Make My Day Camp: Valentine Felt Gnome

Wednesday, February 9, 2022

Valentine Felt Gnome

This cutie project was inspired by a Christmas gnome I saw the directions for here at diycandy - I changed it a bit to come up with this Valentine version and am pretty sure that every holiday for the rest of the year is now getting a gnome! Just change the felt colors for whatever holiday - green hat with a shamrock for St. Patricks Day is so happening.

To make a gnome like this you'll need:

paper maché cone, or make your own cone for the base (instructions follow)
2 colors of felt - I used light gray for the body, hot pink for the hat
additional felt for decorating the hat if desired, I made a red heart
embroidery thread, yarn, or other materials to decorate the hat
white cotton batting/stuffing, or pulled apart cotton balls for the beard
round unpainted wood ball for the nose, mine is 3/4"
hot glue and scissors

I didn't have a paper maché cone for the base so I made one using thick cardstock. I rolled it into a cone shape and held it in place with a staple (it's getting covered with felt and hot glue so I didn't bother with a more serious way to hold the cone shape). The paper cone needed to be trimmed so it has a flat bottom, I did that by holding my ruler and measuring the same amount from the top all the way around making little marks so I'd know where to cut. My cone is 7 1/2" tall so I made marks at 7 1/2" around the base before trimming - I'm pretty sure if I tried to cut it by just eyeballing it would not have been flat and I'd have to keep trimming to even it up and I'd have ended up with a gnome/cone that's like 3" tall hahaha.

Cover the bottom half of the cone with felt creating the 'body' - in order to make it lay smooth on the cone I laid the cone on the felt and rolled the cone marking on the felt where I'd need to trim it. I wasn't thinking and made the cone out of black cardstock so needed felt dark enough to not see the black thru the felt - this lightish gray worked just fine. Hot glue the band of felt in place.

Next, wrap the felt you're using for the hat around the rest of the cone to see how much you need for the hat. I ended up with a big triangle that curved outward at the bottom (see photo). You can add a decorative stitch, or other trim to the bottom of the felt, if you want. Glitter, sequins, pompoms, ribbon - many things would look cute to decorate the hat. I did a blanket stitch following the inspiration gnome using embroidery thread and a big needle.

to make a blanket stitch - insert the needle from back to front, before pulling the stitch tight
put the needle thru the loop and then tighten. Repeat inserting the needle from the
back where you want the next stitch, put the needle thru the loop before pulling it tight.

Hot glue one side of the hat to the back of the cone, wrap the felt around creating a hat shape and hot glue the other side to the back of the cone, overlapping slightly. Don't hot glue the bottom edge of the hat, leave it open so you can tuck the batting for the beard underneath. Hot glue the round wood ball on for the nose, I also put a little glue under the hat on top of the nose to help hold it in place (gluing only to the batting isn't going to hold it in place very good).

Last, I cut a felt heart and glued it to the front (the only thing really making it 'Valentines' day, up until now it's just a cute generic gnome!). I thought the hat was a little tall so I folded it down and glued it in place - you can play around and see what you like.