I have been reading tutorials and experimenting with pumpkin making and I must admit I have gone sorta pumpkin crazy! I love pumpkins, and just the thought of being able to create them anyway I want makes me kind of giddy~
I have tried 4 different methods:
1. “grab and tie” method:
A yard of burlap, a big ball of stuffing, pull the corners up then bring in the gaping sides and try to hold it all in a tight cluster. This ain’t easy, definitely easier said than done~ but don’t give up, you can cover up the mess at the top with a wide burlap ribbon! Secure with a rubber band, then tie tightly with twine. Now tie lengths of twine tightly around pumpkin forming 8 sections.
Curl some flexible large gauge wire and hot glue some corks together for a stem
Tie a fat length of burlap, or any ribbon you like, into a half knot and hot glue to the top of your pumpkin, covering the mess you made when you tied everything together! Add the curled wire and cork stem~
2. “cut and sew” method:
Starting from top right, I made a chalk outline on the fabric, folded, right sides together, and cut a round shape, using the fold for the bottom of the pumpkin.
After sewing seams on both sides and leaving the top open, turn pumpkin right side out and stuff. Pack stuffing tightly so pumpkin will keep it’s shape when you tie the twine sections. Tie the top. Then tie 8 twine sections. Far left photo shows pumpkin bottom.
Now, with a heavier jute, gather the fabric at the top together and wrap tightly, forming a stem and securing end of jute with a dot of glue
I still had a hot mess of knots which I snipped the ends and once again covered my sins with a fat burlap length of ribbon.
I added a few sea shells and a little bling on the stem, just for fun!
3. “sew and fold” method:
Follow the steps as in method #2, but instead of gathering the fabric at the top for the stem, fold in under as you would wrapping a package as it top right photo. Then proceed with tying the twine sections. The stems for these were simply 3 wine corks tied together with a wrapping of twine and hot glued to the pumpkin top. A length of craft ribbon was added for decorative purposes and to cover the twine knots. This ribbon was stiff enough to hold a gentle curl. I also added white burlap leaf shapes to the pumpkin on the left.
4. “circle and gather” method:
A pumpkin made from a circle takes a lot of fabric, but has perhaps the most professional looking result. A yard will only yield a smallish pumpkin. You can easily cut a circle by folding your fabric into quarters and cutting.
Once you have your circle, machine sew parallel basting lines one inch from the edge and pull to gather. This is difficult with burlap and I don’t have more pictures because I basically got it partially gathered and then used a stapler to hold it together at the top! proceeded with the grab and stuff method. This works a lot better with a fabric that gathers easily.
So this one got a GIANT burlap bow, to cover up my sins!
it’s fun to pile them up with real pumpkins too!
pumpkins have so much personality!
You can always paint them too!
My methods are a little crude, and my instructions are confusing, so if you want to see some good tutorials, you can click on the links below:
There are tons of clever pumpkins out there, all kinds of fabrics, shapes and sizes, I hope you’ll give it a shot and have some fun
Playing with Pumpkins!
_____________________
all craft materials are from Hobby Lobby
I used poly fill for stuffing, $2.99 a bag. One bag will stuff 2 medium sized pumpkins. You can also use grocery bags, old t-shirts etc. You can also place a box or ball shape in the center as a space filler, and put stuffing all around it.
________________________
I will be linking up to these great blog parties: