Love Gnomes

 These little needelfelted gnomes are my favourite gift for the little people in my life (and some of the bigger people too!) They are quite easy to make, and have so much character. Use them in storytelling, for play, or as a little pocket friend to whisper secrets to!
  They make a lovely Valentine's gift, with the hearts needlefelted onto their tunics.

These little gnomes are made in the same way as the ones featured in the Trille de Bois Waldorf School Tapestry. 

Love Gnomes:

Materials:

0.2 ounces wool batting/roving in 4 colors: hat, skintone, tunic,leggings

small amount of wool roving for boots ( optional)

small amount of wool/mohair locks for hair and beards

pipecleaner

felting needle and sponge (a good kitchen sponge will work)

sewing needle and thread

 Finished, the Love Gnomes stand about 6 inches tall. You can make them taller or smaller by adjusting the length of the pipecleaner, and the amount of wool you use for the legs. 

Divide the skintone wool roving, so you have small long strips, about 0.5 inch wide and 6-8 inches long. Cut the pipecleaner to measure 8 inches.

 Fold in the ends of the pipecleaner so they meet in the middle.

 Using a very small amount of roving, wrap wool around the folded end of the pipecleaner. Start wrapping about 0.5 inch from the bend, and wrap around to 0.5 inch past the bend. The more evenly and securely we wrap on the wool, the easier our finishing is, so take your time with each step!

 Fold the bend in the pipecleaner tightly, and wrap remaining wool around the folded end . This gives a really nicely finished hand, with no wire ends exposed.

 If the hand looks too heavy or lumpy, just unwrap it, and start again with a smaller amount of wool. It's always better to work with less wool, and add a few more layers if necessary, than to have too much wool, and need to needelfelt indefinitely to get the size you want! Repeat on other side for the other hand.

 Wrap a small amount of tunic color around arms, Start at one end of the arms, and wrap the wool around until you reach the other hand. As you wrap, pull on the wool roving a little, and as you near the end you will just be left with a few fibers. You will probably be able to wrap evenly to the other hand, then start wrapping back towards the middle to finish.  Wrap these last fibers around tightly and the wool will hold itself in place.

 Once the arms are wrapped, roll them gently in your hands to secure the wool ends.

 Take a piece of your leggings color wool, about 4 inches by 6 inches, and roll it up tightly.

 Needlefelt over the leg, remembering to turn it over and work on all sides so it stays round. Leave about 1 inch at one end fluffy, to attach to the arms.

 Wrap the fluffy end of each leg around the middle of the arms, passing the extra wool around towards to middle, between the legs. This gives a little extra body shaping.

 Wrap some some tunic colored wool around the legs, just under the arms to start to build up the body shape.

 Wrap the wool over one shoulder, then under an arm, and back up and across the body, in a criss-cross pattern. Then wrap again just around the body under the arms, until it is nice and plump! The body will come down in size with needlefelting.

 Start to needelfelt the body. Felt all over, always turning to keep the shape rounded. Felt under the edge of the tunic to make it stand out a little from the legs.

 Felt under the arms to attach the body to the arms, and pull the body into a tunic shape.

 Using the strips of skintone wool roving, roll up a ball that is about 1.5 inches in diameter. Roll as if winding a ball of wool, keeping the surface as even as possible. If you find a little bit sticking out, roll the next wrap so that the bump is covered.

 Needelfelt lightly over the whole head, keeping the round shape.

 You can either needelfelt the whole head until it is the right size, or you can gently wet felt it. I like to do this in order to get a nice smooth surface for the face.

 Optional wetfelting: Apply a drop of natural dishsoap to the head. Hold it in the palm of one hand and very gently roll it with the other hand, not pressing or squeezing.  After a minute or two you'll feel a felted skin on the surface, now roll more vigorously for another 2 minutes and rinse well under running water.  Shape it into a nice round head and set aside to dry.

 Sew the head onto the body. You could needle felt, but I like to sew it to be sure it is well secured and ready for play! I sew through the body then through part of the bottom of the head, and work in this way around the whole head twice- I want to be sure it isn't going anywhere! At this moment the little doll comes to life!

 Select a piece of  hat colored roving, that measures about 4 inches long by 2 inches wide. Wrap the roving around the head, keeping the face clear and covering the whole back of the head. Try to wrap it into a cone if possible, but this is not essential as we can needlefelt it into shape.

 Felt in lines from the head to the point of the hat. This will secure the wool for the hat, attach the hat to the head and begin the basic shaping. Shape the top by felting, working around the hat until you get it to nice tip.

 Felt the brim of the hat by needling up along the edge between the face and the hat wool. This helps define the face and tidies up any woolly fibers remaining there.

Wool locks are great for hair and beards as they have all that natural crimp and curl. You can also use wool roving or yarn.  To attach a beard, take a small amount of wool roving, or locks. Lay the fibers out, half over the face and half over the body. Felt along the chin line to attach.

 Then fold the top locks over, and felt along the chin line to hold in place. This gives the most natural beard look! To attach long hair, try the beard method but attach the wool along the hat line along the back. For short hair, just needelfelt a little wool roving, locks or yarn all along the underside of the hat.

 Check the face for an extra shaping required, A little extra needlefelting around the temples is usually good.

 For the boots wrap a small amount of wool around the bottom of the leg. Needelfelt all over. To shape the boot, needle felt only in a line about 0.5 inches up from the bottom, this will make a fold in the foot.Once the fold is in place, turn the boots and shape as you go. Do some felting on the bottoms of the boots to give a good sole (Because all the gnomes have good soles!).

If you aren't using a separate boot color, use the same process as above without adding the extra wool. This will still make the foot shape at the bottom of the legs.

I don't usually add faces to my gnomes, but if you'd like to- this is my method- it makes a nicely shaped  eyes and mouths, without having them indented into the face.

 Use only a few fibers of wool, and needlefelt them in, only partially, and only in one spot. Don't pull your felting needle out all the way-just needle in the one spot. You'll see the wool fibers shortening as they get tucked into the skin. Leave a tuft sticking out.

 Clip off the tuft of wool fibers, as close into the skin as possible. Ta-daa!
Use this method for the mouth also, but felt in a short line, maybe three needle widths across. If you want a little smile, felt the middle of the mouth downwards, toward the chin.  Clip off any extra fibers.

Needle felt a little heart onto the gnomes tunic, and then, if you haven't already, decide to which special person your little love gnome will be giving his heart!

I'm giving away two finished Love Gnomes or 2 kits for making your own. Please leave a comment below to enter.   I'll draw two names on January 25th, and the winners can each chose either the kits or the finished gnomes.  Good luck!

Enjoy!

Fiona