May 2026~ Gift Sewalong: Little darling gnomies

 Hello friends, 

I was planning on sharing the post for these sweet little gnome ornaments a little later on in the year....BUT, the dies for these are on an awfully good sale right now, and I'm a little worried that means they are on the "about to retire" list! Seeing as I want you to get a great sale price, AND I don't want you to miss out on acquiring these dies, I thought I would share this gnomie post now! To shop these dies right now, please follow these links:

Gnome die ( click here)  

Gnome accessory die ( click here)  

{My affiliate links provide me with a small commission IF you choose to buy anything that way. It  does not cost you one extra penny! Thank you for supporting me in this manner!}

This project is SO MUCH fun and you will be able to let your imagination run wild with this one, PLUS it is super simple....WIN, WIN, WIN ;).

( and p.s. I am planning on another project with these dies later on in the year, so be prepared for that!)

Ready to get started? 

This is what you will be making ( or some variation of these at least)!

ARGH! Aren't they cute??

I wanted to make a wide variety of themes to show you that you could make these for any occasion, and not just Christmas! And they don't have to hang in a tree either. How about attaching them to a jar and a bouquet of flowers? Or how about tying one around a bottle of wine? Or as a gift tag on a present? Or a fun garland? So many possibilities!

The great thing about making these is that you don't need a lot of supplies and you probably already have a lot of these items on hand.

You will need:

• The Gnome and Gnome Accessory die ( you don't *need* both, but I highly recommend both because it provides you with more hair and hat options)
• some scraps of fusible web
• scraps of fabric ( including batting)
• felt
• ribbon, ricrac, twine, or anything else you like to use as a hanger
• sharp pair of scissors ( the ones with serrated edges are amazing!)
• any other embellishments you might like to add...buttons, beads, fake flowers, pompoms, jingle bells

To start, measure the shapes on your dies and rough cut your chosen scraps and fusible web to those sizes. ( you will notice that I do not bother making feet, but you can add those if you like).

Now fuse the web to the BACK of your chosen fabric.

Lay your fused fabric on your body shape, your chosen beard shape, and your chosen hat shape ( remember that you can lay your fabric right side up, or right side down to make your beard and hat face the other direction). If you are choosing to do a fabric nose ( and/or feet) cut those as well. Run the die(s) through your machine. 

Did you know that when your fabric has fusible web attached it does NOT matter which way your fabric or die pass through your machine? But the fusible does count as half a layer so only cut 4 layers at a time, instead of the usual 6, and in a bolt I would only do 2 max.

Now you can play with your shapes and decide what you want your gnome to look like....

Very short and stout......

Or tall and lanky...

I like my gnomes short! 

Grab a piece of felt for the background. You want to make sure that it leaves a little border around your gnome so be a little generous. Also grab whatever you want to use for the hanger.

Now fuse your shapes down onto your felt, making sure to overlap the correct pieces AND tucking the hanger in behind the hat.

Do be careful pressing both your felt and your hanger! Some materials like to melt under the heat of an iron ( ask me how I know!).

Take your fused shape over to your sewing machine and decide if you want to match your thread to your fabric, and what stitch you want to use. Yes, you are allowed to mix stitches! I used a straight stitch on the beard and a zig zag on the body and hat, but honestly, you don't even need to stitch the beard if you don't want to because the hat stitching will keep that in place just fine...

Now it is time to grab those sharp scissors and trim your background close to your gnome shape, but leaving a little border showing. Be careful not to cut the hanger!

Time for the fun part: Embellishments!

You can add a nose with a button...

...or with a pompom....

...how about adding a little flower? 

Yes! That is it! Of course if you decide to cut a fabric nose that is totally fine as well. Fuse it at the same time as all the other shapes and then stitch it down.

 Just use a little hot glue to attach the 3-D embellishments. How cute is he??

Now you need  to make a whole bunch more ( because making these little guys is fun and addictive!).

Go crazy with your fabric choices, hair and beard colors, and embellishments! ( Someone in the FB group made a St. Patrick's Day gnome so I copied her idea with the orange beard~ so very cute!)

( I free-handed the little clover from a scrap of green felt)

( I fussy-cut the butterfly after attaching fusible web and attached and stitched it down)

What other occasions can these gnomes dress for? And what other parts of other dies can you imagine using? Have fun and PLAY! I think it would be so much fun to have a little friendly GNOME CREATION competition! Hmmmmm, that might just show up in the FB group one of these days!

So there you have it! I think this tutorial is pretty straightforward, but if you have any questions, please ask! ( I don't get notifications about comments here, so if your question is really important and you need an answer right away, contact me via email or FB).

Happy creating!

Monique