Pin Lover’s Club: Pumpkin-Little Mini-Pinnie

September 25, 2018

I have been looking forward to fall and it finally arrived here in Illinois! I’ve been celebrating by wearing boots, going sweater shopping and enjoying a few pumpkin spice flavored treats! Most importantly, I’m decorating my home (and the studio) with these cute little pumpkin pinnies! They are the perfect companion for our latest Pin Lover’s Club collection, “Autumn Song”. Isn’t it sweet?

This adorable Pumpkin-Little Mini-Pinnie is a cute and quick project that you can make from felted wool, cotton prints, or a combination of both!

Pumpkin-Little Mini-Pinnie Supplies:

Pin Lover’s Club Pins
Fabric: (cut these pieces*)
12½” x 5½” rectangle of orange felted-wool
2” x 4” rectangle of light green felted-wool
2” x 4” rectangle of dark green felted-wool
2” x 2” square of brown felted-wool
Wool Roving (for stuffing)
Floral wire
Fusi-bond Lite (fusible interfacing)
Freezer Paper

*This pattern was designed for felted-wool, but if you prefer, you can make it from cotton instead. For best results we recommend that you use cotton for the body of the pumpkin and use the intended felted-wool for the stem and leaves.

Pumpkin-Little Mini-Pinnie Instructions:

Download the pattern sheet that’s linked below. Print at 100%.
Felted wool is reversible, so choose the side you will call the “right side” (outside of the pincushion). On the paper side of the freezer paper, trace the pumpkin pattern shape 5 times. With the shiny side down, place the freezer paper on the wrong side of the orange wool. With your iron on a dry wool setting, press the paper to the wool. Then repeat with the stem shape on the freezer paper and the brown wool. Give the paper and wool time to cool, then cut out all the shapes along the solid traced lines.
With the freezer paper still attached to the wool, poke a dull pencil through the paper at each marked dot A-B, then twirl the pencil a bit to mark the dots. All marks should be made on the wrong side of the wool. Mark dots C & D on pumpkin shapes 1 & 5. Peel the freezer paper off all the wool shapes.
Trace the four leaf shapes onto Fusi-bond Lite. Separate into two groups of two leaves. With the shiny side down, place two of the traced leaves on the wrong side of the light green wool. With your iron on a dry wool setting, press the fusible to the wool. Repeat with the second pair of leaves onto the dark green wool. Give the fusible and wool time to cool, then cut out all the shapes along the solid traced lines.
Cut two 5” pieces of floral wire.
Sandwich one piece of floral wire between two leaves— use one light green and one dark green leaf. The wire should extend 3½” from the base of the leaf. Fuse the layers together by pressing with your iron on a dry wool setting. Repeat with the other leaf shapes and wire.
Hand stitch the vein on the leaves with a short running stitch and green thread. Follow the pattern page for stitch placement.
Shape the leaves as desired by bending the wire between the layers of wool. Bend the leaf stems back toward the leaves and curl around a thin pencil or dowel to make them look vine-y.
Roll the stem piece starting at one of the long straight edges. When the opposite straight edge is touching the roll, whip-stitch to hold it in place.
Thread a sewing needle (sharp point) with about a yard of cotton thread matching the wool color. Pull the thread to match the thread ends and tie a knot 1/4” from the tail. (Sew with a double strand.)
Place the pumpkin shapes 1 and 2 right sides together matching all cut edges and the dots marked A and B. It is very important to start and end the seam at the points marked. Pin through both layers along one side.
Take a small stitch—1/8” —through both wool layers at dot A. Pull the thread halfway through the wool then pass the needle between the two strands of thread near the tail knot. Pull the thread to tighten the knot down against the wool. This secures your first stitch so the knot won’t pull through the wool. Take one more small stitch over the first stitch. This strengthens your seam so you can later stuff the pincushion without worrying about your stitches pulling out.
Sew a backstitch from A to B, along the marked stitching line 1/8” from the cut edge. Secure the thread again at B by taking an extra stitch and tying a knot. Cut the thread leaving a 1/4” tail.
Open the two pieces and lay pumpkin shape 3, right sides together on shape 2, matching the remaining long edge of 2 to the same edge on 3, and the dots A and B. Knot your thread again, then secure and stitch from A to B as before.
Open the pieces and match the remaining long edges of shapes 3 and 4, and the dots A and B. Stitch again from A to B. Add shape 5 in the same manner.
Now match the unstitched edges of shape 1 and shape 5, matching dots A and B. Stitch this edge from A to C. Secure and knot the thread, then cut. Knot the thread and start stitching again at dot D. Stitch to dot B. Secure and knot the thread.
Finger press all the seams open and turn right side out through the opening between dots C & D at the side of the pumpkin.
Pull apart and fluff a bit of the wool roving. Stuff it in the pincushion through the opening at the side of the pumpkin. Push it all the way to the top. Add more bits of roving until the pincushion is full and firm. Sometimes a tool is handy to poke in the roving—a chopstick, the tip of your scissors or a pencil will work.
Tuck the cut edges of the wool shapes inside the pumpkin’s side opening and sew the two sides closed with small ladder stitches. Secure the thread. See the illustration for help with ladder stitching.
Tufting the pumpkin makes its shape more interesting and also helps it sit well on your table. Tufting is done by sewing through an already stuffed shape with a long needle. A button at the bottom keeps the thread from popping through the pincushion. For best results, check your pincushion after stuffing to be sure the seams meet at the center of the top and the base. Add a few small stitches if you see a gap. The stem and button will cover the stitches.
Tack the leaves with a few small stitches at the top of the pumpkin, just next to the small opening. Be sure to leave room for the stem that will be added during tufting.
Use an extra-long double stand of dark brown thread and a long needle to sew through the “core” of the pumpkin from the bottom to the top. Then sew back down to the base and pull snugly to tuft the pumpkin body. Sew through the body from bottom to top and top to bottom a second time to secure the tufting. Then sew up from the bottom and attach the pumpkin stem by sewing through all of the rolled layers at the base of the stem. Then sew back down through the pumpkin and secure your thread at the bottom.
Shape your leaves and vines, add your limited edition Pin-Mini and enjoy!