DIY Pumpkin Pillows

 I have been swooning over all these pretty pumpkin pillows I've seen around Instagram land, but sometimes budget plays a part in my decorating adventures... so I ventured out to create my own Pumpkin Pillows with items I already had on hand.  They are very easy (I'm a sewing rookie) so if I can make these, you can too!  You just need some basic knowledge of how to use a sewing machine.  True story:  Right in the middle of this project my sewing machine stopped working for me.  It kept getting knotted up, and the fabric wouldn't move through.  After messing around with it for a while, I finally called my mom.  That sweet woman, who lives 45 minutes away from me, drove all the way out to save the day... only to find out I had it threaded wrong.  Oi.  I felt horrible that she took half her day just for that.  But what would I do without my sweet mother?!?  Even at 30, I need her every day.  LOL.  But again proof, that if I can make these, you can too.  ;)

 Items needed:

• sewing machine
• Scrap fabric
• scissors
• hot glue gun
• twine
• polly fill, or something to fill your pillow (I used tulle that I had on hand after I ran out of batting.  But you can even just turn these into a slip cover and use a pillow form you already have.  I didn't do that because I didn't have enough scrap fabric to do so.  So small pillows it was!)

I had a tiny bit of this textured white fabric left over from another project, and of course some burlap would make for a cute stem!

 The pattern:  you can easily draw your own, and there are lots of free ones on Pinterest!  I found this one from Shabby Art Boutique for a pumpkin coaster that I knew would be perfect. I also added it to the bottom of this post for easy access.

First cut the whole pumpkin out, and the stem off, like so:

 Trace that first whole piece onto your choice of fabric, and then cut off the outer two wedges of the pumpkin pattern like this:

 Trace your "second" pattern, and cut again the outer two wedges off, so you're left with the center of the pumpkin:

 Trace that last pattern as well as the stem onto your choice of fabric:

 So you will have four pieces like this:

 You will stack them on top of each other to form your pumpkin:

 When sewing your pieces together, start by sewing your second largest piece on top of the largest piece, just keeping on the outer edge of that second piece.  I liked the look of the raw edge, giving the pumpkin more texture.  Continue by sewing on the center piece of the pumpkin, and then pinning the whole pumpkin onto your fabric for the pillow.  I just cut a simple 12x12 square:

 Sew your pumpkin on, again by following along the other edge.  Including the stem:

 After your pumpkin is sewn onto the front of your pillow, create the pillow by taking the same sized square of fabric, and right sides together, sew along the edge, leaving about a 3 inch opening to allow yourself room to flip it inside out, and to fill your pillow... before filling my pillow, I added some "vines" using twined also outlined my stem with the twine.  I simply hot glued it on to the shape I wanted:

 Now it's time to stuff and close your pillow!  As I mentioned before, I ran out of actual polly fill, so I used left over tulle instead.  Close your pillow with a simple hand stitch.

 And enjoy!

 Have fun experimenting, with the layered pumpkins!  I decided that the shape was simple enough to try and draw up some of my own patterns for a tiny "pumpkin patch" pillow... For these stems I hand stitched them with embroidery floss before sewing on the back of the pillow form.  I also added some extra detailed stitching, and just had fun with it!  I'd love to see your creations if you end up making some of these pillows for yourself!  You can find me over on Instagram, @cherieamourblog and tag me in your photos!

Pattern from Shabby Art Boutique

Thanks so much for stopping by!