Sunday, September 12, 2010

Pumpkin Love

I just love it when inspiration for a project and completion of the project are just hours apart. So often, especially with me, projects take weeks to go from an idea to a completed project...

But not this one. Or should I say, these ones...


Meet my little collection of pumpkins. I know, they aren't orange... I do have some orange fabric, and I'll make a few orange pumpkins, but these neutral tones, this mix of textures, they were my original vision that I just had to go with.

Here is how they started - by finding this silly little red fabric apply while shopping for supplies for another project at JoAnn's on Saturday.


I picked it up - and thought "too bad this wasn't a pumpkin."

Muahahaha...

Over to the remnant section I went to find all sort of wonderful textured neutral fabrics. I'll admit it, I didn't say limited to the remnant section, I did buy a few off the bolt... But I have another project to make use of all the scraps to it was well worth it.

Here is how I made my little collection of pumpkin love...

Materials:

  • Fabric
  • Paper (to make your pattern)
  • Tread
  • String, twine or yarn
  • Sharpie, marker or pen
  • Fabric scissors
  • Paper scissors
  • Streamers
  • 2 buttons (per pumpkin)
  • LONG needle. I mean LONG - The one I used was 4".
  • You can ignore the twig pictured above, I thought I was going to use it. I didn't. 
  • Hot glue (not pictured)
  • Pins (not pictured)
  • Polyfil (not picture)
Step 1 - Create your paper pattern. You'll need 6 pieces of fabric exactly the same size and shape, so create a pattern from a piece of paper:


1B - Fold the paper in half corner to corner. (This just maximizes the size of the paper, you're really welcome to fold it anyway you please... go ahead... go wild with the way you fold your paper. As long as it is in half.)


1C - Draw an arc along the fold.


1D - Cut the arc and open it to reveal your pattern shape. (Please use paper scissors... Don't ruin your sewing scissors on paper... don't do it.)



Step 2 - Pin the pattern to your fabric and cut 6 identical pieces. Depending on your quality of scissors you might be able to get all 6 of your pieces cut at once.



Step 3 - Pin the fabric in pairs, right sides together.


Step 4 - Sew the pairs, right sides together down the right arc.


Step 5 - With the 3 pairs sewn together, take 2 of the pairs and sew them together, right sides together.


Step 6 - Add the 3rd pair and sew it to the first 2, right sides together, being sure to leave about a 2-3" gap so you can turn it right side out.


Step 7 - Flip the fabric right side out and stuff the sucker full of stuffing. Hand sew the whole shut... (my least favorite part of any project where hand sewing is involved.)




Step 8 - Time to take this ball we've created (pictured above) and turn it into a pumpkin. Thread a button on the bottom of the ball where the 6 pieces some together. Then push the long needle through to the other side. I needed a pair of pliers to pull the needle through.



Then push the needle back down to the bottom of the pumpkin pulling the string as tight as you can so that the top and bottom buttons come together a bit and pucker the pumpkin.


It will look a bit like this:


Step 9 - Now it is time to make the ridges along the sides of the pumpkin by taking the string from top to bottom, around the button, then back from bottom to top, around the button and so on and so on. You can either evenly space the string, or you can vary it - whatever works for you.





Step 10 - Create a stem and tendrils out of the streamers and hot glue them to the top.




And there you - pumpkins!!!




47 comments:

  1. DARLING DARLING! I love that you gave a teriffic tutorial too. WAY TO GO! Jen

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  2. Wow those are awesome. Thanks for all the step by step. So cute.

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  3. Love those pumpkins! Super cute idea. Love your blog and I am a new follower! Stop by if you get a chance:
    www.karismaheartsavnannah.blogspot.com

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  4. Maggie - these are gorgeous. I love the neutral fabrics and textures. Great tutorial. I'll be featuring this tomorrow - Stop by and grab a featured button if you like. Thanks for linking up to the Sunday Showcase. I greatly appreciate it. Hope you have a fabulous week. Stephanie Lynn

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  5. These are just wonderful and thanks so much for the wonderful tutorial.

    blessings, jilly
    visiting from cottage instincts

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  6. Beautiful!!
    I love those fabrics you used!

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  7. Saw this on your link from Craft-O-Maniac's Maniac Monday Party!

    Love this and you have a new follower! I would love to feature this for the run up to Halloween.

    Thanks for the great tutorial! x

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  8. This is too cute for words! I love them. It would be perfect for linking up to our Fall Decorations link up party, would love to have you join in!

    http://texasmonkey.blogspot.com/2010/09/all-about-you-monday-fall-decorations.html

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  9. I love, love your pumpkins!!! I do have a question -- how do you make the stems and tendrils??? What are they stuff with? I love the way they twist and turn. Is there wire inside?

