Easy Quilted Snowman SweaterDIY

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This last fall, I knew I needed to jump on the quilted sweatshirt trend. I do live in the midwest, where I live in layers and layers for about 4 months of the year. After scouring Pinterest, I found some snowman sweatshirts that I thought I could DIY myself one weekend at a quilting retreat.

Next I gathered my supplies. You really don't need a lot to make this sweater besides some basic sewing supplies and a sweatshirt!

• A selection of scrap fabrics. You will need some for the background, the snowman's body, and his little accent pieces. (I was super excited because I found some snow themed fat quarters I had!!!)

• A Gildan Sweatshirt in Grey

• Heat and Bond Lite Iron-on Adhesive

• Clear Thread

I started by ironing all my fabrics. I did use a fabric starch on these pieces.

Since I was going off an image on Pinterest, I had to free hand draw the images and estimate the sizing. I etistmated the whole image would need to be around 11x11 inches.

I had 4 different blues for my scrappy background (though I wish I had used a few more). For the background pieces, I cut them into 2-inch strips. I then sub-cut them into a variety of sizes.

I placed them out randomly and sewed them into strips. I wasn't pleased with how much my colors were matching back up together (dark blue with dark blue) so I cut the strips some more and rearranged until I got a suitable background.

I pinned the rows together to make my background. Next I got to work on the snowman! I did not have a template to work with, so I free handed the snowman using a sharpie and drew right onto the iron-on fusable backing. I then ironed on the fusable backing to each fabric piece and cut.

I then began ironing my snowman and his little pieces directly onto the snowman.

Once I started to iron, I did notice that my snowman became less opaque. But In the end, having the background texture of the fabric peak through just added to the charm!

Two sewing tools that were especially helpful in the ironing process (that I did not bring, but my mom did!) were the iron safe pins (called Magic pins) and the heat press mat. The mat was used to buffer any adhesive from the iron fusing and the iron!

The last step was to attach the entire piece to the sweater. I chose to only stitch around the edges and not through the piece. I think I could have alternatively stitched the background down and then glued and stitched the snowman. But as I mentioned before, I am an efficient (lazy) crafter. :)

Overall, the entire project took a few hours, and was very easy DIY to complete! I was even able to make a second one (a pumpkin themed one that I'll show soon). I love how it turned out and wore it many many times this last winter. I can't wait until I can pull it out again next year.

Let me know in the comments if you've ever made a quilted sweatshirt! I would love some more inspiration!