Festive Fabric Pumpkin Topiary

Donna
by Donna
4 Materials
$7
2 Hours
Easy

Fall will soon be here and one of my favorite ways to decorate is with fabric pumpkins! Fabric pumpkins are an easy, multi-use decoration for Halloween and Thanksgiving. These pumpkins can be purchased in a number of colors and designs, but can be expensive to buy. However, you can easily make them yourself, then embellish them and use them to create your own stacked pumpkin topiary.

Materials and Tools


These pumpkins require minimal sewing skills and are a great project for using up scrap fabric and trim. The materials are easy too! All you need is some fabric, a couple rolls of ribbon, a sewing needle and thread, some fiber fill for stuffing, hot glue, and scissors. For more details on the materials please visit my blog.

Directions


I built my topiary with three pumpkins, but you can also use only two pumpkins if you choose.


The first step is to cut out three circles of fabric, one for each of your pumpkins. My largest circle was 14 inches in diameter. The middle circle was 11 1/2 inches in diameter, and the smallest was 9 inches. I just traced containers and plates from my kitchen to make my circles.

For each circle, use a needle and thread to make a running stitch around the circumference of your circle. Be sure to stitch about a 1/2 inch from the edge of your fabric. I like to leave my needle attached after I've finished my running stitch so I can use it to sew up my pumpkin top later.


Then gather your fabric together through the stitches to create a pouch (see photo above).

Stuff your fabric pouch with fiber fill. I filled my pumpkin pouches quite full. Be sure to shift your fiber around to make your pumpkin round and even.


Then pull your pouch closed and tighten your stitches. Use your needle to reinforce your beginning and end stitches. I also like to make some extra stitches across the opening to pull it closed as tightly as possible.

Decorating Your Pumpkins


Next you can begin to decorate each of your pumpkins individually. Important: I didn't glue my pumpkins together until all of them were decorated.


I decorated my bottom pumpkin first. For this pumpkin, I wrapped some twine around the sides and bottom, then glued on some ribbon decoration.

For my middle pumpkin, I added some felt leaves and embellished them with fun buttons. I have shared the template for these leaves on my blog.

For the top pumpkin, I added more loops of ribbon and topped it with a twine stem. I have directions of the ribbon and twine stem on my blog.

Assembling Your Pumpkin Topiary


Once your pumpkins are decorated, you can start assembling your topiary. The assembly is easy, but takes a bit of care.


Starting with your bottom pumpkin, put a generous thick loop of hot glue around the fabric opening of your pumpkin. Working carefully but quickly, place your center pumpkin on top of the hot glue, making sure it is centered and makes complete contact with the opening underneath. I held this pumpkin in place while my glued dried.


Then I did the same thing to glue my top pumpkin in place.


If you find that your join between the pumpkins is messy, you can wrap some twine, yarn, or ribbon around each pumpkin base once your topiary is complete. This will hide any glue or mess.

Once my pumpkins were in place, I added some more decorations to the top of my topiary. I created these pumpkin sticks by cutting some florist wires in half and twisting them around a dowel. I glued a pumpkin bead to the top of each twisted wire and stuck them into the top of my topiary.


What a great way to decorate and celebrate the fall holidays!

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Donna
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3 of 46 comments
  • Shelley  Spellman Shelley Spellman on Aug 27, 2021

    Very cute

  • Sewtime Sewtime on Aug 28, 2021

    I love fall, all the colors, I will be trying this. I may add a little bag of sand in the bottom pumpkin so it won’t topple over. Thank you for sharing!

    • Donna Donna on Aug 29, 2021

      Great! I added some weight to the bottom of my topiary too. I think it's a good idea if you can. Happy fall!

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