October 10, 2011

Pumpkin time

I'm not thrilled about fall's arrival. But I'm doing my best.


I made some little pumpkin coasters this weekend, and some photos are below to show how. If you have a bit of batting and some scraps of fabric and trim, this is easy! What if you made faces on them? Jack-o-lantern coasters!


Make up a quilt sandwich about 10 x 20''. The backing of the sandwich won't be seen in the final coaster so use whatever you want to get rid of. First draw some pumpkin shapes. I drew my shapes around a glass to make sure they'd be big enough, and gave a 1/4-1/2'' clearance around each edge. Pumpkins aren't perfect, so make them different sizes and shapes.


Use free motion quilting to give your pumpkins ridges, then cut them out along the lines you drew.

Place the pumpkins face down on the backing fabric. For the stems, use a 2'' piece of trim folded in half, tucked under the pumpkin. Align the raw edges of the trim with the top raw edge of the pumpkin. Pin in place and sew around them with a 1/4'' seam, leaving a 1.5''-2'' hole at the bottom.


Cut away the excess backing fabric and turn the pumpkin right side out through the hole you left.


Fold down the seam allowance in the hole and then topstitch around the whole thing to secure it.


I like the way they look all in a row! The toddler likes them too. Lots of counting to five happening around here!

26 comments:

Carol said...

Oh my goodness gracious! Those are the cutest things! I am motivated to try them TONIGHT! Thanks for your tutorial. Don't know about just drawing them off but will give it a shot. I love all things pumpkin.

Down to Sew said...

oooh! This method is perfect for me to whip out some coasters with my longarm! Hmm, you've got my head churning with ideas...I'm thinking something more non-seasonal, but the pumpkins sure are cute!

tracy_a said...

So cute! I hope you know the "5 little pumpkins sitting on a gate..." rhyme!

tvbleak said...

Neat, and I agree, you need the Five Little pumpkins rhyme for your little one.

Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "Oh, my it's getting late!"
The second one said, "We don't care!"
The third one said, "There are witches in the air!"
The fourth one said, "I'm ready for some fun!"
The fifth one said, "Let's run and run and run!"
Then Whoooooosh... went the wind,
And out went the light!
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Have fun. I have some pumpkins to make. :^)

Shannon said...

I'm seeing these as a super cute banner, maybe knock the pumpkin count up to ten :) Thanks for the inspiration!

Amanda said...

They're adorable!

Elsa said...

love them and the tutorial ~ thanks Christina!

And this would be . . . . said...

love love love them. Thanks.

Amanda Jean said...

These are super duper cute! Thanks for the tuorial. :) my husband just told me the other night that we needed more coasters. These would be perfect!

Unknown said...

Those are so cute, wish I could sew!

Sand and Sunshine said...

Great project.

Katie said...

TOOOOOOOO CUTEEE!!!!!!

Stephanie said...

Those are darling! Thanks for sharing this.

Linda said...

These are super cute!

Suzanne said...

Hey, that's a great idea!

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

Cute. Great tutorial, too.

Nicky said...

Great tute and I certainly want to make some of these!

Anonymous said...

So cute! I might make them larger, use heat proof batting,and end up with hot pads for the table...hmmm

Glad I found this site!

Kay Lynne said...

Very cute idea!

The Thompsons said...

Adorable! I love it!

Susie said...

These are so cute! I'm just teaching myself to sew, so I'm trying to find more cute and easy projects, thank you so much for this! :)

Gina's Custom Creations said...

Completely adorable! I love them!

HRH-DMK said...

These are extremely cute and clever... and way easier than the first square quilted coasters I tried to sew (not finished yet -- because of the fussiness of binding something so tiny, and because I foolishly purchased backing/binding fabric that was not 100% cotton, so it's slippery-er than cotton -- live and learn). Thanks also for the tutorial, your photos and instructions are very clear, and the smart way of turning them inside out make finishing them much more likely!

Anonymous said...

To cute.....great for Halloween & Thanksgiving gifts, too!

Cathy said...

Very cute! Two of the pumpkins look like they are shaded darker on one side. Did you do something to the fabric to give them dimension or is that just the lighting? It looks cool anyways.

Nettie said...

Way cute little pumpkins!!!

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