How to Make a Needle Felted Gnome Girl
When Sarah told me she was obsessed with gnomes, I knew I had to make a needle felted gnome girl for her. Because, everyone needs one of those, right?!
Needle Felted Gnome Girl
My name is Sheila and I am visiting from BrainPowerBoy.com. You can usually find me blogging about boys, but I have been a crafter for all of my life and when the opportunity presents itself, I find a way to get some crafting in.
Today I am sharing a needle felting project. One of the things I love about needle felting is that it is fairly easy to do and doesnít require expensive materials. A few needles, a bit of wool, and a felting board or mat is all you need.
If you would like to make a companion for your little gal, pop over to my site using the link at the bottom of this post and make the male gnome and his little friend.
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This makes a super cute decoration when you put them all together on a shelf. Or you can make them as a gift for any gnome lovers you happen to know. Let’s get started.
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Tips to Make a Gnome with Needle Felting
- This project is not for young kids!
- Felting needles are super sharp and it hurts like heck if you stick your finger with one. Ask me how I know!
- If you are a beginner, I suggest using an awl or a long tweezers to hold the wool. You will have to be careful not to stick the needle into the metal though or it will snap.
- When felting you want to jab the wool in a methodical up and down motion. Don’t pull to the side when your needle is in the foam board or in your mat or you will break your needle. The needles are fragile.
- Be sure to keep track of your needles while felting. I usually stick mine into the mat so I know where they are at all times.
- I will go over the directions for making your lady gnome and I have included plenty of pictures. Be sure to watch the video for extra tutorial instructions and tips for assembling your project.
How Do I Make this Needle felted gnome Girl?
I’m so glad you asked. Below is our written tutorial. If you’re making a farmhouse crafts playlist on YouTube, here is our needle felted gnome girl video tutorial.
Needle Felted Gnome Girl
How sweet is this little needle felted gnome girl?! I love the little mushroom with her. And those braids!
Materials
- Wool roving in red, royal blue, cream, white, yellow/gold, and two shades of green.
- You can, of course, choose which colors you wish to make your gnome from. These are the colors I used.
Tools
- Needle felting tools. We used the Clover Pen Style Needle Felting Tool and a 38 gauge star point needle. The star point is used for assembling the pieces together.
- Foam needle felting board or a needle felting mat of your choice
Instructions
- Gather your tools and your wool.
- Start by making a cone out of scrap wool. I don't use high quality roving on the centers of my creations since you cannot see it.
- Jab it with your felting needles until you have a firm cone-type shape.
- Cover your cone with blue wool roving and lightly felt it together. This will be your gnome's body.
- Don't jab too deeply, or too much, because if you do the white from underneath will start to show through.
- Make a square out of white roving and felt it on your board. Add some straps to the top to make it into an apron shape. Lightly jab around the edges to attach it to the blue body.
- Take a strip of white. Pull and roll it into a long strip. Needle felt the strip. Attach to the body. Take a small strip and tie it into a little tie for the back of the apron. See video for additional information.
- Now let's make her hat. Using red wool roving, felt an open cone shape. You will want to felt this fairly well so it is able to stand up on its own. Make it nice and tall as gnomes have large hats which add to their charm!
- Be careful to leave the center open and occasionally make sure you can slip your fingers up into the hat. I mention this as it is rather easy to accidentally felt the hat closed.
- I sometimes leave a little gap at the back of the hat that I can close after I have it on the head. It makes it a bit easier to get it on.
- Make a nose out of cream wool. This should be very firm and round. I roll the wool in my fingers, felt, roll in my fingers, felt and so on until I get a shape I like. If you have trouble, just grab a new piece of wool and try again. Steady felting all the way around makes a nice ball.
- Next make her hair. I took a square of goldish-yellow roving and then added three long strips to each side. Everything got felted. Then I shaped the top of the hair to be rounded to go over the top of the cone.
- Felt each of the six strands on the sides of the hair. Then braid them and tie with a little twist of red roving. I rolled it between my fingers but didn't felt the tie.
- Next you will make a mushroom to sit next to her. Use white roving to make the stem and the dots and red for the cap.
- Take a good look at the picture. You can see the shape of the stem. I made a cylinder and then wrapped wool around the upper part to make the stem look like a mushroom.
- The cap is a circle made of red. After felting it rather well, I pulled and felted the wool until I had a shallow cup shaped like the top of a mushroom. Add tiny white circles to the red cap.
- When you are done making the pieces you can felt it all together as shown.
- Next take all of your pieces and assemble your gnome. Felt all of the pieces together using the star point needle.
- The nose should be put on a bit above the top of the apron. Felt at the edges of the nose to attach it. Hold the nose so it doesn't push down into the blue body.
- The hair goes on top of the cone. Felt it at the top and the sides but leave the braids to dangle free.
- The hat goes on top of the hair and should meet the top of the nose. Felt firmly all around the hat.
- Last, but not least, take your two shades of green and pull them apart again and again to mix the colors a bit. You don't want to do it too much as you are going for a two-tone mossy look.
- That is it.
Notes
For more fun DIY gnome projects, visit Ruffles and Rain Boots!
I hope you enjoyed this needle felted gnome lady project!
If you would like to make a companion for your lady, do check out our male gnome. He has a little bunny friend you can make as well. Together they make quite the sweet pair.
More Farmhouse Crafts You Might Like
- DIY Farmhouse Gnome – Easily our most popular farmhouse gnome–and he’s RIDICULOUSLY simple to make!
- Welcome Sign with Gnome Display Shelf – All your gnomes need to live on a shelf of honor while you’re displaying it.
- Farmhouse Girl Gnome – If you need a cute gnome to keep you company in the kitchen, this cute girl gnome is perfect!
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