Fabric Pumpkins for
Halloween or Thanksgiving
Read all of the instructions before starting.
These pumpkins are economical, fast, easy and fun to make. You can make them in 7 different sizes for any decorating need and they make great gifts for autumn celebrations! You can make them plain and simple from solid or print fabrics, or embellish them in any number of ways for Halloween, Thanksgiving or just plain Fall. Everyone in my family has a set (it started with just mine!) and soon a new tradition was born; it is the official opening of the fall season, and all the wonderful holidays that follow, when the pumpkin decorations come out!
List of Materials:
Fabric Scraps Required for Various Sized Pumpkins:
- Extra Small; 3", 4" or 5" high X 8" long
- Small; 6", 7" or 8" high X 14" long
- Medium; 9 ½", 10 ½ " or 11 ½ " high X 20" long
- Medium Large; 12 ½ ", 13 ½ " or 14 ½ " X 26" long
- Large; 15", 16" or 17" high X 30" long
- Extra Large; 18", 19" or 20" high X 36" long
- Extra-Extra Large; 22", 23" or 24" high X 42" long
The shortest height will produce a squat pumpkin, the middle number will produce a nicely proportioned pumpkin, while the largest height number will produce a tall pumpkin.
- Matching Thread
- Matching Carpet or Upholstery Thread
- Polyester Fiberfill
- Twigs for Pumpkin Stems
- Artificial, Fabric or Felt Leaves, optional
- Acrylic Paint, in colors of your choice, optional
- Glow in the Dark Paint, optional
Fabrics such as cotton, muslin, and blends work best, but any kind of fabric will do. For Halloween, use Halloween prints, solid colors or muslin that is painted or dyed with Jack O Lantern faces that are appliquéd, embroidered or painted with acrylic paint and/or glow in the dark paint. Use fall colored prints, plaids, stripes, checks or solids for Thanksgiving pumpkins trimmed with artificial leaves, raffia, and/or grape vines. For either the Halloween or Thanksgiving pumpkins, the imagination is the limit.
Cutting out the Pumpkin: There is no pattern for the pumpkin, it is cut from a rectangle. You can mark the rectangle directly on the fabric and cut with scissors, make a paper pattern and pin it to the fabric or use a ruler and cut it out with a rotary cutter. Determine the size(s) of pumpkin(s) you wish to make and use the measurement(s) listed above to cut out the rectangles on the straight of grain from a single thickness of fabric using the cutting method you like best.
Sewing the Pumpkin: All seam allowances are 3/16". Fold the rectangle in half height wise with the right sides together and sew the seam down the back of the pumpkin. Using upholstery thread on a large needle, run a gathering stitch around one end of the pumpkin. Keep the stitches small so you will have nice tight even gathers. Pull the thread tight and tie off. Turn the pumpkin right sides out leaving the raw edges of the gathered bottom to the inside.
