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Have you ever wanted to know how to. make those pretty little velvet pumpkins for all? Well I did too! I made a few and was very pleased with how they turned out.
Material - soft stretchy fabric of choice
Poly Fill - Purchase at Walmart or Hobby Lobby
Hand Quilting Thread - Stronger than regular thread, purchase at Walmart
Yarn Needle - Purchase at Walmart, You need the longer length needles
Scissors
Dried Beans - For bottom weight.
Real Pumpkin Stems - Dried. You can purchase from Etsy or eBay or make your own using Air Dry Poly Clay by Crayola. Purchase at Walmart
Cut fabric in a circle anywhere from 12" to 24" The size of your circle will determine the size of your pumpkin. 16" or so is a good size to start with.
To cut fabric in a circle you can place the fabric down on a table and trace a circle with chalk, marking pen or marker. Then cut out the circle.
Watch the video for a shortcut to cutting a circle. It doesn't have be perfect. Pumpkins are not perfect)))
Thread the needle with the quilting thread. Quilting thread is stronger than regular sewing thread and you don't want to sew all the way around your circle and then have your thread to break! Thread needle with a double thread. Roll about two yards of thread off the spool and thread the needle. Even up the ends to where you have a double thread about 36" long. Place a knot in at the end of the thread. Make a good knot, you don't want it to pull through the fabric when you start gathering the fabric to close.
Start to sew on the wrong side of your fabric about 3/8" or so from the edge. A 1.4" is okay if you have fabric that doesn't unravel easy. Secure your starting point by backstitching over the starting point at least one. Tug on it to make sure that it's not going to pull through your fabric.
Make long stitches of about 1/2" and continue stitching around the edge of the circle. Stitch all the way back to your starting point without sewing into your starting point. Don't back stitch when you get to your stopping place.
Tug gently on the thread and pull the fabric edges up in a gather. It will start forming a sort of a pocket.
Once you get the opening down to around 3" inches, pour some of the dried beans into the pocket. A quarter cup should be more than enough. Less if the pumpkin is smaller and more if you're making a giant pumpkin. The beans just serve to add a little weight to the pumpkin making it sort of a "shelf sitter."
Having the bottom weight will keep the pumpkin sitting upright or in whatever position you have placed it in.
Fill the pumpkin with the fiberfill. Poke small handfuls into the pumpkin. Small handfuls work better than placing one large amount.
Keep stuffing until the fabric has no slack in it or where the fabric doesn't sag down from the weight of the beans.
Tug on your thread gently and close up the opening. The edges of the opening should all be touching each other.
Hold some tension on the thread with your left hand, and insert the needle on one side of the opening through to the opposite side. Pull the thread up tightly. Keep holding tension on the thread and make several stitches to close the pumpkin. Stitch around the closure from all sides making sure the gathers are snug and not going to come loose. Don't clip your thread, you're not finished yet.
Be careful with the needle! It's very sharp and this next step can be painful if you're not really paying attention.
Insert the long needle downward through the center of the top of the pumpkin.
VERY carefully push the needle through until it comes out in the bottom center of the pumpkin.
Pull the needle through the bottom of the pumpkin and hold a little tension on the thread.
Insert the needle back into the pumpkin from the bottom now (not in the exact same place you just came out of, move over a bit) and pull the needle out through the top center of the pumpkin.
Pull the thread gently until you get enough tension on the pumpkin to make the little bottom indention the way you want it. Don't pull it too tightly. Continue this same step for a couple more passes until. Three to four times should be plenty.
End off your stitching by make a few more stitches in the center of the top of the pumpkin. You can either clip your thread here, or hide the end.
I like to hide the end of my thread by inserting the needle back down into the pumpkin and pulling it through on the bottom. Pull the thread gently and snip. Once you let go, the thread will be pulled back into the pumpkin and you don't have any loose ends that might pop out later and show.
Attach your real pumpkin stem with hot glue. I painted the real pumpkin stems that we purchased from Etsy using black and gold metallic paint. We purchased the paint in the craft section of Walmart.
If you can't get your hands on any real stems, you can make them! I used Air Dry Clay purchased from Walmart in the kids section. I'm sure there are other products that you can use, but this one worked fine.
Just grab about a handful of clay and roll into a ball. About the size of a golf ball or bit larger. Roll it between your hands to get the air out and fashion into a pumpkin stem. Make it flat on the bottom by tapping on a table. Make ridges along the length of the stem using a toothpick, orange stick or paper clip. Don't try to make it too perfect, it should be rustic looking.
This clay is heavy, so don't try to make your stem too long or the top will fall over. Shorter stubbier stems work better. Thick stems are less likely to break than thin one. But I honestly can't say how durable this clay will be. I haven't dropped one so far or broken one, so, it remains to be seen.
It takes a couple of days for the clay to air dry, but I speeded this process up by placing on parchment paper on a cookie sheet with oven at the very lowest temperature. I didn't time the stems exactly, but they stayed in the oven most of the day.
Paint the dried stems the color of your choice. I did some gold and then went back with some black paint on top of that to give them a bit of an antique look.
Glue the stem to the center of the pumpkin using hot glue. Be careful not to use too much glue or it will squish out around the edges when you press it to the pumpkin.
My first attempt was to just dip the stem into the hot glue pan and then place on the pumpkin. Glue squished out everywhere. After that, I just applied glue to the bottom of the stem making sure to cover it okay, but without excess.
If you should wind up with some excess glue around the edge of your stem that shows, don't try to remove it. You're likely to dislodge your stem. Just take something like a permanent marker and color it black or whatever matches your pumpkin best. Permanent markers can cover up a lot of mistakes!
Well I hope you enjoyed this velvet pumpkin tutorial. I had fun making them and have plans to do a few more. It's been hard to find the fabric though! Maybe we've been too picky....that could be part of it)))
If you have any questions or would like to leave a comment, please do so here:
Thanks for visiting our blog. We appreciate it so much! We do have velvet pumpkins on Trendy Tree. They are not the homemade kind, but if we sell out.....just grab some fabric and make some for yourself!
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