How To Dress Like A Garden Gnome

DIY gnome costume is one of the easiest to put together! With all the right materials available, you can throw it together in a matter of an hour. Quick and Easy Garden Gnome Halloween DIY Costume Idea: Perfect for Babies and Toddlers!

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Truth to tell, when we start talking costumes, my husband and I often get very excited and suggest one extravagant idea after another. So, for my son's first Halloween, we were planning to make a little sheik's costume – scabbard, turban and everything. Our other idea was a musketeer costume, which, by the way, we did a year later. But time flew fast, and there we were, a few days before the Halloween party we were organizing for our baby friends, and still no costume in sight.

All of a sudden, my husband announced, "Don't you think a garden gnome costume would look cute?"

I was hesitant. "Well… It is certainly not the prince of the desert I imagined, but if I think about it, the turban will probably not stay on, and the scabbard will get lost after being professionally drooled on, so a garden gnome may be a better idea."

Just like this, our little sheik has been turned into a gnome. So what do you need to make a garden gnome costume?

Materials

All of that we either had at home already or got from a thrift store in a quick shopping trip.

DIY Garden Gnome Costume

DIY Gnome tunic: Our son was ten months old on his first Halloween. He was a big boy though and usually wore 2T, but the sweater we chose in the thrift store was a few sizes larger. As a result, it was like a little tunic on him. Tied with a belt, it looked just right! We also sewed a few big buttons onto it.

Gnome pants and shoes: They did not require any additional work. Our son wore his normal sweatpants and boots.

Gnome hat: Red felt was used for making a conical hat, and white felt worked as a beard. The hat is a gnome's pride and treasure, and that's what required most work!

Gnome Hat Tutorial

1. Measure the circumference of your future gnome's head. Then, decide how tall you want the hat to be. Those are the two numbers you will need.

2. On a piece of paper, draw a straight line in any direction, starting in the centre of the paper – make the line as long as the hat will be tall.

3. Using a compass or a pencil on a string, draw a circle using one end of the line as the centre and the other end as the edge of the circle. You will only need part of the circle for your pattern – the same length as your gnome's head circumference. Start measuring where the straight line meets the circle, then make a mark where the circle will end. Draw a line from there in to the centre. When you are done, your pattern will look similar to the one below.

Pattern for a Garden Gnome Halloween DIY costume 4. Add 1 cm seam allowance all around the pattern.
5. Transfer the pattern to the cloth, then cut it out.
6. Fold the cloth in two, then sew up the open side of the cone.
7. Hem the bottom.

As for the beard, all you need is to transfer a beard design onto the white felt, cut it out and sew the ends to the hat. The beard will act as a chin strap, and help to hold the hat in place.

The garden gnome is ready to go on an adventure! Can you guess what my husband and I went as?

Quick and Easy Garden Gnome Halloween DIY Costume: Perfect for Babies and Toddlers!

A year later, my little gnome has outgrown all of those clothes – except for the 4T sweater. I packed his gnome hat in a small box, labelled "1st year" – it was one of the keepsakes left from that year that I wanted to save.

Quick and Easy Garden Gnome Halloween DIY Costume: Perfect for Babies and Toddlers!