DIY Embellished Fabric Pumpkins for Fall

Fall is just around the corner, so it’s time to start bringing pumpkins into the house. I have an easy diy tutorial today, sharing how to make embellished fabric pumpkins that look charming and keep all throughout the season!

I recently shared some of these fabric pumpkins in my fall mantel vignette and with my followers on instagram. If you know my style, then you know I had to put my own unique spin on them with some bohemian flair.

Even though, I am sure there are tons of tutorials out there on how to make fabric pumpkins, I thought it couldn’t hurt to share my version. The materials you will need:

MATERIALS:
-Your choice of fabric (I chose chevron and tribal patterns, burlap and faux fur)
-Polyester fiber fill
-Found sticks in various sizes depending on the size of the pumpkin
-Spanish moss
-Small feathers
-Jewelry pieces and/or buttons

TOOLS:

While I was at Jo-Ann Fabrics recently, I picked up some awesome tribal inspired and faux fur fabrics. And I was pleasantly surprised when I happened upon several different chevron fabrics, including the burlap one, at Walmart, for very low prices per yard.

The majority of this tutorial is based on how I made the small orange chevron pumpkin.

To start, you need to cut the fabric in a circle. You can get creative with a “stencil” for this. I used a bowl from my kitchen and traced it with chalk. This bowl is about 9″ in diameter and the finished pumpkin is about 4″ in diameter to give you a reference for size. The larger the circle the larger the pumpkin!

Once you have your circle, the next step is to do a basic stitch all the way around the edge (leaving about 1/4″ seam. The stitch does not have to perfect at all – you don’t need any fancy sewing skills for this. Just go in and out with the needle all the way around the edge.

I chose to use a thicker thread (one for crocheting) and a larger eye needle. This thread will be pulled, so it needs to be sturdy. Once you have gone in and out a few times, you can start pulling it gently to gather it.

Continue sewing and gently gathering all the way around until you come back to where you started. Then you can start filling it with stuffing. The more stuffing, the firmer the pumpkin will be. You may need to loosen the thread a bit to get it completely full.

Once you have it to the thickness that you like, pull the thread as tight as you can get it, leaving just enough room for a stick to fit in. Then tie it up tight!

The next step, is to fill the inside of the hole with some hot glue and put the stick inside. Hold it in until it is secure (a few seconds). I chose sticks from our yard that were dried out and could easily be broken to the sizes that I wanted. If you are handy with a saw (I am not!) you could go that route.

Place some glue around the stick where it meets the fabric and press a small clump of Spanish moss around it (take caution during this step not to burn yourself!). I find it easiest to grab a handful and spread it into a small ring to fit over the stick and the push it in towards the base.

You can be finished at this point if you prefer, or add some embellishments! I chose my embellishments based on the style of each fabric.

You can get creative with this part. I found some old buttons, small feathers and vintage jewelry pieces that fit with the look of each pumpkin.

I followed all of the same steps as above for the other pumpkins, but for the faux fur, tribal pattern and burlap chevron, I actually traced a ceiling medallion, to make larger ones. See, I told you to get creative finding circles to trace!

I sewed them in the same manner, but with the burlap used more caution to keep it from fraying.

I embellished the burlap fabric with some cute vintage buttons.

The white fur pumpkins were embellished with salvaged jewelry pieces and feathers.

The tribal patterned pumpkin got a little feather and geometric button.