Making your own Christmas Gnome...

The beginning of my Christmas Gnome Army!!!

This year, even though they have been around for years, I finally noticed the Christmas Gnomes.  I think they are so cute and add some lightheartedness to the holiday decorations.  Since my kids are not little and I missed out on the 'Elf on the Shelf' stuff, I am going to be adding Christmas Gnomes to my Pointsetta decor that I usually put up.

I bought a set of three little gnomes with legs that draped over the shelf where they are sitting.  I really like them and started looking for bigger gnomes.  My cousin, Linda, lives in Lake Villa, IL.  Her favorite coffee shop is selling Christmas Gnomes and I had asked her to scope them out for me.  I was going to have Linda buy one or two and ship them to me, helping to support that small, local business.

They were cute, but not in the colors that I was looking for and a bit more expensive than I wanted to pay.  So I thanked Linda and began looking for YouTube videos to see how hard it would be to make them myself.  It turns out, that with some socks, fill, and faux fur along with the trusty glue gun, you can easily make your very own Christmas Gnomes.

I have made a couple of Gnomes and during that process of making my first gnomes, I took pictures of the step by step creation of my little gnome army.  I will share those steps so that you might go out, get the materials, and make one or two on your own.

In my previous blog, I listed all of the materials you will need for your gnomes.  Gather the items together and let's get started.

The first step is making the body.  Take the white tube sock and cut it off between 8" and 9" from the toe of the sock.  I laid it out on my cutting table, measured and used scissors to make the cut.

The tube socks I bought are over-the-calf tube socks.  If I were to turn the top of the sock inside-out and stitch across the cut-off bottom edge, I would have more than enough sock left to make another gnome.  You can also get shorter socks and make your little guy smaller.  It is up to you.  And if you have a nice, sharp 60mm rotary cutter, you can use it to cut the sock for the body rather than the scissors.

Now we will fill the sock to make the body.  I am using the weighted Poly-Pellets, but you can use whatever filler you would like to use.  Dry rice and beans that have been frozen for a week to kill the eggs/bugs that might grow will work just fine.  I emptied out a shoebox plastic tub, placed the pellet bag inside the tub so I can keep spillage under control and not on my floor.  I have placed the sock inside a red solo cup and opened the sock over the top.  This helped get the initial pellets into the sock.

The sock is filled to the brim with the weighted pellets.

Take the sock out of the cup and use the cup to add more pellets to the sock.  Hold the sock up and tap it on the table to help it compress the pellets to the toe of the sock.  I also used the small end of the cup to tamp it down.  The sock is going to expand, just like it would on your foot, so you can add more pellets.  I found that the amount of pellets that I needed was around 2 solo cups, give or take some extra.  You need to have the ability to have enough sock material to close it at the top and twist a rubber band around the opening to close it up.  This should be followed by some string or twine, tightly tied to make sure the topknot does not come opened.

You now have the body for your gnome.  It is hard to tell in this picture, but the gnome is just a little bigger than my hand, from the tip of the middle finger to my wrist.  If you hold the body between both hands, it should fill your hands.  But you can make your gnome smaller or larger by increasing or decreasing the size of the cut on your sock.

Now you need to create the nose for your gnome.  It sounds easy, but I found this to be the hardest part.  You decide where on the body you want the nose to be.  It should be more towards the top than the middle.  You grab the area where you want the nose and dig into the fill.  The hard part is getting it to maintain the nose shape and not have the fill go back into the body.  Once you get the nose separated, wrap it with a rubber band and then immediately wrap it tightly with the twine.  It may take a couple of times to get the size nose that you want, but just keep trying.

This is a closeup of the finished nose.  The areas that look gray are just the shadow of my camera trying to get the picture.

Now you can add a little color to your gnome's nose.  I am guessing you could use a little bit of craft paint, but I think it might make the nose too prominent.  The videos I used for my gnomes just used powder blush or highlighter.  It gives just a nice pinkish glow, like a nose out in the cold.  I brush it on.  I try to make it a little darker than I want it to look because the remaining creative process will have some of the powder falling off.

This is a side view of my first body.  When I was done, I noticed that the topknot had been pulled forward.  This is not ideal, so when you are making the nose, be aware of where the topknot is located.  I was OK with this one, as the cap was going to easily cover it.  The alternative hat that you will see at the end, this would not have worked.

Also, notice the twine around the waist. This can be done at this stage or after the body is covered.  The purpose of this string is to keep all of the pellets inside the body from settling into the bottom of the body.  If you forget to do it early, you can use the twine and then cover it with a ribbon to trim.  You can add trim on the waist regardless.

