Stitch an Adorable Pumpkin Pincushion in Less Than an Hour

By Diane Knott

Pumpkin pincushion Add some autumn cheer to your next sewing project! This handy little pincushion is super cute and can be whipped up in no time.

Pumpkin Pincushion

Level: Easy

What You Need

  • PDF template
  • 5″ x 18″ orange fabric
  • Green wool, cut into a 2½” square
  • Cotton thread, in color of your choice (for sewing the seams)
  • 1 cup ground walnut shells (or your favorite pincushion filling)
  • Large-eye needle
  • 2 yards orange pearl cotton thread
  • 1 brown button
  • Sewing pins
  • Fabric pen
  • Rotary cutter or scissors
  • Small funnel (optional)

Instructions

1. Cut Out the Pattern

Leaf pattern

Download and print the PDF template and cut out the template pieces. Lay the oblong pumpkin template on the wrong side of your orange fabric and trace around it. Repeat until you have six shapes, then cut out each shape.

Fabric cutouts

Lay the leaf template on the wrong side of your green wool, trace and cut out. When you’re done, you’ll have one green leaf and six pieces for your pumpkin.

2. Stitch the Pumpkin Pieces

Back of fabric pattern

Place two pumpkin cut-outs on top of each other, right sides together. Sew them together along one edge with a ¼” seam allowance.

Partly stitched fabric cutouts

Open the unit, and sew a third strip of pumpkin fabric along the other edge, right sides together, so three pumpkin pieces are sewn together. Repeat this with the other three pumpkin pieces so you have two units of three sewn together.

3. Sew It All Together

Pinned fabric cutouts

Place the two units of fabric together, wrong sides out (you’re essentially nestling one inside the other), and pin. Sew all the way around the edge, leaving a small opening a few inches long. Turn the pincushion right side out through the opening.

4. Fill It Up

Partially sewn fabric pumpkin

Fill the pumpkin with ground walnut shells, or whatever you chose as filling. (Use a small funnel if necessary.) When the cushion is fully stuffed, carefully turn the raw edges of your opening under, then hand sew the opening closed.

5. Embellish the Seams

Thread the large-eye needle with pearl cotton thread and tie a knot at the end of the thread. Insert the needle through the top center of the pumpkin, where the seams intersect, and out through the bottom center. Pull the thread up around the pincushion so the thread is nested along one of the seam lines.

Again, insert the needle through the top of the pumpkin and out the bottom. Repeat until all the seams around the pincushion are lined with thread. This will give your pumpkin grooves along the seam lines. Leave your needle threaded, and make sure you end with the thread coming up through the top of your pumpkin.

6. Add the Final Details

Completed pumpkin pincushion

Place the leaf wool cut-out on top of the pincushion. Using the attached needle and thread, sew the brown button to the center of the leaf. This will secure the leaf to the pincushion. Tie off your thread under the leaf to hide your ends, and trim the thread.

Now you’ve got a festive tool for your fall projects!

Reply to Beatrice
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34 Responses to “Stitch an Adorable Pumpkin Pincushion in Less Than an Hour”

  1. eginio p. alvarez

    is there anyway that I can get print of this pattern, it would be easy for me to remember how to make the pincushion

    Reply
  13. Coty paz

    Son creaciones hermosas. Para realizarlas tanto como terapias como para iniciar un negocio.

    Reply
  22. Alice

    Great craft. Definitely going to try this. Was wondering from point to point on the pumpkin pattern what is the measurement? I want to make sure I have printed the correct size. Please let me know. Thank you.

    Reply
  25. Judith Hamilton

    That’s really cute. I would like to try making it. Can you also stuff it with polyfill?

    Reply
  27. Ms. Patsy Metzner

    I do these a little different, sew short ends together, gather bottom , pull tight and tie. gather top and before pulling , stuff and then pull gathers tightly and tie . Use yarn to make sections by wrapping yarn over each side and pull until it separates sections and tie then put your leaf and button on. Eliminates sewing each section and could be a little faster.

    Reply