I have been making these tiny little pocket gnomes for years for my children. They are miniature Waldorf style dolls. We call them wee dolls, pocket gnomes, and Tiny Santa. They make great toys and homespun Christmas ornaments.
I love making these tiny Santas. They’re fun to top off a gift or a stocking, and great for hanging on the Christmas tree.
Table of Contents
Tiny Santa Christmas Ornaments
What do you need to make a Tiny Santa Ornament?
- Scraps of fleece, cuddle fleece, minky, or velour in red for Santa, or any color for gnomes.
- Scrap of skin colored knit fabric
- Thin string or twine
- Wool roving
- Polyfil or wool stuffing
- Fine point marker – black
- cotton swab and blusher
- small jingle bell
- 1/4 to 3/8 inch black grosgrain ribbon
- 1 clear rhinestone
- needle and thread
- glue gun
Download the Free Pattern
How do you make a Tiny Santa Ornament?
1. Cut out pattern pieces and use to cut out fabric. Make sure to place top of body on fold.
2. Sew body and hat closed.
3. On the body, snip the middle of the fold to insert the head. Then, flip body right side out.
4. Fill the body with polyfil or wool stuffing.
5. Take a small ball of polyfil or wool, place in middle of skin tone knit square and then tightly tie shut with string to form head.
6. Insert the head into the body and sew small stitched around to secure it in place.
7. Next, turn the hat right side out, fold the raw edge inward just a bit, and sew around the head.
8. Take a small piece of wool roving and wrap it around the base of the hat and sew it with small tiny stitches that aren’t too tight all the way around.
When sewing, wrap the roving around the edge to overlap the beginning of the roving, sew down and then cut off any excess of roving.
9. Sew a small jingle bell to the very tip of the hat.
10. Make the beard. Take a piece of wool roving roughly 2 x 1 inches and roll the roving once so that it becomes a 1 x 1 piece, shaped like a square.
Start at one top corner of the square and sew it right at the edge of the hat on the face. Then take small stitches across the face through the bead to the other top corner of the square and finish it at the edge of the hat on the face.
You may need to snip some edges of the beard to clean it up a bit and look more “beardly.”
11. Fold Santa’s hat over like the picture and sew across the back of it with tiny stitches to give it some character.
12. Take your fine point marker and make two little closed eyes as shown, and then through the beard make a tiny small mouth line.
13. Take your cotton swab and dip it into the blusher, then make two rosy cheeks for Santa.
14. To finish Santa, add his belt. Starting in the middle of a long piece of black grosgrain ribbon attach it to Santa’s waist, just in the front with a glue gun. Then, once that the glue is mostly dry, take one side of the belt and add glue and pull it tight to create a waistline for Santa, and glue it down.
Hold it for a minute to keep it taut while it dries. Make sure there is enough on either side for overlap, and do the same thing to the other side of the belt, overlapping the raw edge of the first side.
Snip off the excess edges. Then, using the glue gun, attach a rhinestone to the very center of Santa’s belt.
15. Take an 8 inch piece of ribbon, (I use 1/8 inch satin ribbon). Fold it in half, then take both raw edges together and sew them securely to the back of Santa’s hat.
Can kids make these Tiny Santa Christmas Ornaments?
I would definitely say older tweens and teens can make these. There are some tiny stitches involved that might be difficult for younger tweens.
Now he’s ready for the Christmas tree.
More Christmas Ornaments to Make
- Make Your Own DIY Gumball Machine Christmas Ornament
- How to make a Santa Cam Christmas Ornament
- How to Make a Dollar Store DIY Santa Dinosaur Christmas Ornament
- NO SEW Easy Felt Snowman Ornament
- How to make a Dollar Store Clay Pot Christmas Tree Ornament
- Mini Mason Jar Christmas Ornament
Come Join Us!
Liked this article and want more? Follow along on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, TikTok, and YouTube!
Come over and join us on Facebook in the group Recipes, Crafts, and more with TipToe Fairy or Sewing and Crafting with The TipToe Fairy!
9 comments
cute, cute and more cute!! :o) Love these.. what a great tutorial. thanks so much for being part of my Crafty Christmas celebration… I just spread your blog all over social media land ;o) Emily
Thanks so much for letting me be a part of your Crafty Christmas, Emily!
So cute! I love making handmade Christmas ornaments
He is as cute as anything!! PINNING! Linda Crafts a la Mode
I don’t think I’m crafty enough to make these but good grief, it sure is cute! My son would love little Santas…I might just have to give it a try. *Pinning*
I can only dream of being crafty enough for this cute project. 🙂
That ornament is soo cute and I love that it is hand sewn. Means I could do it.
Hi Stephanie! Thank you so much for sharing this adorable tutorial with us. Even though Christmas is over, it’s a cute idea that I think I will try next year =) Just stopping by to let you know you’ve been featured at this week’s Get Crafty Friday! I hope you have a wonderful new year!
-Amy