simple project | sleeve pumpkins

 Well, hello fall. Yep, it's full-on here and gorgeous in Utah.

My friend Marci and I took a little jaunt to the Heber/Midway area last week. It was so, so fun. All the way through Provo Canyon, we were ewwww-ing and ahhhh-ing over the colors of the fall leaves against the dark green of the pines.

We arrived early for Marci's appointment, so we stopped at a thrift store we really like in Heber. (We may have planned it that way. ;)) The store is called St. Vincent's. We checked out the vintage clothing together and then split up.



I found some vintage ric rac and seam binding in really cool colors. At .25 each, I grabbed a few. And a few more.

Then I found this. EXACTLY what I was looking for. I showed it to Marci, who gave me a goofy confused look, and said, "Ummm, that's not a color or style I'm used to seeing you wear." Yes, it's pretty ugly. A total grandma sweater. (Oh wait, that's me.:)) Anyway, I had no intention of wearing it! Sheesh!

I know, I kind of gave away my intentions with my opening photo. It's called, "I'm so excited about how this project turned out I can't WAIT to show you!" I have wanted to make pumpkins from thrifted sweaters. The color and fabric of "the" sweater were perfect, but when I saw the ribbing on those sleeves, the wheels started turning.

These pumpkins are so simple to make and couldn't be more darling. And I love, love, love them. What makes them so easy is that all you're doing is gathering two ends of a tube (cut from the sleeve) and stuffing with something to weigh them down a bit and polyfil stuffing. The real pumpkin stem just makes them. You could also add a piece of branch like the fabric pumpkins in this post. I was able to create three pumpkins from each sleeve.

Ella and I went to a thrift store in our area, and found a lot more options for pumpkins. I found another sweater in the same fabric as my granny one that's a fall-ish green--kinda squash-like. Ella wanted to make her own set of pumpkins and chose a purple sparkly sweater in a different fabric. Now those are fun!

Looking for a tutorial? 

 tutorial | sleeve pumpkins

I decided to try something a little different and do my step-by-step instructions on a sheet you can download. I've copied and pasted my share of on-line tutorials so I could have the instructions in front of me or take them along to buy supplies. I thought this might make it a bit easier. What do you think? Just trying to keep it simple (wink, wink).

Ella's teacher, Marilyn Hulme, had a birthday last week. Her favorite place to eat out is Cafe Rio. (How do I know? I had her fill out the teacher questionnaire I wrote up last year.) We gave her one of my pumpkins with a CR gift card attached. I hope she enjoys it.

Happy fall!

I also shared this project here: