DIY Fabric Drop Cloth Pumpkin Tutorial // Part 1

I'm finally sitting down to write my DIY Fabric Pumpkin tutorial! It's a miracle. I've been bombarded with life as you know. Unpacking and kids' sports schedule mixed with homework and field trips. Not to mention trying to make my house feel like a home. My son's 9th birthday is Wednesday and Halloween is fast approaching so I have to get everything ready for a party and trick or treating! 

I shared this tutorial on my DIY segment on the Central Valley Today show last Tuesday. I will post the video tutorial at the bottom of this post so that you are able to see me explain it. There are a million ways that you could create these fabric pumpkins. Different fabrics, embellishments and stems. Have fun making yours unique. The best thing about these is that they never go bad and you can keep them around for Thanksgiving too using the perfect fabric. Where I live the weather is still in the 90's. Can we say moldy pumpkins ASAP? That's what you get here! If you carve your real pumpkins too soon, they wither, turn mushy, wrinkly and start caving in. The kids aren't too thrilled about that! 

Just a little FIY before we get started, this tutorial is jam packed with pictures so I am dividing it into 2 tutorials! Tomorrow I'll be sharing how to finish off and embellish your pumpkin!

HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED:

Fabric of your choice
Scissors
Embroidery thread
A pack of different sized needles. BIG fat needles in the pack too.
Hot glue gun & glue sticks
Twine
Things for embellishing (leaves,sprigs of things for vines, raffia, rhinestones,  wine cork, ect.
Polyester stuffing
Sewing machine for one straight line or you can hand sew.

The thick needle is for the twine and the skinny long needle is for the embroidery thread. You want to use a thick thread so that it does not break when pulling it.

Start off by cutting a rectangle of fabric. For this size pumpkin shown in my main picture I used 22 inches wide by 9 inches tall. Fold the fabric in half to make a square and sew down the open side. ONLY sew the one open side!

Now stand it up and you will have a tube.

Thread your long skinny needle with the embroidery thread. Make sure it is long enough  to go all the way around the top of the tube.

Weave the needle in and out and go all the way around the top of the tube. Also, start about an inch down from the top.

Now that you have gone all the way around...pull the 2 strings and cinch it up.

Take the string and wrap it around the top that is gathered.

 After you have wound it arounf a few times then stick your needle back through the top a few times and finish it off and cut the sting from the needle.

Now flip it inside out. It will look like this.

Take your stuffing and fill it. You want to really fill it to that it is full. Pack it in there!

Thread your needle again and do the same thing as what you did before. Weave in and out until you reach the other side and gather it.

Sew a few times through the top gathered bunch. Finish it off and cut the thread from the needle.

You are left with this.

String your big thick needle with twine. You will want the twine to be pretty long because you will be using it around the entire pumpkin.

Put a knot in the very end.

Place your needle in the very bottom of the pumpkin.

Push all the way through the top and pull through.

This is what the bottom of your pumpkin should look like.

Your string will be sticking out of the top so wrap it around and place the needle back through the bottom and pull it out of the top again.

Pull the string a little tight to create your first indent in the pumpkin.

Keep going with the loops of sting around your pumpkin. In and out of the top and bottom.

See how I spaced it? Now create another line. I did 5 lines.

After the 5 lines for this pumpkin were made I tied a knot at the top of the pumpkin to finish it off. Pull tight.

 Cut your twine the length that you like. I chose to leave this amount for it to act as a little vine piece. You can do whatever you want with yours!

Tomorrow I will be sharing how to finish you pumpkin including how to make the stem and add embellishments! This tutorial was so long that I didn't want to bore you!

Here is the video for the segement that I promised. It will explain the process in a few minutes.
WATCH HERE

UPDATE: PART 2 HOW TO FINISH YOUR PUMPKIN HERE