How to Make a Great Pumpkin Costume

It's a great Pumpkin! Whether it is Halloween or a special event, dressing up as a pumpkin is a sure way to bring smiles to everyone you meet. Create a pumpkin costume for your next fall festival, party or parade. Nothing says "fall" better than a bright orange pumpkin costume. Use orange felt and basic craft supplies, and you will be on your way to creating a costume that looks as if you pulled it right out of a pumpkin patch. Create a smashing pumpkin costume and you will be the life of the party.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Orange felt
• Green felt
• Green silk leaves
• Green paper-covered wire
• Scissors
• Newspaper
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Sewing machine

1. Measure how long you want your pumpkin costume to be. You may want to make the costume run from your shoulders to mid thigh. This will be the length of your pumpkin costume.

2. Draw the length of the costume on a piece of newspaper. You are creating a pumpkin “slice” template. The template should be the length you have decided upon, and the width will be: 12 inches in the middle, 4 inches at the top and 8 inches on the bottom. Using this template will create a curved look to your pumpkin shape.

3. Determine how many pumpkin slices you will need. This will depend upon your size and how big you want the pumpkin costume to be. Plan to cut 8 slices. You may add more if necessary.

4. Place the side edges of the slices together. Pin the slice edges.

5. Sew the slice edges together. You may pin each slice at a time for sewing ease.

6. Turn the pumpkin slices so the right sides are together. When you have determined that you have enough slices, pin the open-ended slices together to form a round pumpkin shape. Sew the slices and turn right side out.

7. Try on your pumpkin shape. Make sure you can walk properly in the pumpkin costume. Cut small slits in the bottom of the pumpkin costume for more walking room, if necessary.

8. Cut armhole slits into the sides of your pumpkin costume for your arms.

9. Sew silk leaves to the shoulders and around the neck of your pumpkin costume.

10. Sew paper-covered wire to the neck of your pumpkin costume. Curl the paper-covered wire into pumpkin vines.

Tips & Warnings

• Paint your face orange and attach leaves vines to your hair.
• Wear green tights or green pants to create an overall effect.
• Stuff your pumpkin costume with paper to create a round look.
• Bend in the wire ends of your paper-covered vines to prevent injury.

Resources

• Pumpkin Face Costume
• Pumpkin Costume

[equotient]

on 10/25/2009 Hi Yeayunn,
You can use straps. Because this is a basic costume, you may have to play with the measurements a bit. You can also create a gathered bottom. Measure the bottom opening. Stretch a piece of elastic and cut it at the same measurement. As you machine-stitch the elastic, pull it firmly to stretch it out. This will create a gather without having to sew a casing. To stuff the pumpkin, try attaching bubble wrap to the inside of the costume. Let me know if you need more help. Thanks, B.

[yeayunn]

on 10/25/2009 Dear Ms. Hahn,

I am trying to make this costume for my six year old son. With 8 panels at 4 inches, the top circumference is wide and slides down his body. Around the bottom, it is also very wide and won't hold in any stuffing. Did you use spaghetti straps to hold the costume to the body? Elastic to cinch the bottom?
Thank you for your guidance.

[equotient]

on 9/8/2009 Thank you. It was really fun - we got a good laugh out of it, and lots of compliments.

B.

[tracysmith159]

on 9/8/2009 This is a great Costume. Sounds like fun to make too.