Wooden Peg People

There are lots of tutorials on making these wooden peg people, and I am constantly inspired by the gnomes created over on Wee Folk Art's blog. They are amazing - go and visit them and check out their gorgeous gnome houses and all the other wonderful things they make.

What is wonderful about these gnomes, is you use pre-made wooden bases, and with a few felt scraps, and a little bit of haberdashery, you can make each one unique and different. These gnomes above were made with plain felt, but I added a bit of glitter glue to embellish them when they were complete.

These gnomes represent the four seasons... Spring (blossoms); Summer (strawberries); Autumn; Winter. I used embroidery thread and sequins for Spring; embroidery thread for Summer; tiny leaves cut out of felt for Autumn; ribbon and embroidery thread for winter.

The backs of the four seasons

If you want to embellish your gnomes, do it all before sewing the felt onto the gnome.

Some people glue the felt onto the peg dolls, but I prefer to stitch. I don't like the feel of felt when it has been glued. 

I don't really measure my felt properly... I just lay the peg doll onto the felt to see how high to cut it, and roll it around the base to see how long to cut it. Then I use that piece of felt as a template for cutting out more bases. 

The cape is done pretty much the same way. I cut a small rectangle, making sure it fits around the neck of the peg doll. To shape it, I fold the felt in half lengthwise so that when I cut it into a cape, it is the same on both sides.

Embellish the body before sewing it onto the peg doll.

Stitch the body onto the peg doll starting from the bottom, and go up to the top.

When you reach the top, do a running stitching around the neck. 

Pull the thread tight, to gather in the felt around the neckline.

Secure the thread with a few stitches.

Pull the thread down through the inside of the felt to the bottom, and snip with scissors to hide the thread.

If you want to embellish the cape, do so before attaching to the peg doll. 

Place the cape on the peg doll, making sure that the the seam of the body is at the back. The cape will hide most of the stitching.  

Secure the front of the cape with a few stitches.

For the hat, cut a triangle to fit around the head, and sew two sides together to create a cone. It took me a few goes to make a hat that fit. 

Glue the hat onto the head, making sure the seam on the hat lines up with the seam on the body at the back.

These gnomes are perfect for using in Small World Play, and you can adapt them to whatever scene you wish to create. I love setting up small world play areas and scenes to promote children's imagination, oral language, and collaborative play. Play is such a an important way that children learn. Imaginative play, dramatic or role play, and small world play, enables children to process their own ideas, their knowledge and experiences, and what they have seen and heard, to make sense of their world.

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