Over the past few years we’ve witnessed the rise of the velvet pumpkin in autumnal decor. You can buy them anywhere from Michael’s to Target to Jo-Ann’s. I do like the home-made ones better, however, because you get them to be extra lumpy and irregular.
I’ve been meaning to make my own and this year (thanks in large part to a sprained ankle) I finally got around to it. There are a million tutorials already out there, so I won’t go into detail on that. But with my leftover fabric, I wanted to make a little garland for my mantle to mirror the colorful pom garland I made for Christmas.
You will need:
- Crushed velvet fabric
- Thread and needle
- Poly-fil
- Oven-bake clay
- Gold craft paint
- Ribbon
- Hot glue gun
Make the Pumpkins
Watch this short tutorial on how to make the velvet pumpkins. To make these mini-sized pumpkins, I started with a circle of fabric with a diameter of about 6 inches. The more irregular-shaped your circle, the more bulgy your little gourds will be.
Make, Bake, and Paint the Stems
To make the stems, I used oven-bake clay. I started by rolling out little cylinders about the thickness and height that I wanted my stems to be. Then, I squished the bottoms down a bit to make them get wider. Then, I cut away little sections and smoothed them out. Next, I added some detailing to make it look more natural. Finally, I made a hole through the top of the stem large enough to pull ribbon through. Bake your stems according to the directions on the clay. I baked mine for 30 minutes.
Once the stems were cooled, I painted them with gold craft paint. I applied 2 coats for a solid, even color.
Attach the Stems to the Pumpkins
I arranged my pumpkins in the order I wanted them strung on the garland. I then assigned each stem to a pumpkin based on how it would fit on top with the hole for the ribbon facing the right direction.
Once I planned out how everything would be arranged, I used my hot glue gun to adhere the stems to the pumpkins.
Make the Garland
I cut a length of gold ribbon by holding it up to my mantle and allowing it to droop slightly. Then, I measured the length and divided it by how many pumpkins I had and marked where each pumpkin should be placed in order to be evenly-spaced.
I used a large yarn needle to help thread my ribbon through the holes in the stems.
Once each stem got close to the mark on the ribbon I made for it, I dabbed just a bit of hot glue and slid the stem over it just to help hold it in place.
Continue for the rest of the pumpkins.
I finished by tying little loops on each end of the ribbon to hand it with.
I really can’t get over how cute these tiny little pumpkins are. I love that I can dress up my mantle with a touch of autumn and still be colorful.
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