Create Stuffed Sewing Stash Pumpkins

Create Stuffed Sewing Stash Pumpkins

Fall halloween Home Decor Leighann Lott stuffed pumpkins

Our finished pumpkins!

With Halloween and Thanksgiving quickly approaching, it's prime time to decorate your home with lots of fun seasonal décor. These whimsical stuffed pumpkins are impressive to look at, easy to assemble and the possibilities for embellishment are endless!

Created by our design manager Leighann Lott, these pumpkins first appeared in our September/October 2009 edition and can be used in your home year after year. Each sample pumpkin pictured here has been dressed in detail using wooden spools, ribbon, miniature buttons and floral wire, while the largest pumpkin is machine embroidered with a design from Mary's Graduation Dress Designs CD, available in our online store. 

When you're finished creating your pumpkins, set them on a table alone or group them together to create a stunning, sewing-inspired centerpiece for fall.

What you need:
• Fabric and ribbon scraps
• Needle and heavy-duty thread
• Polyester stuffing
• Wooden spools
• Permanent marker, paint or stain
• Silk or fabric leaves
• Floral wire
• Craft glue
• Tracing pen or pencil
• Buttons (optional)
• Rice or dried beans (optional)
• Embroidery thread (optional)

Instructions:
Cut - Trace a circle onto fabric and cut. Varying circle size will give you different sized finished pumpkins (photo 1).

Photo 1

Stitch - Fold fabric edge 1/4 inch and sew a running stitch using heavy-duty thread (just like a large yo-yo). Gently gather fabric as you stitch (photo 2). You will create a loose ball with a hole in the center.

Photo 2

Stuff - Fill pumpkin shell with polyester stuffing. TIP: Adding rice or beans first will add weight to the bottom. Pull thread and gather fabric until opening is approximate diameter of wooden spool. Tie off thread (photo 3).

Photo 3

Create Pumpkin Sections - Anchor thread or embroidery floss near opening and wrap thread around entire ball of fabric to opposite side of hole. Insert needle into fabric to anchor and pull thread slightly to form a groove in pumpkin. Take a couple of stitches to secure. Stitch through gathered edge to begin next section and repeat to form another groove. Repeat steps to form six or eight puffed sections. Tie off thread (photo 4).

Photo 4

Stem - Paint or stain wooden spool(s). Wrap spool using ribbon scraps and put a small amount of glue on end to secure. TIP: Glue buttons to spool top to decorate. Glue two spools together to make a longer stem if desired.

Ribbon Stem Cap - Cut a length of ribbon the same diameter as fabric circle used to make pumpkin body. Sew a running stitch along one long edge of ribbon. Gather gently as you stitch. When you reach opposite end of ribbon, pull thread to form a ruffled circle of ribbon that will fit closely around stem. Keeping center opening the  size needed to fit over spool, put right sides of ribbon ends together and continue running stitch along short edge to join ribbon ends together. Tie off thread (photo 5).

Photo 5

Assemble - Position stem cap over opening in pumpkin (photo 6). Insert stem through stem cap into opening. If opening is too large and loose, make a couple of stitches and pull to cinch in opening snuggly to stem.

Photo 6

Finishing Touches - Glue silk or fabric leaves in place around spool stem. Curl varying lengths of floral wire around pencil to resemble tendrils of a pumpkin (photo 7). Place in opening between leaves and spool stem (photo 8). If necessary, secure with glue.

Photo 7

Photo 8

More great ideas:
• Use unconventional colors like moss green, off-white and autumn colors.
• Add a bit of texture to enhance your pumpkin sections by adding embroidery to your fabric before cutting your circles.
• Hand embroider a Jack-o-lantern face on one side.
• Apply beads for a touch of sparkle.
• Add small buttons at the end of the tendril for a touch of whimsy.
• Add a ribbon loop to make Halloween tree ornaments or tack them to a door wreath.

For more sewing inspiration, check out our newest collection CDs: Sew Beautiful 2004 and Sew Beautiful 2005. Each collection includes six full electronic issues of Sew Beautiful, complete with printable patterns, tips, techniques, how-to articles and more.

Sew On, Sew Well, Sew Beautiful,
Cyndi and Amelia

Fall and Holiday Sewing Inspiration

Fall and Holiday Sewing Inspiration

2012 Martha Pullen Sewing Awards Fall holiday Inspiration October/November 2013

October/November 2013

Fall is in the air, and the holiday season is right around the corner! Our newest issue of Sew Beautiful combines both fall and holiday sewing inspiration, so when you're working on fall projects you can be actively planning your special holiday garments, too. 

