How to make pumpkin pillows out of soft fabric without a sewing machine.
It’s coming…finally! I can feel it–fall is coming! 🎃
These cute stuffed pumpkins are so soft and would look great in your fall decor, or they can be used as cute pillows on chairs or couches. Fabric pumpkins are easy to make and do not require a sewing machine or any experience.
They’re an easy replica of Pottery Barn’s expensive teddy bear pumpkin pillows. 🙂 When I first saw these adorable stuffed pumpkins, I knew I had to make some of my own.
I ended up making a bunch of them for the price of one from the store. This is when I really love crafting!
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But the price… no. At least when I knew I could reproduce them for a fraction of the price they charge.
I went to the craft store looking for the softest fabric I could find. I got three colors of very similar fabrics – a light cream, a medium brown, and a dark brown.
They are all so soft and comfortable. I loved all three. I think the darker fabric is what would be considered a true “teddy bear” fabric, but they were all great for this project.
I’ve never made my own fabric pumpkins, but I figured it out while trying. My first method worked, but then I did some research and I’ll share the instructions I ended up using for the rest of my pumpkins.
This method for making your own fabric pumpkins will work with both the thin fabrics I use and the thinner options of cotton or velvet pumpkins.
First, cut a square or circle out of fabric to the size you want:
The width of the fabric will depend on how big you want your pumpkin to be. I made a large pumpkin that was about 16-18 inches.
I highly recommend fabric shears if you work on projects like this a lot – they make cutting so much easier, especially delicate items like this!
It turns out you don’t really have to cut the corners off the fabric — I found it’s nice to just leave it square. The corners help fill out the middle where the leg will be later.
On my first attempt, I simply gathered all the fabric at the top, wrapped it with thread to secure it, and then trimmed the excess.
I have this part left:
I flipped it over and added my “legs” on top. It was a bit difficult to get all the fabric together and tie it off, and the leg didn’t hold up very well when I was done.
So I turned to this method, which was really easy with this fabric.
This process is very quick and I promise you don’t need any sewing experience to do this. Just weave it in and out loosely as I did above.
It doesn’t have to be perfect — you won’t even see the thread when you’re done!
Once you have it around the perimeter of the fabric, you can take each end of the embroidery floss and pull them together to start closing the pumpkin like this:
Before you fully close it up, you’ll need to start filling it with fiberfill. I used about two and a half one-pound bags to make nine stuffed pumpkins.
Fiberfill from old pillows or cushion stuffing works great for this too!
I always recommend separating the filling several times to fluff it up before inserting it:
You’ll go much further if you do this first!
I don’t recommend stuffing it all the way in at this point, as it will be difficult to seal if it’s overstuffed. You’ll need to add some extra stuffing to fill the sections later.
Once it’s filled to your liking (pull the string together at the top to see how full it is), you can tie it off, but leave some room for your torso and a little final stuffing!
At this point, you can add the stem and finish if you want – the “pillow” will already have a pumpkin-like shape.
But I wanted the specific sections like the inspirational pillows, and I think it looks more like a real pumpkin anyway. 🙂
I took the jute twine and started at the top at the hole for the stem, then wrapped the twine tightly around the pumpkin all the way to the top.
Here’s a view of the bottom of the pumpkin so you can see how to wrap the twine around it:
Leave some extra string at the top so you can tie each pass around the pumpkin with it.
Each time you wrap the pumpkin, tie it in a knot at the top of the pumpkin to keep the jute as tight as possible:
I would wrap it with thread, then knot it at the top to secure it, then wrap the thread the other way, knot it, and repeat until I had all the “sections” I wanted.
You will be left with a hole that you can insert the stem into:
By the way, I have no idea if this was supposed to be done this way. I was mostly improvising. 🙂 But it worked out well and quickly!
Before adding the stem, you’ll need to puff up the pumpkin a bit. Take more fiberfill and tuck it inside and on top of the pillow to fill in any flat areas. The puffier the better!
For the trunk, you can use almost anything that looks like the shape. The branches can be cut from the outside without any extra steps.
I wanted it to be a little thicker, so I used the extra stems I used for the olive tree trunk I made myself.
I cut it out and then wrapped it in burlap using a hot glue gun:
This process may seem tedious, but it is actually very quick, with each process taking only a minute or two.
If I wanted the stem to be thicker to fill the center hole a little more, all I had to do was wrap it with thread twice to make it a little wider.
I loaded the bottom of the stems with hot glue and stuck them in the middle of the pumpkin. It’s not completely secure — enough, but I wouldn’t hold them by the stems to hold them.
(If you know of a safer way to add the stem, please share!)
I was planning to make three, but I loved these cute stuffed pumpkins so much, I kept making them.
They are so cute!:
I went a long way with the fabric, I had less than half a yard of each color, and I was able to make nine pillows. I even have a little extra fabric left over.
Aren’t they adorable? (As my niece says):
They are so incredibly soft and I really love them.
The best part? I made all my own with $30 worth of fabric and stuffing—and the smallest teddy bear pumpkin from Pottery Barn is $29.
So I got nine for the price of one:
There’s no shame in buying, trust me… sometimes it’s the only solution in my opinion. But if you like the look of stuffed pumpkins, it’s worth trying to make them yourself for a lot less money!
You can’t beat nine for the price of one!
This would be a fun craft project to do with friends or older kids at craft night.
Try using old sweaters or blankets to make stuffed pumpkins too!
Have you tried making your own fabric pumpkins?
You can pin this tutorial for later use using this image:
