Live Life: Pumpkins: How To

I love fall, but I have never been much of a decorator. That will all change this year. It is still August and I already have pumpkins in our house. I was at Hobby Lobby yesterday just wandering, when I stumbled across some pumpkins made out of fabric. I thought, "That doesn't look too hard." So I bought my supplies and set to work. Here is how you do it.

This was my favorite pumpkin.

This was pumpkin #3.

1. Start off by cutting a rectangle. Width should be twice the length.

2. Next, you fold it in half so good sides are facing each other and sew along the side.

3. Then you do a running stitch at one of the ends. A running stitch is a wide stitch where you just sew in and out so that when you pull the thread, it scrunches the fabric.

4. When you scrunch the fabric it should look like the picture below.

5. Then you pull it tight, like so and sew threw it to make it nice and sturdy. Cut and tie off your thread.

6. Then flip it inside out and fill with stuffing. Make sure it is filled to over flowing.

7. Do another running stitch around the top.

8. Push all the stuffing in and pull thread tight. Sew threw a couple times, cut and tie off.

9. Next, you will thread a needle and you'll want to double the thread for extra strength. You will push the needle threw one of the bottoms (use the longest needle you can find.) This is the tricky part. You push the needle threw, flip it over and have to get the needle out the other side. Try not to stab yourself.

10. Once the needle is threw, you will wrap the string half way around the pumpkin. If your thread came out the bottom, you will pull it around to the top. You will need to pull the thread tight to make a scrunched look like this. While holding the string tight, you will push the needle threw the top and out the bottom and repeat. I repeated five times, but you can very. Make sure your thread is tight every time you pull it threw so each one is scrunched. Then tie off and cut thread.

11. Last step is the stem. Find a small piece of fabric and fold it in half. This piece is 2"x3", but you could do smaller as I cut of all the extra. Sew two lines, angled out like below. Leave the bottom open for stuffing.

12. Cut off the fabric outside where you sewed, turn inside out, and fill with stuffing. Set it on your pumpkin to see how long you want your stem. You may need to remove stuffing or insert more stuffing depending on how long you want it. Cut off bottom of stem to length that you want. Then, fold opening of stem in and sew shut.