How to Make a Gnome of Your Own

After almost a week of hanging with my Gnomies here at the blog, I’ve decided I’m going to miss the little guys when they go home in a few days. They’re kind of a lot of fun AND they make excellent muses. So today I thought I’d see just how hard it is to make a Gnome from the things I have around the house. I did okay until I got to the hair for the beard. I was thinking I wanted to go with the long traditional fake fur. But, when I went to my local craft store there had been (no joke) a run on the fake fur. All I can think is that my little gnome muses have been whispering in more ears than just mine. But, due to the scarcity, I was able to get a little creative and try out the fake fur yarn I found a couple of aisles over. So if you too have been wanting a gnome of your own (for your home) then I hope you try out this tutorial for how to make a gnome!

FYI- This is the first part of a two-part tutorial. How to Make a Tinsel Tangled Gnome is our next post. Enjoy!

How to Make a Gnome of Your Own

Supplies and Materials

• Large Cardboard Tube (I used the center to a roll of vinyl but a mailing tube would totally work too.)
• Cardboard
• Glue Gun and Sticks
• Wooden Doll Head
• Faux Fur or Faux Fur Yarn
• Flannel plaid and red felt
• Wire
• Paper coffee cup or cardstock cone

Directions

Step One: Wrap the Cardboard Tube with Fabric.

Cut a piece of fabric large enough so that it will wrap around your tube. Then, use a hot glue gun to glue the fabric to the tube.

Step Two: Make the Beard.

If using the Faux Fur yarn- Using scissors, cut a piece of cardboard into a triangle slightly smaller than the overall finished size and width that you’d like the beard to be. Then, make small (1″ approx.) cuts along the edges of the cardboard shape. Take the end of the yarn and starting at the top of the beard (the base of the upside-down triangle), start to wrap the cardboard. Use the cuts along the sides to anchor the yarn to the shape. You can also add some hot glue where and if you feel it’s needed.

Step Three: Attach the Beard to the Base.

Using a glue gun and glue sticks, glue the beard to the fabric wrapped tube. You’ll get the best bond if you glue cardboard to cardboard and not fur to cardboard. So you may want to just pull back some of the faux fur yarn where you want to glue so that you’re gluing cardboard to cardboard. I used binder clips to help the materials to adhere to each other and to create a stronger bond. Hot glue dries fast though, so I only kept them on for a couple of minutes.

Step Four: Cut Felt for the Hat.

Using your Coffee cup as a gauge, cut a piece of felt large enough to wrap around your cup. Then, try wrapping it around the cup and you’ll be able to see how you’ll need to shape it. Once it has the size that you want, set it down and move to Step Five. Or, you may choose to decorate your hat by adding a contrasting fabric, doing some hand stitching, sewing on some stripes, etc.

Step Five: Add a Wire to the Hat.

Once you’ve sized the hat, you can cut a piece of wire about the same size as the hat. Lay the cup you’re using on the hat, and then cut a hole in the bottom of the cut for the wire to pass through. To get the wire to stay in place, just glue an extra strip of felt over the wire and poke the rest of the wire into the cup. Twist the wire to anchor it into the cup. See the photo for more details. Use the hot glue gun to shape the felt into a cone shape.

Step Six: Putting it All Together.

Again, with your trusty glue gun, hot glue the hat to the tube. If you can still see the paper of either the tube or the coffee cup then go ahead and add a strip of the yarn to wrap to cover it. Finish your Gnome by hot-gluing a wood doll head or bead to the beard, just under the rim of the hat. At this point, I decided to hot glue a pom-pom to the tip of my hat as well. Because of the wire, you can bend the hat some and play with how it looks. Cute!

And that’s how easy and simple it is to make a Gnome of your own (for your home) this holiday season!

For More Gnome-ish inspiration.

This week has been the week of Gnome projects here at Well Crafted Studio We kicked off the week with a collaborative post featuring 5 other Gnome happy Bloggers sharing their favorite gnome crafts and supplies.

And in case you missed the other days for the Gnome Takeover Event, feel free to check back over them. I hope that you’ll make one Gnome project if not all of them! The Gnome Stickers, Gnome DIY Memo Pad, and the Gnome Coffee Cozy have been super popular! Just make sure you tag me either on Instagram or Facebook so that I can see it! Thank you!