Are you in love with those velvet pumpkins all over Pinterest and Instagram right now? These gorgeous plush pumpkins are a fun and easy craft and beautiful fall home décor idea. Learn how to make velvet pumpkins for your home!
In Love with Velvet Pumpkins?
Me too! I’ve been eyeing these adorable plush pumpkins for over a year, though the ones I really like in the sizes and colors I want are selling for between $10-15 each and for what I’m paying for, I felt like I could make them better myself. No I would not have the adorable real stems (I didn’t have pumpkins last year, that would be something I could save from this Halloween), but I would still get that more mature and classy, farmhouse-esque styling for my fall décor. So, last Friday after work, I set off to Joann’s in search of supplies.
Purchasing Materials for your Velvet Pumpkins
I knew before starting this endeavor I was going to want to play around with making lots of different colored pumpkins. I walked into the velvet aisle and reviewed the colors available to me. There were lots of interesting green velvets, but the colors that stood out to me and were most in alignment with what I want this year were more spice and wine tones. I purchased 1 yard of each for $12/yard with my Joann’s coupons. I also picked up one 20oz. bag of doll-grade poly stuffing, which was about $10. I already had a number of different yarns and large needles at home so I did not purchase those, but if you don’t have these, these are additional items that would have accounted for the cost of the project. The silk floral ivy leaves that I’m using in place of pumpkin leaves were $7 for the one stem with my coupons.
From one yard of fabric, I was able to make 6 pumpkins ranging in size from 5-10″ in diameter and 3-6″ in height. One bag of stuffing will make all them pumpkins you see in the final picture in my living room, or about 8 pumpkins of various sizes. I am definitely going to be heading back to Joann’s so I can get more stuffing and make another round of 8 (I still have yet to get to that super fun bright purple velvet).
How to Make Velvet Pumpkins
Materials:
- Stretch Velvet Fabric, ideally with a luster, not crushed.
- Poly-fil stuffing
- Yarn of color matching the fabric
- Large Needle for Embroidery or Upholstery
- Scissors
- Silk Leaves
- A brown paper bag, preferably a grocery bag
- Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
Instructions:
- Start by cutting out a square from your velvet fabric that is about 3x the LxW of the final diameter of pumpkin you want. For example, if you want a 10″ diameter pumpkin, cut out a 30″ square.
- Round the corners of your square of velvet (like you did in kindergarten) or cut off the corners so that you have a rough circle of fabric. It doesn’t have to be perfect, pumpkins aren’t perfect.
- Prepare your needle with about 24″ of yarn in a color matching your pumpkin fabric. Tie a knot in the end of the yarn and begin sewing a straight stitch around the edge of the circle. I kept my stitches about 1/2″ away from the edge of my circle, and kept them pretty big and wide.
- Once you run out of yarn to sew with or if you get all the way around your circle, you are going to cinch the fabric back towards the knot end of yarn and either keep sewing until you get to the end of the circle or if you are at the end of the circle, you will cinch it so that a pouch is created and there is still a wide enough opening at the top you can fit your hand or fingers in and out to stuff it with.
- With the velvet on the outside of the pouch, you are now going to begin stuffing your pumpkin. I found that I got the best look if I thought about first stuffing the “lobes” of my pumpkin, and then filling in the bottom and middle. This kept my pumpkins looking more rustic and lumpy like a Cinderella pumpkin or a other heirloom pumpkin, versus the GMO Jack-o’-lanterns.
- Once you have your pumpkin stuffed to the desired fullness, it’s time to close it up. Pull the loose end of the yarn so that the pumpkin top is as cinched up as you can get it and tie it off.
- To finish the shape of the pumpkin and help hold the top close, I re-knotted the end of my yarn, and did 2 big stitches all the way through the middle of the pumpkin and back up through one side of the top opening in a cross or x-shape before tying off the yarn again. This pulled the bottom of the pumpkin up, similar to how it grows in nature, and allowed me to pull the top opening tighter together without pulling it entirely closed.
- At this point, the pumpkin is ready for it’s stem! Cut a strip of paper from your paper bag about 4″ wide and 12-14″ long. Roll this loosely into a cigar shape, then continue twisting the paper roll until it twists up and collapses on itself. You can sort of pull and continue twisting the paper until you get the desired vine-look. Insert one end of your paper stem into the top opening of the pumpkin and secure with spot of hot glue.
- Cut and wrap or glue a couple leaves from the ivy floral to the paper vine to finish the pumpkin if desired.
- Stack finish pumpkins adorably on a table or sideboard, or tuck randomly around the house for pops of plush fall décor-goodness.
