Favorite Fall Crafts

Happy Fall, y'all. :) 

We thought we'd kick of the week with a roundup of some of our favorite fall crafts--some we have made in the past and shared here at Everyday Art, and others that we are thinking of making this year. Click on the image to follow the how-to link. 

Enjoy. :)

 

 

DIY Wire Pumpkins

Remember our sister Lisa's super cute sweater pumpkins? 

Well, here is the tutorial

Wire Pumpkins:

Needs:  
wire (at least 16 feet)
something to coil the wire around

I used about 16 feet of wire.  It gave each pumpkin 14 loops with wire to curl at the top.  the longer the wire you have the more loops you will get.  Just about any malleable wire will work.  It just depends on what look you are going for.  I used copper wire.  It is soft enough to easily bend but stiff enough to hold its shape.  Plus, I like the color of it.

Take the wire and coil it around a round object.  My vase was 11 inches around.  The diameter of your cylinder is is how tall your pumpkin will stand.  

Once the wire is coiled, hold it in one hand with both ends coming out.  Take one end and wrap it around the center of your pumpkin.  This will hold the pumpkin together.  Take the other end and curl it. This will be the curl coming out of the top of your pumpkin.  

Fan out the coils and your pumpkin is complete.  You can play with the shape of your pumpkin  by flattening the loops, whether you want a taller pumpkin (flatten toward the center) or a short squatty pumpkin (squish the top of the pumpkin down).  

So cute! Thanks Lisa. :)

DIY Sweater Pumpkins

Today we have some super cute sweater pumpkins from our sister, Lisa. Such a crafty gal. :) 
Here is the link for the wire pumpkin tutorial. 

Want to make some?

Needs:

knit sweater

batting

stick

felt

Take the sweater and cut open the sides, so the front and back are now 2 separate pieces. 

Cut a rectangle out of one of the sides of the sweater.  Just to give you an idea of size the rectangle for the largest pumpkin was 18 inches wide x 11 inches tall.  The medium pumpkin was 14 inches wide x 9 inches tall.  The baby pumpkin was 12 inches wide x 7 inches tall.

Zigzag stitch the 4 sides of the rectangle.  This will prevent the edges from fraying or falling apart. 

Sew the 2 short sides together.  This will make a cylinder out of the rectangle.

Flip the cylinder right side out (so your seem is on the inside).  Take one end of the cylinder gather the fabric and sew it up tight.

On the other end of the cylinder begin to gather the fabric.  Stuff the pumpkin with batting from that end.  When you get as much batting as you want in your pumpkin finish gathering and sewing up that end.

Take a needle and thread and go down through the center of the pumpkin and back up (like a button hole).  Pull tight and tie the 2 ends of the thread together.  I did this 2 or 3 times to make sure it was going to stay.  This will pucker the center.  A longer needle will work better for this.  Make sure to hold on tight to your needle.  If you let go it will disappear in to the pumpkin and you will have to open up one end to get it out.

If you want the sectioned look on the pumpkins, take a needle and a very long piece of thread.  Tie it on the top of pumpkin (where you just puckered it), go down through the middle of the pumpkin,  loop around the outside of the pumpkin and back down the top.  Pull tight.  Do this as many times as you want sections. (6 times =6 sections)

Cut a leaf out of felt sew on some veins.  Cut a stem out the stick and hot glue them on top.  And your done!

Thanks Lisa. We love your sweater pumpkins. :)