Christmas Gnome DIY (No Knitting!)
We love a good “cheat” and a couple of years ago, I made myself some DIY Christmas Gnomes – a knitted Christmas Gnome.. without the knitting (I do knit, but this is quicker)! I wasn’t going to “blog it”, as I made it just for fun and just for me. But after friends saw and said “I want one”.. I thought I would share my approach. I love my gnome as not only is he cute (I am bias) but he is also recycled! And I do love a bit of recycling and landfill avoidance! This gnome would make a great Craft to Make & Sell too as it is inexpensive to create!
There are three key recycled elements to making this gnome. This means this Christmas gnome not only is thrifty to make (so great for selling on ebay or Christmas markets), but environmentally friendly too!!
Here are the key elements:
- an old Christmas Sweater/ Jumper I bought on ebay (I made myself a goal, to not spend more than £5 including postage!!!)
- old stockings/ tights (this is the key to the cute as a button gnome nose)
- upcycled pillow stuffing (I got this from pillows my neighbours were throwing out)
So apart from the bread (I did buy faux fur), thread for sewing and some wire to help keep the hat pointy… this is a 100% upcycled Christmas Gnome to make! Woohoo!
Again.. as I made this for myself, I didn’t take any step photos. So, I will share the materials needed and show you a couple of photos as to how to make the Gnome’s nose from stockings, but will link to a 3rd party website that has a free Christmas Gnome Pattern for you to use.
Supplies needed to make a Christmas Sweater Gnome:
- A Christmas Sweater – as mentioned, I took my time and patiently waited to get the best deal on a Christmas Sweater on Ebay! I even made an effort to get an “unsellable” sweater – basically one that had a small stain on it. To help reduce the risk of landfil and avoid waste! I kept an eye out for large sweaters, with simple patterns in traditional colours. Eventually, I bought my sweater for £5 including postage (and stain). BARGAIN. If you are making these to sell, make sure you STICK to a budget when bidding, and also to get largest sweaters possible, so you can make a few gnomes from each sweater. Save off cuts for future Christmas gnome bodies and details.
- Old tights for the nose (see images below as to how to make it)
- Faux Fur (this I do recommend buying, but you don’t need much)
- Stuffing (I recycled old pillow stuffing)
- Some wire (I used quite thing, but bendable craft wire from the craft store that I had lying around)
- Needle & Thread/ Sewing Machine
- Scissors
- OOH I almost forgot: RICE – you will need some rice, to help weigh your gnome down!
Then basically grab ANY free Christmas Gnome Pattern online and make your gnomes. I made 3 of these.. and found that after making the first one, I could go “free hand” and not worry about the final dimensions too much.
But first how to make a gnome nose from stockings
Take your stockings (old ones, you don’t want to ruin a new pair) and a small amount of stuffing or cotton wool.
Place the cotton wool in the stocking and twist the stocking around it to form a ball. I usually add a second layer of stocking to make it a little darker (and less cotton wool bright white!).
Tie off with some cotton or string. And your nose is ready!
Don’t worry too much about trimming and stocking hanging down. You can use this to help position and secure it under the Christmas Gnome’s hat later!
A note on the Christmas Gnome’s Hat
The arm cuffs and the sweater hem of a Christmas Sweater are perfect for the base of your Christmas Gnome’s hat. It also means you don’t have to hem your Christmas sweater “fabric”.
So if you cut carefully, you should be able to make atl east 3-4 Gnome hats out of one upcycled Christmas Sweater. The body of the gnome can be cut from any part of the sweater and you don’t have to be so careful about the pattern!
I also inserted a wire (twisted at the top and with some fabric wrapped around it, so it doesn’t poke through the hat), so I can make sure the Gnome’s Hat stands up nicely.
Now to your the Sweater Gnome Pattern
Christmas Gnome Pattern
She Can Sew has this adorable Christmas Gnome Pattern to get you started! It is totally free with no strings attached to download! So hop over now and grab your own pattern. You can even add little legs and arms as she has done too! But I decided to keep mine simple!
I am SOOO happy with how my upcycled Christmas Gnome turned out. I will get some more photos when the Christmas stuff comes out again this holiday season… but in the meantime, I am leaving you with him for inspiration!
Especially, if you are looking to mkae some Christmas Gnomes to gift or to sell at a Christmas Craft fair!