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  10. These are so cute! how clever you are!

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  11. These are AWESOME!!!

    Sherry

    http://www.southerngirlcreations.blogspot.com

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  12. Your pumpkins are just fabulous! I love all of the different fabrics.

    Chelsea

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  13. Hey Judy - I can post more details about the stems and tendrils tonight, they are just streamers that have been rolled and twisted.

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  14. So sew cute! I love them. Wish I could sew, but I don't have the sewing gene. Jennifer

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  15. Sew cute... sorry for the lame pun...cant help it. They really are very cute.
    Have a great day.

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  16. Just adorable!! Love the neutral fabrics. They look so cute together.

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  17. Wowzers - those are just lovely !


    thanks for sharing,
    gena
    www.thehouseonlavenderhill.blogspot.com

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  18. thanks for linking up :) I am featuring you next week!

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  19. If it weren't so late at night, I'd probably jump in my car, head to JoAnn's and rade the remnant bin to make my own! These are fabulous... and I love the neutrals! Thanks for sharing!

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  20. gorgeous....love the colors. Im not much for the bright orange this year inside. I love this idea...great tutorial post.

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  21. Again, I love these! They are so gorgeous and FAB, thank you for linking up with All About You Monday. I hope you come back next week where the theme is all about ribbon but any fun project, craft, recipe, etc is welcomed! So glad I found your blog!

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  22. Love it, love it, love it! I think I need to do a little stash busting.

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  23. Maggie, these are adorable! Love the fabrics you chose too. Very cute fall project!

    Jennifer

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  24. Love these in the neutral fabrics--they'll go with any decor from year to year and always look elegant!

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  25. Man I need to learn how to sew!
    Just gorgeous!!!

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  26. Dang I wish I could sew!! These are super cute!! I LOVE the colors...I'm really into the white pumpkins this year...they are so elegant!

    Stopping by from The CSI Project!

    www.thesimpler-life.blogspot.com

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  27. These are just too fabulous!! Way to go girly!! I'm so happy to be your newest follower of your delightful blog and I would love to have you as a friend at Frou Frou Decor! I'd also like to invite you to link your sweet creations up at my weekly Fabulous Friday Finds party! Hope to see you there!
    Hugs to you,
    ~Terrell @ Frou Frou Decor~

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  28. These are great! Thanks for sharing!

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  29. Wow! I really love the twisted string stems!!

    I'd love for you to come and join my Fall link party next Friday (Sept. 24) and stop by because I'll be posting fall projects all week and featuring others too!

    ~JILL
    http://envirocraftiness.blogspot.com/2010/09/fall-week.html

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  30. Soooo pretty - love the neutrals.

    I hope you don't mind. I linked your post to my PORCH AND GARDEN PARTY at firstadream.blogspot.com.

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  31. WOW! I am super impressed. These are absolutely gorgeous! How creative to turn an apple into a pumpkin!

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  32. They look amazing! I have seen a lot of fabric pumpkins, but I love all of the detail you added to yours with the stitching. They are beautiful!

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  33. super creative, and super cute!! LOVE!!

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  34. LOVE these! I am sharing on my Facebook Page! :)

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  35. This was one of my favorite projects from last week's Mad Skills party, so I will be featuring it this morning!

    madincrafts.blogspot.com

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  36. love these! and so easy to make, thanks for sharing!!

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  37. Well done, Maggie! I love this! I featured your pumpkins on my blog today:

    http://oopsey-daisy.blogspot.com/2010/09/pumpkin-patch-at-oopsey-daisy.html

    Thanks for the inspiration!
    ~Alison

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  38. WOW! Another terrific tutorial! Thanks for sharing!

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  39. Beautiful! I linked to your project over at Pumpkin Week:
    http://www.alwaysexpectmoore.com/search?updated-max=2010-10-03T18%3A00%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7

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  40. Wow, Maggie, these turned out incredible. I love them so much that I would almost leave them out all year long. They are that cute, and halloweenish, but yet very NOT, ya know. Perfect. The fabric is lovely, and gives them so much character. Way to go on these, and you know I would like to invite you over to my place to LINK these awesome pumpkins up. I have a special party for Halloween **6 weeks 2 Spook** in addition to my weekly one, so hope to see you at either. Link away girl, you are full of AWESOME ideas, looking forward to seeing more from you. Bella :)your happy newest follower.

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  41. These are amazing! I hope you'll come link up to my Halloween party this weekend. They turned out fantastic! whilehewasnapping.blogspot.com

    Krista

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  42. Love these. Thanks for sharing!

    Warmly, Michelle

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