N is making a lot of sweet new friends in waldorf kindergarten – friends who are great at handicrafts! a couple weeks ago, N received this adorable felt gnome gift from a friend in her class who sewed it just for her.
N was so impressed that her friend made this herself that she immediately asked me if she could learn how to sew, too. so, of course, i went to the waldorf school store to buy a couple pretty squares of felted wool (any felt will do for this.) i already had embroidery thread (thick enough to easily see,) a darning needle (blunt enough not to stab her,) and wool roving (fills without being poly-gross) at home, so i figured we had what we needed to create this gnome. the woman working in the school store asked me what my daughter would be sewing. when i mentioned the gnome to her, she said, “let me help you out with this pattern for that gnome.” ahhhh, awesome! i was (somewhat) prepared to totally wing it, but now i didn’t have to. and neither do you – i’ve scanned it below. (click to enlarge it to actual size.)
the bottom text was cut off on the original, but you get the idea...
at home, N chose to make the largest gnome, so i traced and cut that pattern out onto posterboard. i pinned it to the her chosen purple felt color and cut around it.
N decided to use green embroidery thread (from the basket of newly-wound embroidery threads – they’re like candy, i’m telling you!)
i demonstrated how to thread the needle. she tried until she got it on her own.
we pinned the felt together into the conical gnome shape, and the first stitches were sewn!
she was sooo psyched that this worked and that she was able to do it herself. i helped out when she got into a knotted jam or if she looped the thread around the gnomes head somehow. soon she was halfway there!
then she finished up stitching the front of the body.
next we tore off about a 7″ loaf of natural wool roving, and tied a knot in it. this knot serves as the rounded, harder part of the gnome face that peeks through the cloak. N stuffed it inside. then she set out to work on sewing the circle onto the bottom of the gnome, to hold the wool inside. at this point, she was a little tired and asked me to help with some of these stitches.
in the end, she had her own little hand sewn gnome, too! i am seeing more of these in our future… but i know that soon this particular little lady will figure out how to create animals!
