For those of you wondering how we made the pumpkins at craft club,
here is the knock off velvet pumpkin tutorial..
This blog is all about finding ways to beautify the home and do things for less.
Crafting and DIY projects help many of us accomplish that beautification goal
while staying budget minded…
For those of you who LOVE the look of velvet pumpkins
but the price is out of reach…. this tutorial is for you. If you can swing the
cost of the originals click here. They offer many colors and sizes plus they are
just plain awesome!!!!
1 Stitch all the way around the circle with quilting thread doubled.
(Be sure to make the knot really large so it doesn’t pull through when
you draw the thread tight.
2 Add 1/2 cup beans and stuff with Premium Polyfill.
3. Tuck all the salvage edges down in the center.
4. Stitch back and forth in a zig zag pattern and pull together
to close hole.
Keep drawing the thread to totally close the hole and knot the
thread really well to keep it closed..
5. Hot glue a real stem on the top…pushing down
while holding for a bit until dry.
** Try and gather stems before they are gone for the season.
We went to a pumpkin patch that was closed down for the year and
they let us get stems for free. You can snag stems from pumpkins that
are at the curb for garbage pick up.
This is probably a little easier for those in the north…
They might all be gone down south.
Tips I’ve learned:
Stems: Get all the pumpkin meat off of the stem and let it dry
out for the day.I put mine in a bleach water solution and let
them soak for an hour to kill any mold…Then I washed them
with soap and water and towel dried. Next.. I put them on a
cookie sheet and basically dehydrated them in the oven
at 150 degrees for a few hours to totally dry them out..
This might all seem like over kill, but I wanted to kill any
mold and prevent future mold….if possible.
I ordered stretch velvet from these 2 places. Stretch velvet
is the easiest to work with and is most like the
originals. www.stretchhouse.com
These are great! Is the fabric cut into two circles then stitched or just one?
Hi,
The fabric is cut in one circle and stitched
Do you know if Michael’s/JoAnn’s/Hobby Lobby sells stretch velvet?
Angela, They have a very limited color selection, but they have some.
Thank you for the information on bleaching and drying the stems. That was most helpful.
Hi Phyllis! You are so welcome. You don’t want moldy stems….that’s for sure. 🙂
Should I wait until the stems are no longer green? I am afraid the green ones will get all mushy in the bleach and the oven. Aren’t these so fun?!
Honestly, I’m not sure about the green ones. I have a few. I think I’ll just put them in bleach for a rinse and then dry them. Wait. Are you talking about dark green stems? I’m talking about dark green squash stems. I don’t have experience with the other green type. They are so soft. I’m not sure they would work. You’d have to totally dry them out and I’m not sure how long that would take. Let me know how it goes. Thanks.
These are darling. I’ve been wanting to make some and you have a great tutorial. Can you tell me the diameter of your circle or a range of diameters you’ve used and how big they turn out?
What colors of the stretch velvet did you buy? There is a picture on the Craft Club site that linked me to your site with a blue-gray, an ivory, and an eggplant color. I’d love to know because it’s hard to tell from the site.
For those of us who live down south, or anywhere else where you’d have a hard time finding stems, larger twigs work well. You don’t get the cool curly look of a real pumpkin stem, but it still works! My mom has made these pumpkins (in various fabrics – muslin looks beautiful, too) since I was little. This year, I’m making my own, using sticks for stems, and Mod Podging the sticks in glitter. 🙂
Chelsea, That is awesome that your mom has been making them for so long. Wish I could see a picture. Love the idea of glitter on the sticks! Thanks for visiting.
I had no idea it was so easy to do. I really want one. Trying to make my Thanksgiving about Turkeys and Pumpkins. I plan on painting a couple of the fake pumpkins.
What would you charge for these? Someone saw mine and wants me to make some.
I’m not sure how to price these. I would check the internet and compare what others are selling for…
When the season is done. Do you pack these away with the stems? Or will they rot ?
I packed them with stems and they were fine… I can’t say that for everyone. wish you all the best