Fall Pumpkin Decor and Pumpkin Pillow

I love this pumpkin pillow and it’s now one of my favorite fall pumpkin decor items. Who knew I could have so much fun making pumpkin crafts?

Pumpkins announce the arrival of fall, warm and spicey lattes, and adorable trick-or-treaters. Pumpkins also are great decor items and this pumpkin pillow is just so much fun, both to make and to add to your decor! I have made a lot of stitched pillows ( see below) but I want to share a secret. If you aren’t a sewer, just grab a thin permanent marker and draw your own feature lines.

Halloween Pumpkin Decor

You all know I love to make pillow covers. I think pillow covers are such an easy and inexpensive way to change up a room. For holidays, it is especially fun to add pillow covers to a room, and boom, the room is instantly festive!

Fall is almost officially here, and I love the change in seasons and all of the fall colors. Here in Southern California, the days are cooling down a bit, which is a huge relief.

I am welcoming fall and the cooler temperatures by cooking soups, like my family’s favorite corn chowder, which is a Halloween tradition. I have also been baking bread like sourdough banana bread. Cooking and making all the things that my family enjoys help make our home feel cozy and warm.

We live in a neighborhood that gets a lot of trick-or-treaters. Literally hundreds and hundreds of trick-or-treaters. You might be shocked to know that I typically buy nearly one thousand pieces of candy each year. And, I usually run out!

It is so much fun to see all of the costumes and the cute little ones. It has been so much fun to watch the neighborhood children grow over the years. Soon, there will be neighborhood grandchildren knocking on our door saying “Trick or Treat.” There is always a treat offered and for our family and friends, we have an open-door policy. On Halloween, I put a big pot of the aforementioned corn chowder on the stove, make loads of cornbread, and a huge salad. It is a tradition for many of our friends to stop in for dinner or just a bite while on their trick-or-treating route.

In the past, I haven’t generally decorated specifically for Halloween. I’m more of a fall decor kind of gal. This year, I thought it would be fun to create some fun pumpkin decor. Of course, I thought to start by making a pumpkin pillow.

Stitch Motion Embroidery

What is Free Motion Stitch Embroidery?

Free motion machine embroidery is very different from regular sewing. By using a special quilting foot and lowering the feed dogs on your machine, you feed the fabric wherever you want to stitch. It’s so much fun because you can move the material in any direction while sewing it on your machine.

A lot of free-motion embroidery is done slowly and perfectly. I love it when it is more free and outside of the lines. Can I just say how much fun this was to make?

I keep some plain cotton pillow covers around the craft room so that whenever I am inspired to make a new pillow cover, I can. For years I have bought plain pillow covers from both IKEA and Amazon because the prices are so reasonable, and I love that I can make pillow covers any time I am inspired! I get pillow inserts from Amazon. The ones I use are four (4) hypoallergenic pillow inserts for twenty-five dollars. Such a great deal!

What You Need to Make a Free Motion Embroidery Pillow

20×20 Pillow Cover (You can also use the Gurli 20″ cover from Ikea)

Acrylic paints and brush

Pumpkin Cookie Cutter (I used a 3″ cutter.)

Dark Embroidery thread spool (I used brown)

Parchment paper or cardboard to fit inside the pillow while painting (so the paint won’t seep through)

Free motion quilting foot for your machine (varies by sewing machine brand)

Instructions to Make a Pillow

• one – Measure your pillow and the cookie cutter. Determine the layout for the pillow. I used blue markers to help me know where to place the cookie cutter.
• two – Dip the cookie cutter in a flat pile of paint and use it as a stamp to layout the design. I alternated the colors but you can do this any way you want.
• three – Continue stamping the pillow with the cookie cutter until done and then let the design dry.

• four – Mix the paint. I mixed up a color palette of oranges, greens, and yellows. Paint the pumpkins showing the different sections of the pumpkin.
• five – I made six different designs and randomly placed them in a differnet place in each row.
• six – Continue painting the pumpkins until done but don’t worry about painting perfectly as the stitching will add detail.

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• seven – Paint in the stems. I added a highlight on the stem on the right sie of each one.
• eight – Let the pillow dry.
• nine – Open up the pillow and add the stitch embroidery. Be careful not to sew on the underneath side of the pillow. Begin stitching a very loose pumpkin pattern on top of each pumpkin. It doesn’t have to be exact, just stitch two rounds of stitching on each pumpkin. Since I used an already-made pillow cover, I opened it up and stitched each pumpkin carefully, being sure not to stitch the underside of the pillow cover. It’s not hard, I promise! This is what the sewing machine pressure foot looks like. The difference from regular sewing is that you have to move the fabric which is awesome. You get to move the fabric and stitch in any direction you want! The good thing is that the stitching does not have to be perfect. I like it better if it’s not perfect.

The last step is to iron the pillow to set the paint. Just place a thin cotton cloth on top and iron!

I absolutely love how this turned out. Isn’t it fun?

You can see below that a lot of the pumpkins are very “loose” and not perfectly painted. I love it that way.

Now it’s your turn to make this pillow!

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Yesterday I shared a new LIVE shoe, Get Your Kitchen Ready with Fall Deals on my Amazon Live Broadcast.

Click here to watch the show.

Look at the Stitch Embroidery Projects I Have Made

In the past year or so, I have made quite a few Free Stitch Embroidery projects including pillows, placemats, and coasters.

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