Fabric Pumpkins

I started seeing these cute pumpkins pop up all over the internet in preparation for Halloween.  I can tell you that the minute I saw them, I fell in love and knew I just had to try my hand at them.

The first one I made is still adorable but not exactly what I wanted, but by the time I got to the second one???  Yeah I was head over heels in love.

I have four right now and two just waiting for me to finish, let me tell you, if you're looking for a quick project that takes but a few basic sewing stitches, then these are the ones to try.

I used a couple tutorials, like this one and this one as my guides, but I changed some of the steps in mine.

Can I say how irritated I am that Walmart is getting rid of all their Fabric Departments?  I mean really????  Anyway, I was able to find some fabric quarters in a basket near the sewing stuff, seems like they were the last they had.



I love my sewing machine, it's very therapeutic hearing the brrrrrr of the machine as it zips through the fabric.

So basically you're cutting your fabric into a rectangle, you can follow the sizes on those tutorials above, or you can just wing it like I did.  I did smaller rectangles for smaller pumpkins.

Fold your rectangle, right-sides together.  Stitch down the long-side (side to the right) with a regular straight-stitch.  Then run a gathering stitch around the bottom.  Pulling on the bobbin thread, gather the fabric as tight as you can, be careful not to pull too hard so you don't break the thread.  Tie your thread ends together.



Turn inside out and fill with fiberfill or whatever stuffing you have on hand.  I actually popped a cinnamon stick in two of mine just to give it a little scent.



At this point I made the stem, all you need is a small 4in x 2 1/2in rectangle.  Fold in half, right sides together and sew an "L" shape, top edge and side edge, leaving bottom open for stuffing. Turn stem right side out and stuff stem with fiberfill.



After I filled mine, I took some embroidery thread in a matching color, and sewed a running stitch along the top, leaving about half an inch edge. The way I do it is to leave a long tail and start sewing, when I get back to the beginning stitch I cut the thread leaving another longish tail.....then I grab both ends of the thread and start pulling gently to gather the material.  When it's as tight as I can get it, I tie a tight knot and cut the excess thread.



Take some twine or embroidery floss and wrap it around the pumpkin (very tightly).  Do this as if you were wrapping a present.  Loop it around, then cross-over, around and cross-over.  You will cross-over at the top and bottom of the pumpkin.  Go back and forth until you have sections on each pumpkin.  Finish by simply tying in a knot.
Attach the stem to the pumpkin making sure to cover the puckered edges where you gathered the fabric.  I used a blind hem stitch, or just do whatever, just remember that you'll tie a ribbon on afterwards to hide any imperfections.

I made these 4 pumpkins in 1 hour and that is because I kept having to stop to take care of the kids and dinner etc.  They whip up really fast.

I still have another two just waiting for the stems to be attached.  I think I'm going to go through my fabric stash and make a bunch more, I want a huge one and maybe some tiny little ones too.



Just have fun with it and if you do make some, please come back over and let me know so that I can come and see them :)