Fabric Pumpkins and Fall Changes

 

I’ve been inspired by all the fabric pumpkin ideas, so I decided to try a couple myself.  There are many different ways to do them, and after looking at a few examples, I plucked a few helpful things from each of them.

 

 

To determine the size for the two I wanted to make for the mantle, I laid down a small bouquet of silk flowers in the middle of a piece of fabric.  I pulled up the fabric around the flowers, noted how much I needed to cut, and then removed the flowers and laid the fabric flat on the floor to cut a large circle.  I made sure to fold under a layer of fabric so that I could cut two the same size, all at once.

Next I hand sewed long basting stitches around the outside edge of the fabric, about 1/2 inch from the edge, and cinched them together, leaving a hole big enough to put the filling into.

 

 

For the filling, I took a few plastic bags and stuffed them inside, and then folded some fiber fill around to help smooth it all out.

Then I finished it off by pulling the ends of the threads as tightly as I could and sewing a few stitches by hand across the top of the opening in a zig zag motion to secure it. 

For the stem, I found a couple of large pieces of mulch from around one of our big trees and just poked them into the hole, between the threads. 

 

 

The final touch was a little bit of jute string which I wrapped around the “stem” and tied with long strands that were kind of curling, like little vines.

 

Glenn thought my pumpkins looked a little flat, so I spent a few minutes plumping them into a more pumpkin-like shape.

 

In the end, although they may not look exactly like pumpkins, I think you can tell what they are intended to be.

I like them. 

 

I even made a couple of tiny ones for the ottoman.  Aren’t they cute?!

 

 

Let’s call those little ones “gourds”, ok?

 

Feeling inspired to do a little fall decorating, the girls and I picked up several handfuls of acorns from off the ground at the park last week and poured them into a bowl.  They’re so earthy and pretty.

 

I also snipped a few stems of Russian Sage and put them in a couple of vases.  I love their purple and blue flowers.  They smell wonderful and still look good even after they dry out.

 

 

What are some of the things you do to decorate for fall?