Buy 1 thrift store sweater or re-purpose an old sweater of your own to make 5 ideas that are easy and will warm your home during the cold months! (Video Tutorial is at the bottom of the post)
For our first project – a pillow cover!
Pick a pillow that you will insert into the sweater cover. I had this pillow on hand, it came from IKEA for $2.
Turn the sweater inside out and hot glue the bottom together, this will be the seam.
Turn the sweater right side out once the glue is cool.
Measure your pillow you’ll be inserting inside your pillow cover so you will know where to cut it next.
Cut the sweater across.
You can hot glue the new cut edges together if you are okay with leaving the pillow permanently in the sweater cover. I wanted to make my sweater cover removable so I decided to use Velcro that I purchased from Dollar Tree. Measure the amount of Velcro you will need on your sweater and cut it.
Hot glue “scratchy strip” of the Velcro to the outside of the front side of the sweater, and the soft strip of Velcro to the outside of the back side of the sweater. You can use self-adhesive Velcro if desired. There are also several colors of Velcro so you can find the color you like the best. High in side I maybe would have used black.
Insert the pillow, and flip the 2 sides of Velcro into each other and press together.
This will be the bottom of your pillow. If you don’t like seeing the Velcro, Turn the sweater inside out. Hot glue seams like you did in the first step. Next hot glue the Velcro to the on the inside of the sweater above the seams you just made. Turn your sweater right side out, put your pillow in, and press the Velcro together.
Second we are going to make a Door Draft Stopper.
This is what we have left of the sweater after the first project. You’ll need 2 tube socks, and rice to continue. My tube socks came from Dollar Tree, and my rice was from Walmart.
Fill both tube socks with rice.
Flip out one edge of the tube sock. Place hot glue on the turned out edge and press the other tube sock onto the hot glue. Continue all the way around to seal the sock.
This is what it should look like when you’re finished.
Cut your sweater sleeve and part of the chest of the remaining sweater to be on the outside of the socks.
Turn inside out and hot glue any edges that need to complete the tube shape. Turn right side out after glue cools. Slide rice sock pack into the sweater sleeve tube.
Slide rice sock pack into the sweater sleeve tube.
Hot glue the outside of the sweater sleeve ½ way around. Flip the sleeve inside and press together to seal. Repeat to the other side.
Place the door draft stopper in front of your door.
Third we are going to make a couple coffee cuffs
There is what we have left of the sweater for round 3
Cut the cuff edge.
Slide onto travel coffee mug… but wait here’s the 2nd one.
Cut another section of the sleeve.
Cut a slit in the section vertical.
Slide onto the mug and slip the handle through the slit. If your sweater had any embellishments feel free to glue them onto your sleeve to decorate, or add your own buttons, stickers, etc.
Fourth we are going to make a candle sleeve
Measure the candle you will be covering.
Cut another section off the sleeve
Slide the section onto the candle. Decide if you want it folded over or not, &/or whether you want to wrap around the bottom or be exposed above the bottom.
If your sweater had any embellishments feel free to glue them onto your sleeve to decorate, or add your own buttons, stickers, etc.
Fifth we are going to make a hand warmers.
There is what we have left of the sweater for round 5. Cut 2 rectangles
Hot glue 2 sides and fold together
Once the glue cools, flip the pocket inside out.
Add rice.
Put hot glue on one side on the outside of the sweater.
Flip both sides in and press together.
To use as a hand warmer, place in the microwave for a few seconds. It depends on the strength of your microwave but 10 seconds is enough in mine. Use to warm cold hands after coming in from outside. Warm and place inside your mitten for added warmth.
These also double as cold backs for sore muscles and boo boos. Place your hand warmer in the freezer. Pull out when you are ready to use it, and place back in the freezer when you’re finished.
And now you have 5 things from 1 thrift store sweater!
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OMG Chas! I’ve never seen anyone do so many items with one sweater! I love the hand warmers with the small little pieces and all of the sleeves. It makes me wish I had an old sweater, but last summer I went through all my clothes and donated a lot of them. I only had a few sweaters (long story – you know me. LOL) and most of them went. Great job!
