The Sweater Pumpkin

Hi friends! 

This tutorial was my first ever guest post (on Sugar Bee Crafts!) just after I started blogging. I never got a chance to post it here, so I thought it deserved to be shared again. Fall is my all time favorite season to decorate for. It may even out rank Christmas (I know!). I'm so excited to pull this little guy out again this year!

This project started out at Goodwill (don't the best ones always start at Goodwill?). I found this "awesome" sweater for $5, and just knew it had secret pumpkin aspirations.

I started by cutting the sleeves off, and making rectangles out of those top 3 orange stripes.

Note: When you're cutting up a striped sweater, make sure you either do it one side at a time, or make sure the stripes are lined up. Of course I remembered to do that...psh! Who would forget to do that! 

Take one of your rectangles, fold it in half and pin it like so:

(I need more blog friendly pins...)

Sew a 1/4 inch seam down this edge. Then fold each half in half and do the same thing again. You'll end up with something like this:

Repeat this whole process with the other rectangle, and then sew the two rectangles together, leaving you with something like this:

Grab a needle and thread and gather up one end of your pumpkin. It's difficult to get it closed up all the way, so I cut a rough circle out of brown felt and (very!) roughly whip stitched it on to cover up the edges.

At this point, it also makes a great hat!

(I love this smile!!)

Loosely gather up the other side. Fill your pumpkin with fiber-fill, our your stuffing of choice, and cinch it up. Leave your opening large enough that you could shove some more stuffing in there if you want once it's closed. 

Now your pumpkin needs a top. I grabbed a stick from outside, cut pumpkin-toppy (??) shape out of some green felt, and stuck the stick through the middle. I put a bit of hot glue around the bottom of the hole, just to keep everything secure.

This piece then got hot glued to the top of my pumpkin. Then I added some copper wire that was just sitting around. I twisted it around the stick a few times, and then wrapped the ends around a pencil to make some super cute little curly-cues.

Isn't it cute? I am thrilled with the way this pumpkin turned out. I plan on turning the bottom part of my sweater into a pumpkin as well, and maybe the turtleneck as well! I'll have a cute little pumpkin family! OK...maybe you're not as excited about that as I am...Whatev.

Sorry for the lame-o pics! I craft in a basement, and took pictures at night. Bad blogger, bad!

Be blessed!

Heather

I'm linking up. Come play with me!

Bean Bags

Hi friends!

So, the award for most unoriginal blog post goes to me today. These weren't my idea. Not even a little bit. However, I believe they're a classic toy, and classics should be shared!

This is a perfect project if you are a new sewer. Straight seams, minimal cutting, instant gratification! This is totally a naptime project. Or, in my case, a PopPop took the tiny child to Home Depot and Steak n Shake project. Ha!

I had some leftover fat quarters from a project. I loved the patterns and colors, but didn't have enough of any of them to make anything substantial. Until I remembered bean bags! Woohoo for stash busting!

These could not be any easier. You probably don't even need a tutorial but, just in case, I'm going to give you one anyway!

I started out by cutting 4.5 x 4.5 inch squares from my fabric.

These then get stitched together, right sides facing, leaving about 2/3 of one side open. This will let you turn your bean bag, and fill it.

Fill up your bags. I used rice, but you can use whatever you have on hand. If you use something food based, like rice or beans, these aren't washable. No one wants sprouting bean bags! However, if you use the plastic pellets you can get at craft stores, then these should go in the wash with no problem.

I filled my bags about 1/2-2/3 full. Any more than that and you won't be able to sew around the edges.

Now you close up the bags. There are a few different ways you can do this. If you want, you can hand stitch the opening closed and be done. I chose to pin it closed, and sew a top stitch seam around the entire bean bag.

I've had enough bean bags bust open on me that I thought this way was better. More seams = more strength. At least in my head.

Aren't they pretty?

At first Abbey looked at them like "what am I supposed to do with these things?", but now she loves them. She loves to "build tall towers" and balance them on different parts of her body. There are all sorts of fun ways to play with bean bags!

Here's a fun one:

Line up a few plates and use them as target practice. Have kids aim for a specific plate, or set them out at different distances. There are a million ways to adjust this game for your kids.

Have fun!

Be blessed!

Heather

I'm linking up. Come play!

DIY cloth training pants!

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**update: These cloth training pants are now available for purchase at my shop www.etsy.com/shop/theflannellamb

 First of all, I have an important announcement: Abbey slept in big girl pants all night last night!! Yaaayyyy!!!

She slept in these: