Making your pumpkin-shaped decorations by recycling fabrics scraps

Decorations are something we like just to make our house look pretty. More or less, we like it even better when people praise our beautiful decorations that we took the pains of putting. So how about creating some real decorations all by yourself? Wouldn\’t that make you prouder of your home decorations? This is basically on decorations that involve pumpkins. You will find here instructions on how to create a pumpkin-shaped decoration using recycled fabrics. Instead of buying plastic pumpkin ornaments or wasting your money buying fall decorations for your house, try this simple and easy way to make pumpkin decorations from old fabrics. You can use any fabric material that you can find at your house to recycle as long the color hues resembles a pumpkin\’s color. Fabrics such as felt, burlap, corduroy or thick cottony fabrics can be used for this craft. If you don\’t have them in your scraps box then you can buy them in any fabric stores or craft store. The materials and tools are things that you can find easily in your house and the craft store. Unleash your inner creativity and let\’s start crafting:

Materials and tools you need:

• fabrics of your choice

• strong thread or fishing line

• needle, circle templates

• pencil

• pieces of wood

• newspapers/ grocery bags/ cottons

• fabrics scissors

• hot glue gun

How to make:

First, trace a circle on your fabric by using a circle template with a pencil. You can also use any circle-shaped things that you can find in your home such as plates or serving platter. The size will depend on how you want to it to be, small-sized or bigger, for pumpkins of course. The bigger the circle, the larger the pumpkin will be and vice versa.

Next, cut your circle by using sharp fabric scissor but cut a little bit away from your traced circle. That would make it easier to fix the length. This is the safest and easiest way to create your circle fabrics.

Then, using a strong and thick thread or fishing line, sew a running stitch along the line and around the entire perimeter of the circle penciled trace. If the fabric is thicker then use stronger thread or use fishing line so the sew line will be much stronger. When you finish sewing, pull each end of the string slowly until the fabric begins to come together and it forms a shape of pouch.

Fill your pumpkin pouch with shredded newspapers, cottons or grocery bags. The filling amount depends on how big your pumpkin pouch is. You might want to create a more structured and stuffy pumpkin, so fill it ¾ full. A great way to recycle, you can also stuff in scraps of fabrics that you are not using anymore.

To make the stem, stick a piece of wood or small branches cut on top of your stuffed pumpkin pouch. Secure the wood piece with some hot glue gun and leave it off to dry for a short while. Continue to seal the filled pumpkin pouch by pulling the two ends of your thread really tight. Then, make a double knot with the tie to secure it. Make sure the ends of the fabric should come around your wood piece so that the stuffing inside will not show out. Cut excess threads if there is any.

There you have it, a great way to create a different kind of decorations without wasting anything.

Additional Reading:

http://lubirdbaby.blogspot.com/2009/10/fabric-pumpkin-tutorial.html

Image Credit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/indi/523637805/