Fallin' for Pumpkins!

Despite the "heat wave" we have been experiencing over the past week or so, we successfully completed our first [hopefully of many] Fall craft days (from our inspiration here)! We pumped the AC, and picked up some pumpkin flavored treats to help get us in the mood.  I decided to tackle the burlap pumpkins I've had my eye on for the past month. I had seen a couple different ways to do them, but decided to use a variation of a couple of them, and put my own twist ...partly because of the lack of supplies, but I ended up loving how these came out and am so glad we can enjoy them all season long!

Supplies:

Orange, Cream & Natural Burlap

Various Sizes Circular Templates

Neutral Threading Floss

Polyfil

Green Pipecleaners

Hot Glue Gun

Needle

Scissors 

Twine

Step 1: Trace your circle templates onto burlap, and cut each out. Side note: You can really use whatever circle size you want, depending on the pumpkin size you want. I used a paper plate, then some other plastic larger serving dishes we had

Step 2: Thread your floss in the needle (and knot at the beginning so it doesn't pull itself thru the burlap), and start free stitching around the perimeter. You want to do the stitches close enough so when you pull it to bunch up it works nicely, but not too close together. Also make sure you do it away from the edge enough that it doesn't fray itself and undo your stitch. I found about between 1/4-1/2" inch worked well. 

Step 3: Once you've stitched all the way around, holding the part of the circle where you began your stitch,  carefully pull the other end of the thread (with the needle on it) so that the circle becomes bunched up into a pumpkin shape. Once you have the shape, open it back up a bit at the top and grab some polyfil and stuff your pumpkin to the "plumpness" you like. 

Step 4: Sew up the top of your pumpkin. This step may be different for you, depending on what you do for your toppers. Since I was putting a piece of burlap on top, I just did a messy stitch up top to make sure it was tightly closed. Then I glued a piece of burlap on top, and also created a little stem with a pipecleaner. Then just for a little extra detail, I decided to start at the bottom of the pumpkin and create seams on the sides. To do this, I came up from the bottom and went over the top, back to the bottom and up a different side. Once you start, you'll get the hang of it.

The Finished Pumpkins!

The yummy Fall snacks!