Christmas Sweater Ornaments @ Christopher and Banks

Christmas Sweater Ornaments fit Barbie and Other Playscale Dolls

Regularly priced $7.95 each, these five Christmas sweater ornaments are currently on sale at Christopher and Banks for 2 for $6.

I ordered four of the five Christmas sweater ornaments that are offered this year.

When I ordered the four I received yesterday, they were $4.77 each.  At the time I ordered, shipping was free.

Like the ones C&B offered last year, these sweater ornaments are attached to a lightweight wire hanger which is removable.  The only one with a hood is the Love Joy Peace ornament with tartan plaid mock shirt at hemline.  "2016" is embroidered on back of each.  They should work as well as last year's for playscale dolls with thinner bodies, like ModelMuse.

Hurry to the site before the sale ends and/or before they sell out!

 dbg
Check out my eBay listings here.

More Ugly Christmas Sweaters

Themes of these Christmas sweater ornaments from Michaels are: wreath, noel, reindeer, wrapped package, joy, and two tan bells.

For a couple of years, I have wanted to get my hands on the Christmas sweater ornaments sold at Michaels.  After reading Ms. Leo's Christmas Sweaters post, I asked my daughter to check the store near her the next time she was in the vicinity.  It only took a few days for that to happen (the woman is a shopaholic).

At Michaels, she asked me to FaceTime (FT) her so she could show me what they had.  I really wanted at least two with fur collars, but none were available.  The FT video reception was poor, so I asked her to choose five different ones for me.  "Five is an odd number," she said.  "Well buy six then, and make sure at least one is blue," I instructed.

At the Michaels where Ms. Leo shopped, the sweater ornaments were 40% off [the regular price of $5.99].  Here they were 50% off.  My daughter paid $2.99 for each.

The real miniature wire hangers are stitched to the neck of these excellent quality sweaters.  Just a snip with scissors allowed easy removal.

Since she wears "red bottom" shoes, I chose I.T.B.E. Luscious to model one, as shown above.  This is when I discovered the perfect arm length but wide waist and hemline.  In the above photo the  knit fabric is pulled together in the back to minimize the waist.

With the fabric in back relaxed, Luscious illustrates how wide the fit of the sweater is on her thin frame.  Wearing one of these, she could easily pull off the look of a 9-month pregnancy, as shown next.

In this sweater, with the front pulled forward, Luscious looks well into a third trimester of pregnancy.

After an ah-ha moment, I decided to try another Michaels Christmas sweater on Big Beautiful Doll Dasia.  It was my thought that her fuller figure would fill in the width.  I was pleasantly pleased by two things.

After removing her wrap, I rediscovered Georgette Taylor's handwritten inscription to me on Dasia's back, which reads:

To Debbie
Love,
Georgette Taylor,
08/2004

(Taylor co-founded the Big Beautiful Doll Company and is reintroducing the dolls under different names through her newly formed, I Am Beautiful Doll Company.)

I was also delighted that the sweater fits Dasia well (the sleeves are a little short, but we won't tell her). Like Luscious (a.k.a. Anika or Boo-Boo Kitty), Dasia is wearing the sweater over her dress.

Modeling Christmas sweater ornaments from various sources:  (in back, L-R) Nikki's sweater is from Christopherandbanks.com.  Dasia and Anika's sweaters are from a local Michaels store, and (seated) Goddess Emerald's sweater is from Jafgifts.com.

Acting as mother to the other Christmas sweater wearers, Dasia and her daughters took a lovely family portrait before joining the other attendees of the Christmas sweater party.

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Nikki and the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party - What to Wear?

Ugly Christmas Sweater Ornaments from Christopher and Banks

Top Model Nikki (one of my two TM Nikki thrift store finds from a couple of years ago) was selected to model the not-so-ugly, ugly Christmas sweater ornaments purchased from Christopherand Banks.com.

Their sweater ornaments include a removable and pliable silver wire hanger, which I knew would come in handy to create doll accessories later.

For playscale dolls, I would prefer these sweaters to have been a little longer and the neck opening a little larger, but they are workable with much less difficulty involved to dress dolls than I experienced with the stiffened ones I tried previously.

Nikki's Pre-Ugly Christmas Sweater Party Photo Shoot 

Nikki tried on the elf sweater first.  It has mittens attached to the sleeves.  Dressed in this one, Nikki looks like a perfect helper for Santa.

Close up of the mittens on Nikki's hands illustrates the nice fit.

Each of the sweater ornaments has the year, 2015, embroidered on back.  I did not know this prior to purchasing.  I suppose the stitching could either be removed or painted over with matching fabric paint. For this year's Ugly Christmas Sweater party that Nikki is attending, she does not mind the year being on back.  Next year would be a totally different story, however.

Nikki likes the elf sweater, but wanted to try on the other three.  (Christopher and Banks offered a total of five, but the penguin sweater was not appealing to any of the playscale women here.)

Nikki really liked the blue color against her complexion.  The white snowman theme pairs well with her white leggings.  This one also has attached mittens that are a perfect fit.

Close up of mittens

Next to try was the gingerbread man sweater which is without attached mittens, but is hooded.

A silver bead is attached to the top of the hood.

Nikki likes wearing this one without the hood, particularly due to the mishap that occurred while pulling the sweater over her neck.

When found at the thrift store, Nikki had only one of her original gold hoop earrings, which she continued to wear.  The earring, unfortunately broke when the green hooded sweater was pulled over her head.  So word from the now wise is:  Before dressing your dolls in these and other narrow necked tops, remove their earrings, particularly if they are fragile.

After regrouping from the earring malfunction, Nikki tried on the white and gray snowflake sweater, which is both hooded and has attached gray mittens.  She likes the winter white look and didn't mind wearing the hood.

This one also has a silver bead at the top of the hood as illustrated.

 Nikki removed the hood but kept her hair tucked inside.  She took a hot chocolate break while new earrings were made using one of the silver wire hangers. (Who knew I would be creating jewelry with the hangers so soon?)

The wire hanger was straightened out, cut to an estimated appropriate length for two earrings, and wrapped around a small ink pen leaving a straight portion at each end.

After removing the now spiraled wire from around the ink pen, it was cut in half.  The two halves were stretched to create a nice design.   The tip of each curved end was tucked under the spiral above it to prevent fabric snares.  To help the earrings stay in place, the center of each straight end was bent downward to create a hook before placing each into Nikki's ears.

Nikki models her new earrings and will always remember to remove them before taking off or putting on any over-the-head blouse or sweater.

Nikki has decided to wear the winter white snowflake sweater.  She has graciously given her younger sis, Goddess Emerald, permission to tag along with her to the Ugly Christmas Sweater party.

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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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