Fabric Pumpkins ⎮ Part 2

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Last week I posted a tutorial on how to make some adorable fabric pumpkins from recycled clothes. I love any project where I can give something old new life. The first fabric pumpkin tutorial showed you how to make pumpkins from a tube, like a pant leg or torso of a shirt, this week I want to show you how to make a pumpkin from a circle!

This opens up a lot of new material options! You could use the back section of an old coat, recycled towels, bed sheets, blankets, scrap fabric left over from other crafty projects, nearly any type of fabric you can cut a circle out of can be used to make a cute, festive pumpkin.

In today’s tutorial, I am actually using some adorable chic fabric to make pumpkins for a sweet baby girls first birthday she has coming up next month. Make sure you are following me on Instagram so you can see pictures of the party, with all the adorable pumpkins we make today lying around.

Here is what you will need

A circle to use as a template (A dinner plate will make a pumpkin that is about 4”-5” in diameter, the bigger the circle, the bigger the pumpkin)
A pencil or something to trace your circle onto the fabric with.
Scissors
Yarn (It doesn’t really matter what kind as long as its strong)
Tapestry needle
Embroidery needle
Embroidery thread
Polyfill
Hot glue gun and sticks
Stem (I am using about 1.5” pieces of a stick I got out of my back yard.)

Lay out your fabric

Trace your circle onto the fabric, then cut it out.

Cut a piece of embroidery thread about 12-18 inches long. It’s better to cut it too long than too short.

Thread your embroidery needle with your embroidery thread and begin doing a running stitch around the edge of your circle, about 1/4 inch from the top (good side facing out). Be careful to leave a long tail for tying and don’t let it pull through your stitches.

TIP: A running stitch is just fancy talk for pushing your needle in and out of the fabric. Here is a quick video if you’re a visual learner.

Start to gather all the fabric by squishing it, and pulling your embroidery thread, until you get a ball-like shape.

Stuff your pumpkin with polyfill.

Gather your fabric and tie a knot, closing the hole. If you struggle with this part try getting someone to hold the pumpkin closed while you tie the knot. You want the hole to be completely closed so your polyfill doesn’t pop back out. Then secure by running a few stitches through the hole in a couple different directions.

Cut a long piece of yarn (about 3 feet), again, longer is better. Thread it onto your tapestry needle.

Push your needle from the top of your pumpkin (not directly in the hole made from bunching the fabric, go a little on the outside of that hole) and out the bottom. Be sure to leave a tail for tying. Then insert your needle back up the bottom of the pumpkin and out the top (again on the outside of the hole and not directly through it.) Tie a knot as tight as you can to squeeze the top and bottoms of the pumpkin together.

Now we are going to create our pumpkin’s sections. Wrap your yarn around the outside body of the pumpkin and back into the bottom, and out the top. Pull taut. This will create the “sections” in your pumpkin. Repeat all the way around your pumpkin until you get your desired amount of sections. Remember they do not have to all be the same size, pumpkins aren’t perfect 😉

When you are back to the beginning, tie a knot with your original yarn tail and cut your yarn.

Time to attach your stick stem. Squeeze a big dob of hot glue in the center of the top of your pumpkin (mine is where the hole was, but if your fabric has a pattern or design on it you can easily put your stick on the other side) Hold your stick stem on the hot glue dob for a few seconds, while pushing down into the pumpkin.

And that completes your fabric pumpkin! I can’t wait to see how cute these pumpkins are at baby Mia’s one-year birthday party. These little pumpkins would make great party decorations, fall home decor, party favors, thank you gifts, teacher gifts, pretty much any way you could think of would be a great way to use them, they’re so adorable. I hope you guys love this tutorial and I can’t wait to see y’alls pumpkins!! I love love love it when you tag me in your photos so I can see your creations. I have some pretty creative and fabulous readers. ????