Wednesday

Christmas Gnomes

I had this moment of clarity when I recently looked that this gnome that one of the ladies from my basement quilters group made. Everybody got one for Christmas last year. 

I picked up the gnome, pulled the hat off to sort of re-arrange it on the little guy's head and I realized that it looked pretty easy to make. 

So I started to look for free online patterns or tutorials to make my own version - well, actually someone else's version, haha. 

I'm not the most ambitious when it comes to hand sewing so I had a few requirements. There would be no stuffed nose, a bead would be preferred. It had to be smaller than mine and I absolutely hate fleece fabric so it would be made with cottons or flannels. And luckily I have a bag of plastic pellets that my daughter gave me probably 10 years ago. I will finally get to use them. She also gave me 2 bags of stuffing that she wasn't going to use. She suggested that I take them to the senior center to donate but I chose to keep them. What she doesn't know won't hurt her. 

I found this pattern from LearnCreateSew and it was perfect. It came in multiple sizes so I could choose the one that best suited my plan. 

The hard part turned out to be the search for the beard fabric. I ended up at a Joann Fabrics store that I don't really care for. My local Joann's has some really nice employees but this one just isn't all that inviting. But they had the fur! The bad thing was that the fur was 44.99 per yard. I was happy to find that it was 40% off without a coupon so I figured if I got one-third of a yard it wouldn't be terribly expensive and there would be plenty. When I got to the cutting table the clerk unrolled the bolt and there was very little on it. She offered me the end of bolt for 50% off. I asked if it was 50% off after the 40% off and she said yes! I left this Joann's a very happy customer with almost a yard of fur for less than I would have paid for the one-third cut. What a pleasant experience after all.

I dug through my scrap stash and I made these:

I absolutely loved how they turned out so I posted this photo on Facebook and within 5 minutes I had friends asking me if they could buy them from me. So I made a few more.


While I was at it, I made a few wine gift bags. At the end of the week I had made 24 gnomes. I had so much fun making those little guys. Thank you LearnCreateSew for the great instructions.

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