolution.com. Hope you don’t mind. I found you through stumbleupon.

  14. Great Christmas project. Love to use re-cycled crafts supplies. Have lots of felted swaters just waiting for homes as accessories/decorations. Thank you so much.

  20. I find it easier to cut the pattern pieces out of freezer paper and iron them on for recycled sweater projects.

  22. this is one of the coolest recycling projects i’ve seen in a long time. i’ve blogged about it in an article that will be published on jan 3, 2009. thought you’d like to know. visit my blog to see the article and how i’d combine this project with crochet and maybe beads or charms.
    http://crochet.craftgossip.com

    thanks!
    jd in st louis

  25. OMGoodness… I LOVE this… so very cute I have tons of felt scraps.. AM SO making this for the Girl Scout leaders… thanks you so much you are an answered prayer!

  26. I just made three of these with preschoolers (I helped with the cutting, obviously). They loved them, and they all turned out very wonderfully…a forgiving project!

  27. Okay, now these are just too cute. And recycled is always up my alley! I’ll be posting a link this week on childmade.com. Thanks for sharing!

  29. These trees are fantastic. How many wool sweaters did it take to make this? I’m sure you have leftovers for future projects. Thanks for sharing!

  30. Hi! I just found this wonderful tutorial and posted about it today. I linked back to you so hopefully some new peeps can find your site & all it’s loveliness! Thanks for sharing this great project. 🙂

  32. I have just seen the tree and have the copies to make~~~But I can not print the instructions and can’t make without~~am I missing something~?~?~Your so generous to share and I am sorry for bothering for even more soooooo~!~But I think these would be easy and not too costly to make to give to people who need a boost~~and not just during the holidays but just “because”

    Thanks for your time Eva

  34. Beautiful! I’ll have to raid my mothers sewing room asap. Oh wow, also these are kid proof, which is a must have with my 1 and 3 year olds 😉 I love this site already.

  35. thanks so much for taking the time to make this template available to us… I have made a couple and placed a link on my blog….many thanks again, they are just gorgeous!

  36. Hi there
    these trees are fantastic! what a great idea…thanks for sharing the idea…are you selling them too?

    I’ve a shop in St Leonards in East Sussex and sell lots of handmade goodies together with painted furniture, curtains and gifts etc.

    Glad found you via a ‘like’ from Little Chalk House

    Pop by my page if you get a chance

    Best wishes

    Lisa

  38. I can’t wait to make one of these, but I’m wanting to adapt the idea so the layers are removable for coasters of various sizes. I’m thinking I can use a chopstick or dowel put into a pencil sharpener and anchored in a sculpey or old wood plate base…and finishing with a large bead with hole and topped by a button or smaller bead, so there would be a removable cap. I’d love other ideas or cautions…I’m wondering how thick the coaster would need to be to still be effective with a hole in it. Perhaps it won’t keep the moisture or heat away from table enough. I’ll try one before I make it, but would love help!

  40. Y’all are going to think I am silly however I live in Texas and I honestly don’t know what a “felted” sweater is.. Can someone please explain this to me?
    I adore these trees and would love to make them but I have to understand what I’m going to work with. I could probably use leftover cotton material as well. Thank you very much!

  41. Wash an old wool sweater and the fibers will stick together, becoming like felt. Thanks!

  43. I just found this post and love those felted trees! I started collecting wool sweaters a year ago. Now I know what I can do with some. I’m always looking for ideas to upcycle or repurpose.

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