I’m all about them Gnomes, ’bout them Gnomes, this Christmas!
I want to paint them and if I could sew them I would, but I will tell you right now, this DIY Christmas Gnome project is a no-sew method. I think Pinterest is onto my search because my thread is covered in Gnomes of all kinds and I love it!
Supplies you will need for two gnomes
- 2-4″ x 4″ x 6″ pine wood or round wood posts. If you have chunky scrap wood lying around even better! I purchased my scrap 4″ x 4″ at Falvey Lumber for $2.00.
- Wood beads for nose
- Faux fur
- Fabric: I found nice long-sleeved Christmas sweaters at Goodwill for less than $4.00. One sweater will dress two gnomes.
- Embellishment for the stocking (optional): Pom Pom, Jute, small Christmas ornament, whatever you can think of.
- Hot glue, Glue gun and scissors.
- Paint: I painted my wood, however once I started crafting, I realized only the bottoms were exposed. So if you want to paint the bottom of your gnomes before we start, feel free too!
First Step in making our gnome
Making DIY Christmas Gnome is such a fun process to work through. These gnomes were my third attempt and I love these the best!
First, I picked which sweater to use for this project. I used the sleeve of the sweeter for my gnomes hat. I cut off the sleeve up by the armpit of the sweater and set this aside.
Using my piece of wood, I measure how much of the body of the sweater I will need.
I lay the piece of wood on the sweater so the bottom of the wood and bottom of the sweater are flush or the sweater overlaps the wood depending on the design of the sweater.
This is a personal choice. I had one sweater, shown below, where the hem had a little flip on the end, so I wanted this sweater to lay longer than the others.
For the width of the sweater I choose the hem side I want to include with my gnome and wrap this around my gnome making sure to leave room to overlap each other so the wood is completely covered.
The length of the sweater will also be cut up towards the armpit area. After completing these two steps we will have a large rectangle.
Arrange your wood block the way you want your sweater to lay or drape on your wood. Apply a line of hot glue and lay the jagged edge of the sweater over this first. Then figure out where the nice hem of the sweater will lay when you wrap this over the wood and the other part of the sweater you just glued.
The extra material on top? I folded it over each other. This will provide a little padding once the stocking is applied later.
Now we are ready to play with the faux fur fabric.
Second step in making our gnome
The fun step in making your DIY Christmas Gnome, is adding the beard, eyebrows and mustache!
I used the body portion of the gnome to measure and cut approximately 4″ long rectangle of faux fur. When you cut the faux fur fabric, I recommend cutting from the backside of this material. It will be a little messy but oh so worth it!
Depending on the faux fur you use, figure out the direction the fabric is wanting to flow.
Once I figure this out, I cut the corners of each edge at the bottom to make a sort of triangle. I place this on the gnome to figure where I want the beard.
I glued the faux fur directly on the sweater. Once all the edges are carefully glued down. I then add a nice dollop of glue to above the beard and add the wood nose.
To see how I added a little more dimension to my gnomes beard, be sure to watch the video tutorial below!
Now to add the eyebrows and mustache.
The Eyebrows
For the eyebrows, I cut approximately 2-1″ x 2″ to 3″ faux fur.
On each piece I snipped off the end on once side. The square side of the faux fur will be glued above the nose and draping down on each side.
THE MUSTACHE
The mustache for the DIY Christmas Gnome are basically 2 1″ x 2 or 3″ strips of faux fur with the ends snipped at the corner. These are glued under the nose and draping out.
Now it’s time to add our no-sew gnome stocking!
Third step in making our gnome
Remember the sleeve I had you set aside earlier? This will be your gnomes stocking.
My first sweater sleeve was pretty tight, so I did have to stretch it out a little so it would fit over the block and material.
The wrist area of the sweater sleeve will be the area that fits around your gnomes head and above his nose.
I pull the back of the stocking so it angles down a little. Once I have it in place I add a little glue to each side to hold it in place.
For the extra sleeve material on top. We can dress this up two different ways.
- For one of my gnomes, I folded the material in before applying jute rope around the top to cinch this area.
- Another option, is to cut the extra material off and place the extra material inside the stocking for more padding before tying off the top with jute rope or ribbon.
Both of these techniques I thought added an special touch.
That’s it! Now the fun part of dressing up your gnome if you want!
Final Step in making our gnome
The final step in making your DIY Christmas Gnome is adding a few embellishments.
I had some pom pom trim left over from making Christmas Trees, click here to see this post. Items like these can be used to add a creative touch to your gnome.
Cut off a long string of jute rope and after cinching off the top of the stocking, drape it so it criss-crosses around the stocking to create a rustic-whimsy pattern. .
There are so many ways to dress up these stockings, have fun with it! You could use a Christmas ornament instead of a pom pom. Have fun and see how different and personalized you can get!
All About That Gnomes
I’m all about them gnomes, bout them gnomes this Christmas.
Yeah, it’s pretty clear I ain’t no sew’er. Ooo
But I can cut it, glue it, make it look so cool. Ooo
Cause I got that trim trim that all the crafters chase.
All the right fabric, in all the right places
I see the Pinterest boards working that no-sew stuff.
We know that stuff ain’t hard.
Come on now, don’t let it stop.
I’m all about them gnomes, bout them gnomes this Christmas.Daniella Peterson’s take on ‘All About That Bass’ by Meghan Trainor
To see how I completed this step by step just Click below!
Any questions let me know and I would love to see your beautiful gnomes! And I bet once you make one, you won’t be able to stop there. These cuties are addictive!
Plus you have the other half of the sweater to play with!
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Hope you have a great week and happy crafting!
xoxo
Melissa
