How to Make Ribbed Pumpkins
Decorative pumpkins make a home feel cozy, especially in autumn and around the holidays. A ribbed pumpkin is a fun craft project using needle felting. Needle felting is felting without water. It utilizes long, barbed needles to push the layers of wool roving into themselves where they stick and can be manipulated into patterns, without needing soap and water. Whether making ribbed pumpkins to decorate your home for the holidays or to give to friends and family as gifts, this craft making ribbed pumpkins will impress all those around you.
Instructions
-
-
1
Roll a chunk of orange wool roving into the basic pumpkin shape. For a small pumpkin, roughly the size of your hand, .25 ounces of the wool is a good starting point to begin rolling.
-
2
Lay the rolled piece of wool roving on the styrofoam pad and begin stabbing and rolling with the felting needle. Stab the top of the wool where your stem will go and the bottom of the wool so that it will sit on a flat surface. The more you stab the wool, the tighter and more compact the pumpkin will be; the less you stab, the fuller and fluffier it will be.
-
-
3
Stab the pumpkin shape in concentrated areas to add the ribbing effect. Continue stabbing in a line from top to bottom to achieve indented ribs all around the shape. Perfection is not required, so do not worry about keeping all of your lines perfectly straight or perfectly spaced apart from each other.
-
4
Attach a stem to the top of the ribbed pumpkin by rolling a small piece of green wool roving loosely to achieve the basic stem shape; begin stabbing to make it more compact. Once it is the size you want, set it on top of the pumpkin and begin stabbing the edges at the bottom of the stem into the top of the pumpkin until it is secure.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Experiment with adding faces, leaves or vines to your pumpkin.
Use different colored wool roving for various colored pumpkins.
Do not let children attempt this craft on their own, due to the risks of using the large needles.
Be careful not to stab yourself with the needles, especially when working on small parts, such as the stem.
