Craft of the Week: No-Sew Pumpkin Patch

Even without visiting a pumpkin patch this year, anyone can adorn a house with festive pumpkins of the handmade variety. A couple of years ago, I received a pumpkin that was made from a roll of toilet paper covered with orange cotton cloth. I loved the simplicity and thoughtfulness that this hand-crafted gift reflected.

To create our own collection of cloth-covered pumpkins this year, I found that orange napkins work well. To make my small pumpkins I used 2 napkins. The package of four cost $2, so just $1 worth of damask cloth napkins yielded 8 pumpkins.

The remaining materials were free, since they were headed to the landfill or recycling bin otherwise.

Stuffing options:

• tissue paper
  
• brown grocery sacks
  
• plastic shopping bags
• produce bags

Center options:

• cardboard tubes from paper towel and toilet paper rolls
• lid from a Listerine bottle.

Directions:

1. Cut cardboard tube to desired pumpkin height and wrap with stuffing material

2. Place tube with stuffing on napkin or fabric and begin tucking corners into the tube to form a pumpkin.

3. Trim napkin or other fabric into a square that is larger enough to tuck all edges securely into the center . One napkin can be cut into 4 equal squares to make 4 small pumpkins. Bigger pumpkins may require most of one napkin.

4. If the center tube seems too big, you can wrap stuffing around the top and insert a layer of stuffing into the middle of the tube. Then take another cardboard tube and slit it lengthwise so the diameter will be small enough to fit inside the first tube. Tuck the edges of the fabric into the center of the smaller tube.

5. To form a pumpkin stem, take a brown paper sack and cut a piece of appropriate size to roll into a tube. You can make small accordion folds to add realistic texture. After rolling into a tube shape, insert the stem into the center of the cardboard tube. Glue can be used to secure the stem and fabric if desired.

6. To add a leaf, green felt or fabric can be cut into a leaf shape and inserted next to the stem.



Note: A more frugal or eco-friendly option for orange material would be to re-purpose an old item of orange clothing lying around or to acquire something from a yard sale or thrift shop. However, after looking around the house in vain, I decided it was not worth my time to scour a thrift store for the perfect orange item. So when I went shopping for groceries at Wal-mart I just steered my cart and two children to the seasonal decor aisle, where I found cloth napkins.