Fabric Pumpkin Patch

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful day with all of your little trick or treaters. Today I am going to share more about the little fabric pumpkins I have been showing peeks of in some of my photos. Have you ever made fabric yo yos?  They are a simple little craft that you make with scraps  of fabric. In the past frugal women saved all of their fabric scraps and made blankets out of hundreds of yo yos. I must admit that I have not been ambitious enough to make a project that large, but  I have used them to make garlands or embellish wrapped packages.
To make a yo yo, you simply sew a running stitch around the circumference of a fabric circle about 1/4 inch from the edge.  When you reach the end of the circle you simply pull and gather the circle together. A few years ago a co worker told me about a template that you can actually use to assure even stitching of the yo yos, and I use it when making mine. These templates come in different sizes to you can vary the size of the yo yos you create for your craft projects.

 After making my scarecrow out of glass blocks, I couldn't resist making a pumpkin patch for him to protect and oversee. I decided that using fabric yo yos would create the perfect sized pumpkins for his patch. For some of the pumpkins I simply made the yo yos in the traditional way.

I then stacked several of the completed yo yos on top of each other and stitched them together.

Using a dab of hot glue, I adhered a small stick into the hole of the top yo yo to serve as a pumpkin stem, and then tied a few strands of straw raffia around the stick.

To add dimension to the field of pumpkins, I decided to make some fuller rounded gourds by stuffing the yo yos as I started to gather the stitiches.

Once I had the desired amount of stuffing in my pumpkin, I finished pulling the gathering stitches tight and then knotted it off. I then added the stem and raffia or even some strands of fine jute string as a finishing touch. The combination of stuffed and stacked yo yo pumpkins added a nice variety to the "field".

 

I had so much fun creating these tiny pumpkins that I decided to make some larger "no sew" pumpkins too. 

I'll share how I made those in my next post. The great thing about all of these fabric pumpkins is that while they are perfect for Halloween decorating, they can be left out through Thanksgiving to add a  handmade festive seasonal touch to your fall decorating.

Linking with:
Cedar Hill Farmhouse
Saving 4 Six
The 36th Avenue
Pieced Pastimes
The Crafted Sparrow
Between Naps on the Porch
Katherine's Corner
A Delightsome Life