Now it is time to dress/decorate your gnome.  This is where those cute, soft, fuzzy socks that seem to appear during the holidays come into play.  I found some Christmas socks on Amazon that then turned up on Facebook Marketplace for $5.00 less and I could go pick them up rather than waiting for delivery.  You cut them off across the heel and use the toe area... in this instance, to cover the bottom of your gnome.

Here is the toe end on the bottom of the gnome.  Making a male gnome will pretty much cover this in the front, but it will be visible from the side and back.  If there is a little part of the heel still attached, put that at the back.  Bring the front covering all the way up to the nose.

This is where you can see the heel edge at the back of the gnome.  The hat will come down and cover the majority of the top of the bottom cover.

Take your glue gun and tack the top of the body cover to the sock body.  Just be careful to not burn your fingers when pressing the cover onto the body.  After one or two burns, I started using some small scissors to press the cover into the glue.

Now it is time for the beard.  I am using a longer, faux fur that also has silver threads through the white fur.  Having a yard of this faux fur that is 58" wide makes the material a bit unyielding.   But I started on a corner and measured out a 4 1/2" by 4 1/2" square.  Then carefully run some sharp scissors all along the fabric backing so that you are only cutting the backing and NOT cutting the fur.  You can feel it as you run the scissors all along the material.  This allows the fur length to remain long beyond the cut edge of the backing.  This makes your beard just show the fur on the front.

This is the finished cut beard.  You will round off the bottom corners.  I free-handed this one, on the next one I used a round spool of ribbon to make a better curve.  The notch at the top is where the nose sits.  For this one, you will need to test fit and make the notch to accommodate the size of your nose.  The notch should sit under the nose so the edge cannot be seen and you pull the corners up into the head area.  It will be covered by the cap but it makes the beard bow out a little and look fuller in the final product.  Run a bead of glue all along the top of the beard material and place it so the notch is tucked away under the nose and the straight edge goes up into the head area.

This is the gnome with his beard attached.  This one has enough faux fur that can be twisted into a mustache.  He is now ready for a cap.

This is a closeup of the beard in place on the gnome.  The notch is invisible under the nose and the beard has some shape to it.

Now take the sock that you are going to use for the knit cap and cut it across the heel, just like the body covering.

I am putting a little top ball in my hat.  I took a small wad of polyfill to plump it out and make a ball.  I tucked it up into the toe and make the size ball that you want.  Use a rubber band to hold the fill in place.  You will add some ribbon later in the process to secure the rubber band.

Here is the finished ball.  I used the green toe to define the top.  It ended up being a bit bigger than I wanted, but for the first time, it was fine.

Now you will take a bigger wad of filler to put into the bottom of the cap.  This gives the cap some structure.

The hat is in place.  To make the main part of the hat look right with the top ball, there was not enough left to make a band.  I will either need to make the top ball and the cap base smaller or cut the sock longer.  This is what you learn as you go.

This is the cap glued in place.  I made sure that it was pulled all the way down to the nose in the front.  It is also is tugged down evenly and covering the top of the body covering.  Just keep tacking it down until it is secure.

Here is the finished first gnome.  I added a red jingle bell to the top of the hat.  I used a ribbon to add the bell and then tied a double bow to secure the knot so it does not come undone.  Isn't he cute?

If you want to make a female gnome, instead of a beard, get some yarn in hair colors and create a pair of braids.  Before putting on the cap, place the braids from a place under where the hat will go and down the front of the gnome.  You will be able to see the sock body covering.  Decorate the cover with buttons, bows, or whatever you need to dress up your lady gnome.  A scarf matching the hat would be adorable.

I made another gnome before the end of the day.  I used only 2 full solo cups of pellets in the body.  I still struggled with the nose, but I did manage to get the topknot more at the top of the body.  The beard was 5 1/2" wide and 4" long.  I like it a bit better but the fuller beard does not make a mustache at all.  I used a 5"+ styrofoam cone to make this hat stand up tall and instead of cutting the sock for the hat, I used the entire sock.  I took the scissors and gouged a hole in the center of the cone so the topknot of the body would fit inside.  I also shaved off the back of the bottom of the cone so it sits on the body a little askew to the back of the gnome.  Then glue the cone to the head with the topknot inside the hole in the cone.  I pulled the sock over the cone, keeping the sock's heel toward the back.  I was able to roll a cuff on the hat.  Tacked the hat down with glue and another gnome in my little army.

Here is my turquoise gnome from his right side.

Here is the turquoise gnome from the back.

Here is the turquoise gnome from the left side.  As I get the rest of my gnomes done, I will look into doing a little more decorating.  Buttons, sequins, bells, Christmas balls, or anything else will add to the festive look they are adding to my Christmas.

Now... go make your own gnomes!!!