Give an old unloved sweater a new lease of life with one of our two easy-to-make festive designs.

Home Editor Emily Dawe and Knitting Assistant Freddie Patmore had a go themselves and came up with two Christmas jumper design ideas for you to try. Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer and an adorable polar bear. Read on to find out how to make yours.

Use just a few odds and ends from your craft cupboard

Emily’s super cute polar bear

A sparkly sweater will add the illusion of snow

You will need:

• A jumper
• Fabric glue
• One A4-sized sheet of white felt
• Scraps of beige, red and black felt
• A small knitted hat (optional)
• One A4 sheet of thin card
• Black and red knitting yarn
• Pen/Pencil

1. Draw out the shape of a polar bear head filling most on the sheet of A4 card, and cut out to form a template.

Use the flat edge at the bottom of the card for the bottom of the bear’s head

2. Draw around the template on your sheet of white felt and cut out to form the bear head.

A simple shape leaves room for jazzy add-ons later

3. Make a pompom using black yarn for the nose.

4. Cut two 1cm circles in black felt for the eyes. Next, cut out a 2cm circle in beige and cut it in half to form two semi-circles for the inner-ear pieces. If desired, cut up your remaining white felt into small circles for the ‘snow’.

5. Cut a piece of red felt as wide as polar bear’s head, and a shorter length to lie on top for the scarf – cut a few short legths of red yarn for the fringe.

5. Arrange your felt pieces on the jumper and cut two short lengths of black yarn to form the facial features using our picture as a guide. Glue in place.

Tip: Use plenty of glue for the thicker pieces and the pompom to make sure they hold the weight.

6. Lay flat and leave to dry overnight before wearing and hand-wash for future use of your brand new Christmas jumper!

Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer

You will need:

• A jumper
• Fabric glue
• Two A4-sized sheets of brown felt
• Scraps of white and black felt
• Black buttons (optional)
• Thin card
• Darning needle
• Red knitting yarn
• Pen/pencil

1. Draw out the shape of an antler and cut it out to make a template.

Assymetric antlers looks more interesting

2. Draw around the template on a piece of brown felt and cut out the antler. For the second one, flip the template over so that you create a reverse image of the first antler.

3. Make a pompom in red yarn for the nose.

Use the leftover ends from your pom pom to stitch the nose on

4. Cut two 3cm circles of white felt and two 2cm circles of black felt for the eyes. Arrange each white circle with a black circle on top for the eyes. If you prefer, black buttons are a lovely alternative for pupils.

5. Arrange the felt pieces and the pom pom. Stitch the pom pom in place using a darning needle and glue the felt pieces in place.

Place some newspaper inside the sweater to stop glue seeping through to the back

6. Lay flat and leave to dry overnight before putting it on.

Tip: Fabric glue is quite strong but hand washing is advised to make sure your Christmas jumper lasts as long as possible.

Here’s Freddie having a very festive time in her reindeer knit