Projects include a lovely lace overlay skirt, an elegant three-dimensional appliquéd leaf table runner and a delightful "Happy Scarecrows" picture smocking design. We're also proud to share our contest winners from the 2012 Martha Pullen Sewing Awards and much, much more. Read below for more about a few of our favorite projects this issue has to offer:

Martha Pullen Sewing Award Winners - We received more than 150 entries for Martha's 2012 Sewing Awards, and a panel of judges from Martha Pullen Company and Sew Beautiful magazine individually assessed each one. Winners were chosen in seven different categories. Pictured above is the grand prize winner, a flower girl dress created by Martha Broyles of Ballwin, Mo. 

Lace Overlay Skirt - I (Amelia) based this design on a tweed skirt with an orange guipure lace overlay I saw in a booth at a sewing expo in Michigan. I started with a basic, straight pencil skirt pattern and used a wide butterscotch galloon and a coordinate suiting for the underskirt.

Happy Scarecrows: Jack and Jill Straw Smocking Plates - With crisp fall weather comes the autumn harvest and the delightful and ever-so-practical emergence of the scarecrow. Being one of the most familiar figures in the American rural landscape, this ragged character is a natural motif for back-to-school apparel. Let Gwen Milner's Jack and Jill Straw smocking design put a smile on the face of your little adventurer(s). Jack stands in a cornfield while Jill poses among the sunflowers.

Appliquéd Heirloom Christmas Tree - Christmas memories are like having treasured heirlooms in our hearts for a lifetime. Create a cherished memory for your little girl by making her a holiday jumper accented with this appliquéd tree. Designed by Trisha Smith, the tree is decorated with a tatted garland and then embellished with Swarovski Hot Fix Crystals.

Green & Gold Silk Elegance Smocking Design - Smocked in an elegant diamond and serpentine pattern in glorious gold and traditional shades of red, this smocking design from Cheryl R. Davidson captures the essence of the season brilliantly. Pair it with our "Pascale" Sew Beautiful Collection Pattern and luxurious green silk dupioni - as pictured here - and you'll have a dress made for holiday celebrations.

Click here for more information on our October/November issue!

Sew On, Sew Well, Sew Beautiful,

Cyndi and Amelia 

Simple ideas for your Thanksgiving table

Simple ideas for your Thanksgiving table

Accessories Fall seasonal decorating table Thanksgiving

Fall and Thanksgiving were heralded for the past month on various blogs and Pinterest. How much effort and expense are involved in your seasonal decorations?  My holiday tables always  give a gentle nod to  the season rather than a yell.  Usually I find things to combine from  my garden or my accessory  shelf in my storage room.  It is so much more fun to be thrifty and it stretches you to be creative with less.  In that vein, perhaps these ideas will get you thinking about how  to use what you already have.

 A few twigs from the garden and several small pumpkins in a large vase.  Simple and beautiful.  No pumpkins?  A trip to the Dollar store is in order for fake fall leaves (or the real thing) or spray paint assorted nuts gold and use those to anchor the twigs.

 Scoop  out a pumpkin just deep enough to place a candle in it and decorate the edges with faux leaves, twigs and berries.

 Collect all t he large clear vases you have, place a white pillar candle in each and decorate with nuts or leaves. Change to red berries for christmas. 

 Use the flowers of the season and bottles to rest one bloom in each .  Line them up along the table.

 Sunflowers, an old brass pan, berries and a green pumpkin.  While real sunflowers are beautiful you can substitute with fake ones. 

 Small vases with nuts, water and a flower on the top.  What else could you use to replace nuts?  A plaid tablecloth is always so cozy.

 Love this idea of stringing small pumpkins/gourds along the table with ribbon and a garland of berries.

 Use small potted plants, wrap them in a vivid croton leaf and place in square vases. Keep it until Christmas.

 I love kale but I've never thought of cutting it and using it inside as a bouquet.  Don't you love the purple ones?

I've been admiring these long wooden boxes for dining tables.  Each season what you put in them changes.  They would look just as inviting along a mantle.  Christmas idea for sure... any bits of wood in your basement?

Which is your favourite?

  All links to these photos can be found on my Pinterest  board.