EASY! How to Make a Sock Gnome! (with Closed Captions)

Hello everyone, my name is Sarah and I want to show you how to

make

my little

gnome

s. I learned how to

make

them for the first time last year. These guys were a big hit. I was doing them left and right and I had a lot. A lot of people ask me how, so anyway, I just wanted to try to make a tutorial on how I make them. This is my first time making a YouTube video or tutorial video, so I hope I don't miss anything or forget anything. I would do a good job for you.

Okay, then let's get started. The first thing you will need is a tube

sock

and you can use any tube stopper. It really depends on you. You can get them at the dollar store. Hmm, almost all the items I have you can get at the dollar store. So the first thing you're going to do is cut straight across and then you can save this piece. Sometimes I turn it over and sew a line through it. I turn it over and use it again. It's totally up to you, so now that we have our

sock

cut out, we're going to fill it with rice and you can use rice or there's also Polyfill or polyester.

Sorry, polyethylene balls, I bought them at jo-ann fabrics. but you can get them at Michael's. You can get them at many different sewing stores. Craft shops. It really depends on you. Some people don't like using rice and the polyethylene granules are pretty heavy, but... let me grab this bag again, but this bag here cost me $10. I had a coupon and got 40% off. So I guess it cost me six dollars and something. Just keep in mind that it is more expensive to use polyethylene pellets. But anyway, just fill this with rice. Another interesting thing or another good idea if you are going to use it correctly and you are worried about the weevils that can be found in the rice, what you can do is freeze the rice for about a week in your freezer. and will kill the remaining eggs.

So the weevils can hatch anyway, so that's one cup and I crush it and let myself have another cup of rice. I have this tray here because the rice is dirty. It's the most complicated part of doing this. You keep filling it. You probably don't want to put just one cup in unless you want to make a very small one. The idea is to fill it with about two or three cups. It depends on the socks you use. Some socks will need a little more. You want it to be full and firm because this is what creates the

gnome

's body.

Right here So keep pushing it down. Now I'm definitely trying to get there. Actually, I know two fit in this particular sock. Almost... It's okay. Okay, now we have our sock filled and I just squeeze it a little bit, shape the sock. Well, be patient. I'll check my camera from time to time, to make sure I'm in the frame. Okay, so the next thing you want to do is use these little rubber bands. I find them in the hair aisle, pretty hair aisle at Walmart, you can also get these at Dollar Tree if you have a dollar tree or a dollar store, either works well.

And it doesn't really matter what color you put on the top, but I try to choose a light color for the nose. I'll usually get a dark one for the top. Okay, now you just have to tie it about three times. And then what I like to do is trim this extra. I don't think you need that much And then just pull it. Okay, and then the next thing you want to do is figure out where you want your nose to be. Let me stretch this out and I think I want it. right there and I've experimented with making big noses, small noses.

I really really like the big nose. I think it's more "Gnomie". So I like to make the nose big. Okay, and then throughout the whole process, I'm going to squish the nose a little bit so it looks like it has nostrils. I think it makes it look more realistic. But you don't have to do those things. Well. So the next thing we're going to do is use a piece of embroidery floss, well, where's the... oh, there we go and so you want a piece? The head and a nose piece and the reason behind this is just extra security in case that elastic band breaks, and I usually wrap it about three times as well.

I imagine those rubber bands will only last so long. Okay, and then I do the same for the nose. I think I only tied this one twice. I also squeeze it a little just to make sure. Ok, let's go. I'm trying this again, sorry. And these little dangling pieces don't really matter, no one will see them. They will be hidden at the end. Good. So the next thing I like to do is blush my nose. I think they look very cute with the pink nose. So I just have a really cheap blush and I put a little bit on here and I just brush it on my nose and it might look dark at first, but when you're done and you've got your clothes on.

It's the sock. You can see it well. And it doesn't matter if you get it all here. You're not going to see any of that. So anyway, it's okay. The next thing we need is our sock. Our cover sock and I'm practically going to remake this guy. So I'm going to use this orange sock and I bought this sock at Walmart, but the sock that I'm using for the hat I got from the Dollar Tree. So it's completely up to you. This sock came from the Dollar Tree or wait...sorry. THIS sock came from Dollar Tree And this one came from Walmart Okay, now we have to cut again, let me make sure you can see this.

We are going to cut our sock in a straight line. Or as straight as you can. Alright. And then you just plug it in. And then I always do this to make sure I don't have a lot of excess, so what I do is I take it and I'll cut this excess off up here. That's perfect. Well. So what I do now is I glue this piece under the nose. And I'm predominantly left-handed, so everything has to go through everything and get in the way. Just put a little bit in there. Tuck it under like this.

And then I do it. Pull the sides up like this, basically around the nose and I'm going to put hot glue around the top here to keep it in place. And then I hold it for a second just to make sure it's okay. So I'm going to do it, I'm going to paste it back here just because I like it to hold together really well. I like it, but I don't want to worry about it coming off later or separating. Okay, I think I need it. an economy-sized gun Not a small one Okay, you're done with your cover.

This part is done. Well. So, the next thing we are going to do is measure and cut the beard. And I want to show you that there are tons of options you can do with your beard. I personally prefer the hair one or the fake one. Fur (fake) I think it looks really cute that way. It looks really "Gnomie", I don't know. But you can, you can do it any way you want, you can do it cheaply or expensively, however you want, but I'm going to show you some of the options that I have. So I have this curly white Beardy material that I create.

