Halloween Crafting: Make a mini Pumpkin

Following on from my wee little broomstick tutorial its time to make a wicked, little pumpkin. Make several and your'll have your self a little pumpkin patch. Great decoration for your table too.

You will need:

• Orange, green and black pieces of felt

• Matching threads

• A Needle

• Sharp pair of scissors

• Toy stuffing

Step 1

Cut out a circle of orange felt that is 12 cm in diameter, of course, feel free to make it bigger or smaller. To get a perfect circle I found it easier to draw round something. Thread up a needle with a fairly long length of thread that will allow you to do a simple gathering stitch around the edge of the felt, stitching 5 mm from edge. 

Step 2

Grab both ends of the threads and pull to gather it up, stop half way to put some of the toy stuffing in, then carry on till you have a nicely gathered up shape (bit like a little bun), which will end up with a small opening. Sew the ends in to stop it from undoing (do not stitch up the hole). Then with a blunt end of a pencil, push more stuffing into the opening, keep going till you get a almost firm feel, but not too over stuffed that you can't push the pencil into the middle.

Step 3

Cut a strip of green felt 9 cm (length) by 2.5 cm (width), before you begin to roll it up tightly, get a needle and thread ready as you will need this to make a few stab stitches through one end to keep it together. Do as many as you feel will keep it from unrolling.

Step 4

With it rolled up, simply stuff it into the small opening at the top of the pumpkin, leaving 1 cm showing. Stitch the stem into the pumpkin, using the orange thread. Test to make sure it doesn't come out.

Step 5

Here comes the fun bit, designing what you want the face to look like. Once you have, cut it out of black felt. Now there are two ways in which you can apply the face to the pumpkin, small dabs of fabric glue, or stab stitch (small tiny stitches around the edge and middle of the black felt), I did the latter...because I am a sucker for punishment. 

Huzzah you now have a tiny little pumpkin. Go nuts and make a patch full of them!