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Monday, November 9, 2015

First Christmas Redress

Set of 6 ugly Christmas sweater ornaments designed by Paul Lundberg (stock photo)
When the above sweater ornaments were ordered, the plan was to remove the hangers in hopes that they would fit playscale dolls with ease.  Little did I know that, while they are actually miniature knit sweaters, the fabric is as stiff as a board!

I soaked one in boiled water in an attempt to remove the stiffening substance.

The teddy bear-themed sweater ornament is placed in a plastic container with the difficult-to-remove metal hanger still attached.

Boiled water soak

During the boiled water soak, some of the stiffening substance released as evidenced by the cloudiness of the water. After the sweater dried, the fabric was still firm but pliable.  I had my husband remove the metal hanger that had been hot glued to the inside.

Because the neck area was still a little firm, I cut the back open, folded the cut edges, placed a piece of Stitch Witchery inside each fold and ironed both in place.

I added adhesive-backed Velcro to each permanently folded edge.

This is how it looks when the Velcro edges overlap to close.

Goddess Emerald was wearing black leggings, which I thought would be a perfect complement for the sweater.  Black flats complete her look, shown next:



Goddess Emerald is joined by one of Santa's little helpers, So In Style little sis, Kianna.

I am not sure if I will use the softening process for the remaining five ugly Christmas sweater ornaments or just leave them as ornaments.

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Two weeks ago when I ordered the set of 5 sweater ornaments, they were priced $14.63 with free shipping.   When I captured the stock photo from the merchant's website for this post, I was shocked that the price had more than doubled.  What a difference October to November makes in pricing of some Christmas-themed items.

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18 comments:

  1. gochemocheNovember 9, 2015 at 12:33 AM

    I got similar ornaments from Christopher and banks shop. They are on sale for about 4-5 dollars each. They are not stiff at all. And they don't really look ugly :))) Santa sweater is the cutest :) I modified them just as you did :)

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    1. Black Doll EnthusiastNovember 9, 2015 at 2:56 AM

      I saw a post on FB about the Christopher and Banks sweater ornaments, went to their website and contemplated ordering. I wasn't sure if they were stiffened or not. Thanks for letting me know they are not.

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  2. PhyllisNovember 9, 2015 at 6:03 AM

    I usually get the sweater ornaments at Michael's Crafts. The ones I get there are not stiff either, but a bit of work to take them off of the hanger. I like your modification to get the opened in the back. I will have to try this with mine!

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    1. Black Doll EnthusiastNovember 9, 2015 at 9:19 AM

      Thanks, Phyllis. I just ordered 4 of the 5 available ones at the Christopher and Banks website. Shipping was free. I think I have enough for now, but if I see any locally, I'll probably grab a few.

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  3. Brenova November 9, 2015 at 8:12 AM

    Ca-ute! You styled the first sweater beautifully. I know it was a lot of work but I'd love to see what you'd do with the rest. And yes, merchants tend to get greedy at the holidays. Blessings

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    1. Black Doll EnthusiastNovember 9, 2015 at 9:21 AM

      Thank you, Brenova! I'm not sure I'll "relax" the fabric of the other five to use them for playscale dolls since I just ordered the ones I mentioned in my comment to Phyllis. (But with me, you never know.)

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  4. AnonymousNovember 9, 2015 at 4:57 PM

    Very cute sweaters :-). You did a great modification, and it looks really good on your doll!

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  5. Sarah SequinsNovember 9, 2015 at 10:11 PM

    Those sweaters are adorable. It's too bad they're so stiff!

    It was either at Michaels or Joann Fabrics that I found some nice, non-stiff sweater ornaments last year. If I see any this year, I'll let you know!

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    1. Black Doll EnthusiastNovember 10, 2015 at 12:46 AM

      Thank you, Sarah! I would appreciate knowing what you find in your area.

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  6. RoxanneRoxanneNovember 9, 2015 at 10:29 PM

    Those sweaters are adorable! Goddess Emerald looks really lovely in hers.

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  7. VanessaNovember 10, 2015 at 10:04 AM

    The ugly sweaters are soooo cute. I think you should modify the rest of them.

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    1. Black Doll EnthusiastNovember 10, 2015 at 10:30 AM

      They really are cute, Vanessa. I don't know. It took a couple of dips in boiled water for this one to soften up and it is still not as soft as I'd like. I might try one more.

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  8. skippercollectorNovember 15, 2015 at 9:34 PM

    I have some of these from a number of years ago. My problem with them is that the neck holes won't stretch enough to fit over either the heads, if you're trying from the top down, or over the hips and arms if you're going from the legs up.

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    1. Black Doll EnthusiastNovember 16, 2015 at 1:32 AM

      It sounds like you might need to modify the back of your sweaters the way I did this one.

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  9. MuffNovember 22, 2015 at 7:04 PM

    LOL, Santa being stuck in the chimney is probably my favorite.

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    1. Black Doll EnthusiastNovember 28, 2015 at 4:26 PM

      You would like that one, Muff with Santa looking all stuck.

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