I made some more sock gnomes, but I did a few things a little different this time. I even made some baby or kid gnomes. This time I also made a template for my lady gnomes’ apron, which I cut out on my Cricut Maker machine. You can also easily cut out the pattern with scissors as well. You can find my apron pattern in my free library. Click here to get the password to my library. Click here if you already have the password. Now for what you will need to make these fun gnomes.
Supplies:
- 1 to 3 socks depending on the style of gnome you want to make.
- Fur. I purchased mine from Joann Fabrics. There are many different colors you can buy. I just got white.
- Hot glue and glue gun. This is the one I use.
- Uncooked rice. You need a good amount of this.
- Rubber bands or string
- Felt for apron and/or hat
- Twine for extra decoration
- Pink wooden bead, or painted wooden bead, or for a bigger nose you just need some makeup blush. You could also use a pom pom for the nose.
- Optional: cotton filler to fill your hat to help keep its shape. This is recommended if you like very long or tall hats. The hats I made did not necessary need the cotton, but longer hats might.
- Any extra embellishments, like ribbon, or flowers. I added an extra wooden snowflake I had from a previous project. I also cut out some felt shapes.
- My apron template which you can find in my free library.
- If you like the felt shapes I cut out, or the red felt hats I made, then you can get these templates from Jenifermaker.com She makes the felt shapes out of iron on vinyl, but I kept mine felt to match the material of the hat. https://jennifermaker.com/diy-gnomes-easy-pattern/
- For the baby/kid gnomes I used a Styrofoam Easter egg I found at Dollar Tree.
I start with a short sock, you can use longer socks if you want, and fill it with uncooked rice. It is okay if your sock has some patterns or logos on it, because most of it will get covered up with the beard or apron. Fill the sock with uncooked rice, until your gnome is the size you want. Then tie off the top of the sock with string, ribbon, or a rubber band. Just note that over time rubber bands lose their elasticity and may break sometime in the future. You can then cut off any extra sock or just leave it. The hat will cover it.
The next step is to make all the accessories for your gnome. I cut some hats and other pieces out of felt using a template I got from Jenerfermaker. I also made my own apron pattern for my lady gnome. You can find this pattern in my free library. It is important to measure your gnome to ensure the templates will fit your specific gnome. The hat templates were way too small for my gnomes, so I then made baby gnomes for the first set of hats I cut out. I then resized the hat templates for my sock gnomes. I made the new larger size hats about 8 inches wide.
There are a lot of different things you could use as a nose for you gnomes. I like to use wooden beads, that I paint a light pink. I also like to make bigger noses for my male gnomes. To make a larger nose, I pinch off a chunk of my gnomes’ body, and tie is with either some string or rubber band. Then I brush on a little make up blush to add a little color to his nose. You could also use pom poms, or any other round items you have.
I like to put my gnomes’ hat on first, but make sure you do not glue it down in the front, because we will be using that to tuck in the fur in a little bit. By placing the hat first, it also helps to determine how long the fur needs to be. This time I just used the hat template from JenniferMaker. I cut the template out of felt and wrapped it around my gnome body, and hot glued it in the back. In my past gnome DIY I used another sock for the hat. I like using the socks that have toes to make a fun top to the hats. You can use many different types of fabric and cloth materials to make the hat for your gnome. With felt, I use the felt setting on my Cricut Maker and the pink mat, with the rotary blade to cut out the felt patterns. I used just cheap felt, nothing fancy, and it will cut most of the pattern out. There are typically a few strands that get stuck, but I just take scissors and cut it free.
Once the hat is glued down in the back, the next step is the beard or the hair depending if you are making a boy or a girl gnome. For the girl gnome I cut two strips of my fur, and glued the top part just under her hat on both sides. I also tied some twine around each section of hair, and made it into a little bow. In my past gnome DIY I cut three strands of fur and braided them for my girl gnome. The braiding was a little difficult because the gnomes are not very tall, thus you need a pretty small braid.
For the guy gnome I measured how long and wide I needed my beard to be. I then cut my fur accordingly. I like to round the edges of my beard. If you made a large nose by twisting and tying a part of the gnomes’ body, then you will need to make a slit at the top of your beard for it to fit nicely under the nose. You can also do this for a smaller nose, or you could just glue the wooden bead or other round item you are using directly onto the fur. I like to glue the nose just above the beard, so I cut a small slit in the fur to fit nicely around my nose.
For both the hair and the beard I typically glue it just to the top to my sock body. If a piece is not laying quite right, then I may glue more down. You could glue the entire fur piece down if you wish. With the beard or hair glued in place, you can now glue the rest of the hat down. It is okay to apply the hot glue directly onto some of the fur.
The last step is to add any accessories you like. For my girl gnomes I like to add an apron to cover up the big empty body. I made a template you can cut out for this. You can find it in my free library, just click here. I made my apron out of felt. Other fabrics would also be nice. You can also add other accessories like my felt mushrooms, and heart. I put the mushrooms on my girl gnome’s’ apron. I also like to add wooden snowflakes that were leftovers from another project, or flowers to my gnomes. Your accessories can be interchanged for different seasons or be selected based on the season you want for your gnome. Gnomes can be great all year around not just for Christmas or the winter season.
I decided not to add the hands, because they seemed to small. 
For my baby gnomes I found some left over Styrofoam Easter eggs I had bought from Dollar Tree. The smaller felt hats I cut fit perfectly on these eggs. It was also a great way to use up some small pieces of fur I had left. I took a razor blade and cut the round part of the bottom of my egg off. This will help my baby gnome stand better. I continued to cut until my egg stood on its own. I made the thicker part of my egg the base of my egg, and this was the section I cut off to help it stand on its own.
Since the eggs were from Easter, they were very bright and colorful. So, I decided to paint my eggs a neutral color. You could probably also place a baby sock or normal sock over the egg and glue it onto the egg, cutting off any extras. Covering the egg with a sock seemed like more work than just applying a nice coat of paint. Most of the egg will be covered up in the front anyways. The biggest part to worry about is the small section of the gnome’s face between the hat and the beard that will be showing.
I made my baby gnome in the same steps as the normal gnomes. I attached the hat in the back first. Then, I cut and glued down a beard. Next, I glued a little nose, and glued down the front of the hat. The baby gnomes were pretty quick to make. They are also very light, so they could make great ornaments for a tree. Do not forget to add some accessories to your baby gnomes to give them some personality and style.
I did not add any feet or hands/arms to my gnomes, but you could if you want to. I like how these gnomes turn out. There are so many ways you can decorate them, and give them each a different personality. They are fun to play around with. Have you made any gnomes? I would love to see any you have made. Do not forget to check out my other sock gnome tutorial for more information and other styles to make. You can also learn how I made these fun toadstools for my gnomes to sit on, just click here. These would also look nice on a tier tray. You could have an entire tier tray just with gnomes and gnome related things, or theme your gnomes to go with different tier trays you have.
