Portobello Road: Fall Fabric Pumpkins

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Fall Fabric Pumpkins

The leaves are starting to change and the rain has hit the ground running. It is officially Fall in Portland. Remember that little giveaway last week! Our fabric pumpkins...well I couldn't very well give some cute little pumpkins away without telling how to make them yourselves now could I?

Here is what you will need:

Fall Fabric

Yarn

Steel yarn needles

Embroidery thread needles

Embroidery thread

Stuffing

Felt for stem
Needle nose plyers (optional)

Sewing machine (optional)

These pumpkins were adapted from some pumpkins I saw on Pinterest. Mine are a little different (specifically the stem). There is a very long and detailed, picture by picture tutorial here if you need more instruction then what I have below.

Start by cutting your fabric. I tried to be creative and make tall ones and shorter wide ones. But the tall ones are very hard to work with. I recommend square ones. The size of fabric you'll need could be 12"x24" and 9"x18" and 7"x14". Just take what size you want and double the length. Take the cut fabric and fold in half, so it makes a square. Sew up the opposite side to the folded side. I used a sewing machine but you could hand stitch it as well.

It should look like this...

top

bottom

Then thread your embroidery needle with the embroidery thread. Start at the top and do a loose stitch.

Pull thread and gather together.

Then take your needle and thread it back and it forth a few times (this is where the plyers come in handy), tie off with a sewing knot. (make a stitch, but leave a loop, and stick the needle back through the loop, pull needle all the way through and pull tight)

Turn right side out, and stuff with filling.

Make sure its full, but not too full that you could not pinch together and sew it shut. Now do the same thing that you did to the other side. Pull together, then take your needle and thread it back and it forth a few times, tie off with a sewing knot. (make a stitch, but leave a loop, and stick the needle back through the loop, pull needle all the way through)

The pretty side will be your bottom. All the knots and yucky stuff will be covered by your stem later. Cut about 3 feet of yarn. Thread your yarn needle. Tie a big knot at the end of your yarn. Start at the top/center and pull your needle all the way through to the bottom. You might have to push the top and the bottom together to get the needle through. Repeat a few times, then pull tight. It should be starting to look more pumpkin like.

Then start to do your outer loops. Just keep going up and down through the center, but this time wrap your yarn on the outside. Pull and do the next one. Up and down, up and down. I think I had about 8 lines on each pumpkin.