Sure, Christmas is joyful and cheerful, but merry and bright can also be chic and stylish. With all the shopping and gifting throughout the holiday season, Christmas is the perfect time to test out some great and elevated DIY styles. We’re not talking half-baked reindeer socks or “ugly Christmas sweaters” covered in markers. When we say “elevated DIY Christmas looks,” we mean repurposed sweaters embellished with rhinestones, embroidery, or fun vintage Christmas patches. We’re talking about Christmas Eve earrings made from the buttons of your grandmother’s favorite holiday apron or holiday dresses that feature fabric from Christmas outfits of years past. 

Christmas DIY fashion is a fun, creative, and joyful way to create some great new holiday looks while weaving in sentimental items or traditions representing the holiday season. Better yet, DIY Christmas outfits and accessories make great presents personalized from the heart to help you avoid long waits at the mall or the inevitable shipping delays that make the holidays so adrenaline-filled. 

So, if we’ve already sold you on the fun and excitement within DIY Christmas fashion, here’s a comprehensive guide to all things homemade.

Customized Christmas Accessories

Headbands and Hair Accessories: Headbands, hair clips, hair ties, and other hair accessories can really tie together an outfit and take a look from “cute” to festive in mere seconds. Some great DIY hair accessory ideas include:

• Using leftover garlands to create a cheerful headband. Rather than allowing the excess garlands to be discarded, convert them into a cheerful and stylish headband. By following straightforward instructions, you have the opportunity to infuse your attire with a dose of holiday cheer or an appealing decorative element.

• Creating fun barrettes by gluing tiny bells, fake poinsettias, or Santa figurines to a standard metal hair clip. 

• Using felt to create your own Christmas tree or Santa headbands. Simply cut your felt into whatever Christmas pattern you like, fill it with some cotton for stuffing, and then sew or glue it together before fastening it to a thin metal headband. This makes a great Christmas accessory and gift. 

Socks: Socks are a great yet subtle way to celebrate Christmas. We love using fabric paint to create Santa, Christmas Tree, and Jingle-Bells-themed socks. If you are more skilled in the sewing room than we are, you can embroider Christmas designs or make a great Christmas gift by personalizing socks for your family and friends with their initials or things they love (animals, sports, etc.)

Holiday-Themed Jewelry: The great thing about the holiday season is that they lend themselves well to glitz, glam, and shimmer. One way to enjoy the season is to make beaded bracelets using shiny green, red, and white beads to match the holiday color scheme. You can add to the spectacle by including ornaments and other winter/Christmas-shaped beads.  

Festive Flannels That Will Wow Your Holiday Guests 

Flannel and the holidays go together like hot chocolate and marshmallows. Try transforming your plain, non-holiday flannel into holiday masterpieces using fabric paint and markers to stencil out holiday images like Santa and Reindeer. Feel free to add glitter, garland, and pom-poms to accentuate the look and turn your one-dimensional holiday flannel into a 3-D masterpiece. 

You can add fun patches or even make a “letters for Santa” pocket to make your holiday flannel more festive and bright. If you’re tech-savvy, you can attach LED lights for a “Christmas lights” look that your friends and family will remember for years.

DIY Ugly Christmas Sweater Couture

Image by Jessica Y from Pixabay

Ugly sweaters are an age-old tradition that we hope will always stay in style. This year, embrace ugly sweater culture by making your own rather than shy away from this time-honored classic. We love the idea of taking a worn-out old sweater and adding pom-poms, rhinestones, bells, garland, and even figurines to create a truly “ugly” sweater that will become a seasonal favorite. For a more textured look, try combining holiday-friendly fabrics like flannel, tule, and corduroy and give your friends and family a tactile garment that they will use all holiday season long.

  

Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Christmas Fashion

There’s nothing more “green” than repurposing old holiday favorites to create new Christmas fashions. For example, if your Grandmother had a beloved holiday sweater that has become dated or misshapen over time, you can take elements of that sweater to create a new garment like a scarf, a vest, or some great Christmas socks. This idea works with all sorts of items; the sky’s the limit as long as you have an imagination and sewing supplies or fabric glue. Even if you don’t have older items lying around to repurpose, there are many ways to keep your DIY Christmas creations environmentally friendly, including:

• Using organic and unbleached fabrics
• Buying your materials from companies that favor “slow fashion.” 
• Using recycled materials to decorate your new creations, like vintage patches and buttons, tooling and fabrics taken from discarded clothing, etc. 

Tips for Successful DIY Christmas Fashion

Here are some useful tips for creating DIY holiday attire:

• Choose materials that are comfortable and easy to work with. 
• Make sure your items reflect your personality and interests. 
• If you have small children crafting with you, keep any hot or sharp items high up and choose stain-free materials. 
• Have fun! The best part of a holiday DIY clothing and/or accessory-making party is the “party” part. Invite some friends, throw on a classic holiday movie, and create new bonds and memories over the items you make.

Conclusion

DIY Christmas clothes are a great, creative, and fun way to celebrate the holiday season. Not only are these items a great way to spruce up your own holiday wardrobe, but they also make personalized gifts that will make your friends and family smile far past their December celebrations. 

No matter what items you make or how well they turn out, DIY holiday clothing and accessories will always provide a fun way to create memories that will last a lifetime. 

Happy holidays and happy crafting!

Top Photo by RDNE Stock project