I Made A Reindeer Jumper!

It's that time of year! The time when I overdo it with the cocoa and whipped cream, I dig out as many Christmas movies on DVD that I can't already find on Netflix and I lose my mind a little. It is, by now, December 11th and if you've been following me for a while, you might have already guessed that I love the holidays, especially Christmas. One of my favorite holiday movies to watch is Bridget Jones' Diary. I love the movie. I love the book. I love the sequels (in both book and movie format). I saw the movie in the theater when I was in college and had just gone through a horrid break up; the movie was what I needed.

One of my favorite scenes from the movie was the turkey curry buffet. I think that, next year, I'll have a turkey curry buffet and force encourage my guests to wear reindeer jumpers. The turkey curry buffet was full of gags and zingers; but the most memorable was when "Bridget" met "Mark Darcy," who happened to be wearing the most ridiculous reindeer jumper the whole of Britain had ever seen. However, we all secretly delighted in the reindeer jumper. As such, I have decided that I must have a festive reindeer jumper.

It all began with a few sweaters that I found at a thrift shop. The sweater on the top is nice and sparkly, which is perfect for winter. It is also nice and big and loose, which will be great for pairing with a number of skirts and jeans. The sweater on the bottom is the perfect shade of brown for a reindeer. It is also very soft.

The next step that I had to take was decide which reindeer shape I wanted to have to make my reindeer jumper. I searched on Pinterest and found a number of printable silhouettes in various styles. Ultimately, I ended up with a nice one. I figured that it would be too much of a bother to print out the shape; so I free-handed it instead. 

After I drew the silhouette, I cut out the shape to use as a template and I set it aside for later use.

My next step was to prepare the sweater for a silhouette to transfer as an applique onto the silver sweater. I used heat bond; I cut it to the desired size and ironed it onto the brown sweater following the directions on the heat bond package.

Once the heat bond have adhered to the sweater and had cooled, I used the template to trace the reindeer shape on the top of the heat bond paper. I actually had to do this on two pieces of fabric, because the shape was so large that it needed be done on two pieces in order to accommodate the antlers. 

           

I cut out the shape and ironed the piece onto the sweater. I considered using a bell for the nose, but decided to use a red self- adhesive felt dot for the nose. For my final step, I sewed the outline of the silhouette in place. Sometimes, the heat bond does not bond as well as I'd like and even though this jumper will be hand washed (as are the instructions for the silver sweater), it's still best to sew the applique in place.

There you go, I wonderful reindeer jumper! Make this following these steps and you'll be the envy of all your friends! I can't wait to wear this on my next girl day! Woohoo! This would be adorable with snowflake leggings. This was a fun project and not hard to do. It would be a great project for a Saturday afternoon. Now, I have a Christmas movie to watch. Until next time~ Toodahloo!