Thursday, October 22, 2015

Velvet Pumpkin Tutorial

I am not traditional in my Fall decorating. Those of you that have followed me through the years know I am not a fan of Fall. When everyone talks about the beautiful trees changing colors, I think to myself that they were so much prettier green. I am an Oregonian after all, I love our green.

For the last couple years I have been saving pumpkin stems. The other day I saw a velvet pumpkin at my daughter's house that she had bought at an antique store. It made me decide it was time to give it a try and make some velvet pumpkins!


I started by looking for something round to use to trace around. This is a 16 inch circle and makes a good small pumpkin.To make a bigger pumpkin I measured 4 inches out all the way around and cut it out.


This is some velvet that Janae bought me as a gift years ago to recover a chair. I never ended up recovering that chair and I so love the velvet so decided to use a piece to make a pumpkin. This velvet is called something like burnout velvet and is so gorgeous. You can also get cheaper kind of stretchy velvet that works really well. I have seen some people find velvet skirts and things at thrift stores and make them into pumpkins. I am keeping my eye out but haven't found any thrift store velvet yet.

The next thing you do is do a running stitch around the outer edge of the circle. I wanted to use a stronger thread than just the normal kind so all I had is yellow--which worked fine because you really don't see it anyway.


It doesn't have to be perfect by any means and you are just doing this to gather up the top.


Next I just gathered up the top a bit so I could put some beans on the bottom. White beans would be the best if your fabric is see through but I had pinto beans so that is what I went with. This adds weight to the bottom of your pumpkin making it sit nicely. You can also use rice.


After putting some beans on the bottom I filled the rest with stuffing.


At this point I cinched up the threads and went back and forth stitching the top closed.


The next step you can leave out if you want. I went down through the middle with my needle and thread, all the way through to the bottom, made a stitch and then did it a couple more times. This gives it more of a pumpkin shape. If you want a totally round pumpkin then just skip this step.


Next I picked the stem I liked the best on it from my collection of dried stems from the last couple years. There is nothing to drying them--I just let them dry naturally. I put hot glue on the bottom of the stem.


Then I just held the stem in place for a minute.


At this point you can add flowers, pearls or anything you want. I wanted to keep these simple. I added a little twig that the dogs brought in to my white pumpkin and I think it looks really cute.


That is it! They were really easy and they look so cute and Fall like in my home, while still going with my color scheme. I am pleased!


I hope this finds everyone enjoying their day--


Thanks for visiting!


11 comments:

Junkchiccottage said...

Hi Sandy,
So great to see a post from you. These pumpkins are adorable.
Kris

Ana said...

I just love these velvet pumpkins...and they are so easy to make. I made a couple but used cinnamon sticks for the stems since I didn't have any pumpkin ones. Yours turned out just beautiful. Thanks for stopping by Sandy. It was really nice hearing from you. Happy Weekend.

Hugs,
❤️Ana

http://deezie-sunshinedeezines.blogspot.com/ said...

I always wanted to know how to make the velvet pumpkins, thanks for showing us. Yours are beautiful. Love that little curly piece
deezie

Unknown said...

These are so nice! Really pretty. I Love the colors you used. Everything you make turns out so good. You really encourage me to want to do things like this. You make it look easy. Your home is so beautiful. I have missed you so much! I really, really look forward visiting your blog. I kind of live vicariously through you. How is your family? Hope all is well with everyone. How about your fur babies?

Anonymous said...

I have also been collecting and saving pumpkin stems for a couple of year. I've also been reading and Pinning tutorials. Yours is the first that I've read with the tip about sewing the stitch through to the bottom and I think it is a brilliant addition and really helps with getting the pumpkin shape! Thanks so much for sharing this tutorial. Now if I can only find time this year to get it done before it's time to decorate for Christmas!!
Bambi

Cozy Thyme Cottage said...

Hi! Those pumpkins are sure cute! I haven't made any yet! Perhaps next year! Have a nice Halloween! Nancy

Amy Chalmers said...

Those are really as nice as any I have seen sold in shops. Nice job Sandy!

June said...

This is such a great tutorial Sandy! Thanks so much for taking the time to post it and all the work it took to do it. I have always wanted to make some.
I hope you have a wonderful New Year with your darling family. I hope it brings you all so many blessings you can't count them :))))
hugs from here...

Cocoanlace said...

Love your velvet pumpkins! My dentist's waiting room displayed a large orange pumpkin last Halloween that had been wrapped in flowery black lace, cinched at the top with black roses. I thought it was so sexy! That would not go well in my shabby chic/cottage décor so I'd like to wrap a white pumpkin in cream-colored lace instead.

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