Thank you Linda, I know how that goes. I have done that too – got rid of something and then find the perfect project for them – lol. We can’t keep everything right? 🙂
Oh, you are so right! That’s why I’m cleaning rooms right now. It’s more about the “stuff” than anything. I managed to get a lot of it organized in Nov. so that’s a huge help. But my bin for “possibilities” is pretty much full. LOL
That is awesome! Who knew you could make so much out of just one sweater. I love it. Thanks for sharing with us at the Virtual Refrigerator. Pinned.
Thank you. It was a fun challenge to make as much as I could from 1 sweater. Now I have to challenge myself to new ideas… 🙂
How thrifty! And creative!
Thank you Donna 🙂
Great ideas! I’m wondering how the hot glue holds up to being microwaved repeatedly. Doesn’t it get soft again when it gets hot?? (I don’t use hot glue much; I’m kind of afraid of it after burning myself a few times.)
For the pillow, why did you put the velcro on the cut side instead of the hemmed side? I would think the cut edges would get more sweater fuzz into the velcro. But I don’t know which kind of edge is better when you’re closing it up with glue instead of sewing…. Washable pillow covers are definitely a good idea!
Thank you Becca. Yes the hot glue can get soft and then will re-harden as it cools. We don’t really heat them up that hot so we haven’t had the trouble of letting the glue get too hot. You can always sew them instead. For the pillow, you can put the velcro side on which ever one you want. I did it on the open end to flip the ends in and make it look prettier as the other side already looked good with the hem. Great questions 🙂
‘Hopping over from Bloggers Pit Stop… WOW! You really got a LOT of projects out of one sweater! I especially like the pillow cover and hand warmers! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures
Thank you Marci, it was a fun challenge I made for myself and there wasn’t much left by the time I was done 🙂
That is absolutely amazing! High fives for tip-top creativity right here. 5 items from one sweater.
Kathleen
Blogger’s Pit Stop
Thank you Kathleen, it was a fun challenge 🙂
Amazed by all the cute things you were able to make with just that one sweater! Loved the coffee cuff especially.
Thank you and I do love that too. Sometimes when I have heated up my water for tea in the microwave the cup is so hot, this really saves me 🙂
Great ideas! so glad you shared your post on Our Simple Homestead Hop! As one of the co-hosts I will be featuring your post this Thursday!
– Nancy ( Nancy On The Home Front )
You are so sweet, thank you so much Nancy. Thank you for also co-hosting a place for all of us to share ideas and I look forward to stopping by again this week! 🙂
Wow, talk about getting mileage out of something! Great way to use up every little bit of that sweater. Wish it were cold enough here in Arizona to need hand warmers! Visiting from Waste Not Wednesday party.
Thank you so much Victoria 🙂 I know I’ll be wanting to head to AZ soon. We are lucky to be having a mild winter so far… I know it’s coming 🙂
Impressive.
Thank you so much. Now I wonder if I could come up with more things to make with a sweater – I have a couple ideas…
I love this post! I need a draft stopper for the patio door and this would be ideal!…love the candle wrap too.
Thank you very much Suzy 🙂 I’m glad that you found a couple things you like/need. Stay warm this winter!
Now, this is really making the most of your materials! What great ideas all of these are. You’re a wonderful example!
Thank you so much Richella, you are so kind 🙂
Such a great project. Love the coffee mug coozies. Thanks for sharing this with us at the Waste Not Wednesday link party. Can’t wait to see what you are up to this week.
Thank you Denise and thank you for stopping by 🙂
Wowza, that’s a lot from just one jumper! Especially when you consider one of them was a cushion. (I feel like my comment is too English and might need a US translation – ‘a lot from one sweater’,’one of them was a pillow’ – that’s better!)
Thank you Julie, and I love the translation and learning – that was fantastic! Thank you 🙂
WOW, that is some fantastic ideas, I could see me using some of thrm for sure. Thank you so much for sharing with us. Is everything just on Facebook? If so that makes me sad as I got off Facebook a few months ago and will not go back on.
Thanks again for sharing your great ideas.
Hi Johni, thank you very much. This show in particular I was hired by Hometalk to do. Some shows I do on Facebook, some I post on YouTube, but one thing is for sure… you will always be able to find whatever I’m doing right here on my blog 🙂 So even if I do post a show on Facebook, I’ll drop it here to for you to see so you don’t have to belong to Facebook to see it.