How to make felt gnome and elf ornaments – DIY Tutorial

Felt gnome elft ornament DIY

Check out our tutorial and learn how to make adorable little felt gnome ornaments. You can use the ornaments to decorate your house for the Holidays or proudly display them anytime of the year.

Materials needed: 

To make one felt gnome ornament, you will need:

– A little piece of felt for the hat (about 3″x4″).
– A little piece of pipe cleaner for the beard and a full strand of pipe cleaner for the body.
– A small, 15mm spun cotton ball for the gnome’s head
– A little piece of string for the hanging loop.
– A pair of wire cutters and a pair of pliers.
– A pair of good scissors.
– Needle and thread (or a sewing machine if you have one).
– A black ball pen to draw the face.
– A small piece of cardboard to make the hat template.

Step by step directions: 

1. Prepare the felt hat

1. Start with the hat template. On a piece of cardboard, draw an 8″ diameter circle and cut out a pie wedge about 45º. When done, cut off the tip as in the picture below.

Felt gnome ornaments DIY tutorial instructions 1

2. Outline your template on a piece of felt and cut along the outline. You now have a felt cone.

3. Prepare a hanging loop: make a loop with a piece of string and tie a knot. Trim the excess.

4. Place the string loop onto the felt cone and make sure the knotted end sticks out from the top.

5. Fold your felt cone onto it self and sew the two edges together with very short stitches (important).

Felt gnome ornaments DIY tutorial instructions 2

6. Turn the hat inside out. You can use a pencil or a bamboo skewer to help. If you have done everything right, the knot is now in the hat.

Felt gnome ornaments DIY tutorial instructions 3

2. Work on the face and the beard

1. With a pair of scissors cut the bottom of the hat at a beveled angle. To find out where to cut, insert a ball in the hat. The point where the ball cannot be pushed down anymore is where the hat needs to be cut.

2. Wrap the ball with the piece of pipe cleaner. Twist the pipe cleaner a few times to lock the ball into place. When you are done, gather the two strands together.

3. Pour a generous amount of glue in the hat and insert the ball into the hat. Make sure the two strands of pipe cleaner make contact with the glue.

4. Draw the eyes and the mouth of the gnome with the ball pen. You could display the gnomes as is or continue with the next step and add a pipe cleaner body.

3. Add a pipe cleaner body.

To fashion the pipe cleaner body, you can check out our tutorial “how to make pipe cleaner animals“.

felt pipe cleaner gnome ornament house decor craft ideas

You are done :)

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and I hope you are motivated to get started with your own felt gnome ornaments. Happy crafting and as always, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to get in touch.

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