Christmas Gnome Template

How to make the paper cone gnome

1. Print at Actual size (100%, not “Fit to page”) and check the 50 mm bar at the foot of the sheet with a ruler. Card of 160 to 220 g/m² (60 to 80 lb cover) rolls into a smooth cone and stands; printer paper works for an ornament but creases.
2. Cut out the cone, the beard, the nose and the two boots. If you chose the fringe beard, snip along each short line from the edge inwards, then curl the strands round a pencil.
3. Score the dashed line beside the grey glue tab with a dry ballpoint and a ruler, and fold the tab under.
4. Roll the cone so the other straight edge lies on the tab, and glue it. The seam is the back; the name sits on the front of the band. A clothes peg holds the seam while the glue dries.
5. Glue the beard inside the dotted outline, its top edge against the bottom of the band, then the nose on the dotted circle where beard and band meet.
6. Glue the boots inside the bottom edge by their grey strips, toes pointing out at the front.

The stand-up gnome: cut round the outline, score the line under the boots, fold that strip back flat on the table, and glue the brace’s tall tab to the back of the gnome and its short tab onto the strip. The felt gnome: see the sewing steps below.

Questions

Is there a free printable Christmas gnome template PDF?

Yes. All three gnomes are free, with no sign-up. “Download PDF” makes the whole gnome as an A4 or US Letter PDF (the page picks the size your device’s language suggests; switch it under Paper), every piece at true size with at least 8 mm of white round the edge so home printers do not clip it. “PNG, 300 dpi” saves the sheet you are looking at as an image. Pieces bigger than one sheet, such as the cone of a 30 cm gnome, are split into tiles that overlap by 14 mm: cut each sheet along its grey trim line, lay that edge on the dotted line of the sheet before so the round marks meet, and tape it.

How big a cone do I need for my gnome?

Type the finished height and the page works the cone out. A free-standing gnome gets a base 0.42 times its height (63 mm for a 15 cm gnome). A cone of base diameter D and height H unrolls into a circle slice whose radius is the slant height √(H² + (D/2)²) and whose angle is 360 × (D/2) ÷ that radius: for the 15 cm gnome, a 153 mm radius and a 74° slice. Each net is checked before it is drawn: the length of its curved edge, rolled up, must give the stated base within 1 mm.

Can I make a toilet roll gnome or a gnome jar cover?

Yes. Under Base, “Over a toilet roll” sizes the cone to slip over a standard cardboard tube about 45 mm across (the cone’s base is 47 mm, 2 mm of play). “Over a jar” takes the jar’s width in millimetres, measured across its widest part, and adds the same 2 mm, so the gnome becomes a lid cover for a jar of sweets. A very wide jar needs a cone at least 1.15 times as tall as it is wide or it is too flat to look like a gnome; the page raises the height and tells you when that happens.

Is there a free gnome pattern to sew?

Choose Felt pattern. It is a stuffed Scandinavian-style gnome: a cone body, a taller cone hat that comes down over the body, a circle base, a beard, a nose, a hat band and two boots. The body, hat and base carry two lines: the solid line is where you sew and the dashed line is where you cut, a seam allowance of 6 mm, 3/8 in or 1 cm (you choose) all the way round. The other pieces have no allowance, because felt does not fray: cut them on the line. The cutting list on the sheet says how many of each to cut. Sewing: (1) fold the body in half and sew the two straight edges, then sew the base in, matching the small notches, leaving 3 cm open; (2) turn it right side out, fill it with stuffing, put a bag of rice or a card circle cut on the base’s solid line in the bottom for weight, and close the gap by hand; (3) sew the hat’s straight edges, turn the bottom allowance up as a hem, and pull the hat down over the body; (4) glue or stitch the beard under the hat; (5) run a gathering stitch round the dotted line of the nose circle, put a ball of stuffing inside, pull it tight and stitch it on; (6) wrap the band round the hat. Below about 12 cm the felt pieces get fiddly to sew; 20 cm is a comfortable first size.

What fits on the hat band?

A name, a year or a short word up to 16 characters. It is set so it fits the front half of the band, and the page tells you the size it will print at. If it would come out smaller than 10 pt, the page warns you: shorten it or make the gnome taller. On the felt band it is a guide to embroider, write with fabric pen or cut from felt.

Can I cut it with a Cricut or Silhouette?

Yes. “SVG cut file” saves every piece of the gnome at true size in millimetres, cut lines in one group and folds in another (for the felt pattern, the sewing lines are in the second group, to draw with a pen). Silhouette Studio’s free Basic Edition does not open SVG, so “DXF (Silhouette)” saves the same lines, cut on layer CUT and the rest on layer SCORE. All the pieces of a 15 cm cone gnome fit one 12 × 12 in mat, and a 20 cm one or a 15 cm felt gnome the 12 × 24 in mat. For bigger gnomes the page tells you the file is larger than a mat, so you split the pieces across mats in your machine’s software.