PUMPKINS! I LOVE PUMPKINS!

Most people who have followed this blog for any length of time realize that I have a "thing" for pumpkins...in fact when Autumn season comes along you will find us traveling...with mini pumpkins on our dash...WooHoo...It is now Autumn!

Pumpkin Time :)

So I went surfing, on the internet,  for a tutorial on how to create a fabric pumpkin and found just the pumpkin I wanted to make...on a wonderful blog... "The Simple Wife", click on the blog name to be taken to her tutorial...it was written in 2008 so it may take a few minutes to load...but it is worth it!

 Today, I went to work creating my fabric pumpkin:

First I chose a piece of heavy upholstery fabric (my suggestions is to use a lighter weight fabric for your first pumpkin, this was harder to work with).  I looked at both sides of my piece...

And decided to use the "wrong" side since it had more orange in it...


Following the directions on The Simple Wife I put the 2 ends together and created a seam, I used my sewing machine but this could be hand sewn also.

Next, I hand sewed a large running stitch all along one edge, about 1&1/2" up from the edge.  This was my gathering thread and it needs to be a strong thread and a double thread to make sure it does not break as you gather.  When the gathering was tight I tied the thread ends together and ran a few stitches through the fabric to make sure the gathers held.

I then turned my Pumpkin  so the correct side was now out....

 At this point I hand sewed another running stitch around the top edge of the pumpkin, again about 1 to 1&1/2" from the edge.  I did not gather it yet.

Joanne, The Simple Wife,  recommends filling your pumpkin with a mix of fiberfill stuffing and either rice or beans...for me it worked best to put a layer of fiberfill on the bottom, the filler in the middle and another layer of fiberfill on top, I also shoved fiberfill into the nooks and crannies to get the pumpkin shape I wanted.

After filling my pumpkin I gathered the top with the running stitch, tied the threads and sewed the top a little tighter to secure the thread.

Now for the stem,  Joanne suggests using actual stems from a pumpkin if you can obtain them without removing them from pumpkins in a store :)  I had no pumpkin stems :(  but I do have a husband willing to go the extra mile for me...in this case it meant he went to our yard and "trimmed" some bushes to find the perfect chunk of branch for my pumpkin :)  

Thanks Honey!

I inserted the stem into the hole where the top is gathered, (mine is not secured  yet)...Joanne suggests gluing it with hot glue...but for now it seems fine just as it is :) 

I have it sitting, with 2 others I created today, on my table...Once you get the hang of making these they take about an hour each...

Thanks Joanne for putting your tutorial together, it was perfect!


VE aka VintageEmbellishment