How to make your own needle felt pumpkins!

Craft yourself a whole patch of beautiful woolly pumpkins and gourds this Autumn! These will look lovely displayed in a basket on the hearth, on a shelf or even gracing your seasonal dinner table.

Items you'll need:

- Felting needles
- A foam mat or firm sponge to work on
- Sharp scissors or snips to tidy stray fibres
- Needle felting wool (white and a selection of autumnal colours)

Step 1: You’ll need white wool to make the pumpkin cores and a selection of colours for the pumpkin skins.

 Step 2: Tear off a length of white wool – how long depends on how big you’d like to make your pumpkin. You could start with around 30cm. Tie two tight knots in the middle of the length. This is a great way to quickly create a tight core.

Step 3: Needle felt the loose ‘tail’ ends of wool onto the knot to form a roughly round shape.

Step 4: Now work on the shape of the pumpkin. You will need to add more wool here and there (small pieces at a time rather than big lumps!) to get the shape just the way you want it. Pumpkins come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Have a look at images on Google to help you!

Step 5: When you’re happy with the shape, begin to add colour. Tear off small pieces of coloured wool. Lay them (in the direction of the fibres) over the pumpkin and felt into place.

Step 6: Tidy the top and bottom of the pumpkin by felting the loose ends of the coloured wool firmly into place, creating indentations.

Step 7: Repeat steps 5 and 6 until the pumpkin is completely covered in coloured wool.

Step 8: Add detail with some dark brown wool. You only need a very few strands. Lay the wool onto the pumpkin from top to base and firmly felt into place to create a line. Repeat this step all the way around the pumpkin, making sure to felt firmly at the top and base.

Step 9: Make the stalk. Working on the mat, tear off a small amount of brown wool. Roll this between your fingers to form a small sausage shape. Felt this firmly, rolling it as you felt to prevent it becoming flat. Aim to make one end slightly wider and flat on the top. Leave the other end fluffy. Take great care – needle felting tiny things requires a lot of concentration!

Step 10: Join the stalk to the top of the pumpkin by felting the fluffy
end firmly into place in the indentation.

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