DIY Decor Tutorial: Fabulous Fall Fabric Pumpkins

This year at the Deseret News Home Show, we'll be bringing you some fabulous do-it-yourself ideas! Come check out our skilled experts on stage, they'll inspire you to decorate, renovate, and refresh your home both simply and creatively!  

To prepare you for the show, we're bringing you a tutorial for these darling fabric pumpkins.  Fun and easy to make, the key to making these is to pick unexpected fabric combinations that will really pop in your home.

Here’s what you need:

• Fabric
• Scissors
• Straight edge ruler
• Yarn
• Embroidery Floss
• Tape measure
• Polyester Fiberfill
• Embroidery needles
• Long embroidery needle
• Sewing machine (optional)
• Hot glue gun (optional)

Directions: 

The size of your fabric should be twice as long as it is wide.. i.e. a 6"x12", or a 9"x18", etc. I made some very small pumpkins and my largest is a finished size of around 12"x12". A grouping of several sizes makes for a great table centerpiece, or put them on a shelf, etc.\

Once you've cut your fabric, fold it in half so that the wrong side of the fabric is on the outside.
Sew down the side opposite the fold.

Use a longer stitch to sew along one of the other open sides so you can gather the fabric to close that end.
Flip fabric right side out and stuff with polyester fiberfill (the pumpkins look better the fuller they are).
Hand stitch/gather shut the remaining open end.

To create the creases/sections found in real pumpkins, use yarn or embroidery floss.

Stick your needle with the yarn or embroidery floss in the center of the pumpkin and pull needle through to the other side.

Now you're going to pull your needle and yarn down and back through the bottom of your pumpkin, and repeat all the way around (I did this 3-4 times depending on the size of the pumpkin). Up through the bottom, through the top, back down and up through the bottom, through the top, etc.

Pull tightly as you go around. The tighter you pull; you'll get more defined the "sections" around your pumpkin will be.

When you have created your desired amount of sections, tie off the yarn or embroidery thread.

To create a stem, simply take a different/contrasting fabric and sew a stem shape (“U” shape) with the right sides of the fabric together. The fatter the stem, the easier it will be to flip right side out and fill with Polyester Fiberfill.

Turn stem right side out and fill, then stitch the open end of stem shut.  Hot glue or stitch the stem to the pumpkin. 

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OCTOBER 11-13, 2013

SOUTH TOWNE EXPO CENTER