I arrived at Michael's or Hobby Lobby. Probably Hobby Lobby. And from there I also got the synthetic leather. So they have white, they have this brown color and then they have blonde. They have a ton of different colors, but these are the ones I have, so my favorite colors so far to use are white and brown and I'll show you that I pre-cut some squares just to get this right. a little bit faster But what I do is I take the fabric and I lay it out on my little mat or if you have a ruler or something you can measure and I'll measure, usually I'll measure about four inches, this one you can see that accidentally That was a little bit more, probably closer to five.

But I'm about four inches tall and then I like to be about five inches wide. And I'll show you why I like to do that here in just a minute, but you can experiment. with the different lengths and widths for you, but you'll see why I like that measurement for me, so that's okay. So the goal is to get it more or less like this and it's really here, this curve. This trimmed piece will really depend on the size of your nose. So sometimes I make it significantly smaller. But what I like to do is once I get the square cut, I'll play with the gnome and see, do I like the white beard?

Do I like a brown beard better? And then I think we'll go with the white beard, so once you measure and cut, I'll usually try to make it. I can use this other one. Hmm, I'll go with this one, okay, so I like to try it. keep it about the width of your nose. So I'm going to take as my marker and mark where the nose is like this mark, and then, but I already did it for this one. Anyway, the next thing I do is look at it one more time. And then I'm going to put a drop of glue, right under the nose.

Okay, and then I take this piece and I put it there and I crush it right there. And then once I have that part on, then I walk up and pull to see how I want it and I'll do it. I don't pull very hard, but I pull a little because I want to create the roundness of the beard without having to cut. I think it looks really cool that way. Well, now he has his beard and look how much the color of his nose has calmed down. It doesn't look so pink anymore. Alright. The next thing I'm going to do.

What you need to do is get the head cone because you have to have it. You have to have this if you want it to stand out. So these come from Dollar Tree. I found them at Walmart. I found them at garage sales. I found these at garage sales, but the difference I want to show you is that I really like Styrofoam. The soft one is much better than the hard one because it is harder to cut and I find that the socks tend to stick to them every time you are on. Trying to put them together, okay.

So what we're trying to do is this and I know that kind of looks soft and fun, but I like to cut it at an angle because I like it to lean back because that's what I think creates like the little little dot. from Gnome so that's what we're going to do, so I'm going to grab my knife and this is a messy, messy, messy part. So now, once I've cut the hat a little bit or the cone a little bit, then Come in here and I'm going to cut. I'm going to cut a square and then in the square I'm going to cut an X and that helps you get the pieces out very easily.

So I'm going to try, you're not looking for perfection here, you're just trying to create an open space to stuff this in and hide this extra fabric. Like I said, this is a really messy part, it's everywhere. And then you just want to get a little bit out. You can take out more or less depending on the amount of fabric you left on top. Just to hide it, it helps to hide it better. I don't have much that I need to get out. Let me get this out of the way real quick or try at least a little.

Now what we're going to do is paste this here and I'm going to squash it. I'll just play with it a bit to see. how I want it to look And I like that over there So now You can put it here or you can put it here. I tend to do a little of both because I think the glue melts the styrofoam. a little bit Okay, so once you have that, just put this here and I try to hold it in place for just a minute. Okay, now the next thing we're going to work on is the hat.

Actually, this is really simple. So I take the sock and pile it up. Sorry, let me back up to group it. But I keep the heel of the sock facing back. So I just try to remember where it is and then I put it on and you can stop right there if you want. I mean, you probably want to hit it but you can stop. right there or you can play with pulling the sock up to create a little pendant. You can fold the sock like this. I think we'll do it like this this time. Alright.

So now that I have the hat on, I'm going to go ahead and glue it on because I don't want my kids to take it off and I feel like it helps keep it safe, so I'm going to go up here. And I'll just put a little bit of glue on it And I'll just lay it down and squish it down And then I turn around and do the same thing right underneath, near where the cone attaches. Okay, and then I do that again. here and I keep going a little bit more I think I'm going to put a little bit of glue back here - Okay, then There and finally The last part that I like to do is the nose So I pick it up and just put a little bit of glue right there and place this on top.

And there's your gnome. Now I love that you can have it like this. Only in this way. It's so cute, but you can add so many different things to it. You can really get creative with it. For example, with these, with this one I added a pineapple and a feather and these little things so at Dollar Tree you can get them, you can get them at the dollar store. You can do it if you want. Do a Christmas theme, you can wrap the hat with a tassel and I'm going to do that. Then what I do is I fold the hat like this and then I'll put it inside, glue it on and then I'll just write. of circling loosely and then when I get to the top, let me see if I can show you real quick.

So when it gets to the top, I would just stick it just a little bit, like stick it right there and you. I can add small beads or pom poms. Buttons. I love adding buttons. At the end of this video, if I can solve it. I'll add some photos. Otherwise, I'll try to add some on Facebook so everyone can see the different variations that I've made, if you're interested, I think with this guy, I think we'll just add a little bit. Small pineapple/\. Ah, with this boy. I added some flowers. I thought it was very cute.

You can make small buttons. ReallyIt depends on you. You can add like leather which is our faux suede cord. So unlimited with the different things you can use to beautify your little gnome, which I think is really cool. Well that's it. That is all that I have. If you liked this video, hit the like button and I hope you enjoyed it and see you later!