Terry Ricioli Designs: Easy Fabric-Wrapped Pumpkins

Thursday, August 25, 2022

Easy Fabric-Wrapped Pumpkins

Happy Harvest!

Harvest is starting here in our neck of the woods. For us in this county that means apples, grapes and vegetables. I love this time of year and it's always fun to decorate for fall with its bright, warm colors. One of my favorite decorations is pumpkins.

This year, I'm making fabric covered pumpkins decorated with Gwen Studios ribbon. These were such fun to make, and they are so easy, that I made a bunch!

I started out making large ones (4-6") and made three in different fabrics.

Then, I found the cutest tin pickup truck perfect for fall decorating, so I had to make pumpkins to fit it.

Here's how I made them:

You'll need: foam balls, fabric, hot glue or thick tacky glue, grosgrain ribbon, pieces of sticks, ball-head pins, sequin pins (optional), scissors

1. Flatten the foam ball on opposite sides.

2. On one side, scoop out a cone-shaped piece with a kitchen knife. This will be the top.

3. Place the ball bottom down in the center of a circle of fabric (wrong side up). Your circle needs to be big enough to wrap the sides to the center. (The diameter of your fabric circle is the circumference of your ball.)

4. Bring one side of the fabric to the center of the ball. Then, pick up the edge close to the center and overlap in a pleat.

Use a pin to hold the fabric in place. Trim away the center fabric if you have too much. Lift up the fabric and add glue to the center hole. Press in and around the hole using the end of a paint brush or other implement.

5. Make a ribbon leaf using grosgrain ribbon like I did or another type of ribbon you like. Cut a length of ribbon (3-4") and cross the ends. Stitch or glue to hold.

Glue the cut end of the ribbon leaf into the center pressing it into the hole. Glue a short stick in for a stem.

Here are the larger pumpkins before I added the leaves. After doing it this way, I decided that it's easier to glue the leaves on first, but it works either way.

Here are the finished pumpkins. Add one, two or three leaves in the color you like.

For the smaller pumpkins, I used sequin pins to hold the fabric and pushed them into the center to hold. Then, I glued in the leaf and stem.

For the grosgrain ribbon, I used Gwen Studios ribbon available at Walmart and Michaels. I am a Design Team member for Gwen Studios and receive ribbon samples with which to design.