Sherpa Pumpkin Pillow DIY

Add some coziness to your fall decor with this DIY Sherpa pumpkin pillow. No need to pay the high price tag and you can make some in whatever color you wish!

Hey friends! I am back with some fall projects as promised! 🙂 Today I am sharing this super cozy and beautiful Sherpa pumpkin pillow.

I made these pumpkin shaped pillows after seeing some cozy pumpkins on Pottery Barn’s website. When I first saw these pillows, I instantly loved them! Of course, my mind started figuring out how I could make them myself instead of paying the amount they were asking for them though. Ha!

These pumpkin shaped pillows are similar to how I made my DIY ghost pillow after a PB one. However, this fabric is way more soft and cuddly! I actually found a blanket at Target that I used for the fabric. Make sure to think outside the box when looking for fabric! 😉

Make different sized pumpkin pillows

The best thing about making your own pumpkins is that they are totally customizable. You can make them in whatever color you want and however big you want! I ended up making a couple different sized pumpkin pillows. I made the first bigger one as a trial run to make sure it would work out okay before videoing myself making one for the tutorial. The bigger DIY pumpkin pillow is about 11 inches in diameter.

The smaller pumpkin pillow is about 8 inches in diameter.

If you can tell in the pictures, the bigger pumpkin is a little shorter in height due to the way I made the rib sections on the pumpkin. There are a couple different ways that you can wrap the embroidery thread around to make the pumpkin look more squatty. I will address that further down in the tutorial. 😉

Supplies to make a Sherpa pumpkin pillow

*There are links to products in this post that I use or are similar to products I use. If you buy something from one of these links, I may make a small commission (with no additional cost to you) from the purchase. I will not recommend anything that I would not buy myself.

Sherpa fabric (color of your choice)
Matching embroidery thread color & embroidery needle
Scissors
Poly-fil
Sewing machine (this is a newer version of the one I use)
Burlap
4 ply jute twine
Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
12 gauge wire
Wire Cutters

Watch the quick video

Don’t want to read all the instructions? I have included a video in this post showing you how to make this Sherpa pumpkin pillow. If you can’t see the video, turn off your ad blocker. Also, if you ever want to slow down the video, just click on the three dots in the lower right hand corner of the video and you can change the playback speed. If you want more detailed instructions, continue reading.

How to make a Sherpa pumpkin pillow

Just a disclaimer here, when I made the first trial pumpkin, I forgot to take pictures! D’oh! So the pictures below are just screenshots from the video. They are not the best quality but at least you have some visuals to go along with the instructions.

The first step to making a pumpkin shaped pillow is to cut a big circle out of your fabric. Since it is going to be bigger than a sheet of paper, there is no template to print out for this one. However, it is really easy! Just lay out your fabric and take a piece of twine or string and measure it to 9 inches which will be your radius of your circle. An 18″ circle made the smaller 8″ pumpkin pillow. For the bigger pumpkin, I used a 12″ radius, resulting in a 24″ circle. This gave me a 11″ pumpkin pillow. So whatever size diameter pillow you want to end up with, just use a radius of one inch more. Clear as mud? 😉

Next hold the 9 inch mark of the string on the fabric making sure you have enough fabric around to make the whole 18″ circle. Straighten out your string and with a marker, mark points at the end of the string at several different end points around the circle. When you have a clearly marked circle, cut the circle out.

Hand sew a gathering stitch

To make the pumpkin shape, you will sew a gathering stitch around the edge of the circle. It is best to find some matching embroidery thread to sew the pumpkin shut. Leave the embroidery thread as is with all six strands together, you want it to be strong as you will be tugging and pulling this tight. Check the video to see a close up shot of the process if you are not familiar with a gathering stitch.

Start sewing by weaving your needle back and forth on the front and back side of the fabric. After a few stitches, cut a long length of the embroidery thread leaving enough to make it around the circle. Knot the end several times and pull the sewn fabric towards the knot. This gathers the fabric hence the name gathering stitch.

Continue this process until you have the whole outer edge of the circle sewn to make a pouch. Don’t cut the thread as you will use that to close up the pouch after it is stuffed.

Stuff your pumpkin pillow with Poly-fil

Start adding Poly-fil to the pouch making sure it is filling in all available spaces. You can cinch closed the opening to see if you need more stuffing. It takes more stuffing than you think it will.

After the pumpkin is thoroughly stuffed, take your needle and run it under the lip of the opening on one side and over and up through the lip on the opposite side. Tie a knot in the thread to hold this stitch. Repeat this step about 3-4 times going in different directions to close the opening.

Add ribs to your DIY pumpkin pillow

Next you will want to add the ribs, or sections, of the pumpkin. Cut a long length of the embroidery thread and thread it onto your needle. Tie the end of the embroidery thread in a knot onto one of the crossing threads that you closed the pumpkin with.

Pull the embroidery thread tight around the pumpkin pillow. Then loop the thread under one of the closing threads and run it around the pumpkin again in a perpendicular direction. Continue doing this until you have eight ribs, or sections. Lastly tie a couple knots at the top to hold the thread in place.

There is an alternate way to finish the pumpkin ribbing as I did on the bigger Sherpa pumpkin pillow. I do not have pictures of this but I can explain it to you. Instead of running the embroidery thread around the whole pumpkin, stop at the middle of the bottom of the pumpkin and run your needle up the middle of the pumpkin through the stuffing and out the top. This is easier to do if you have a longer embroidery needle than what I used. 🙂

This results in crisper sections and also a squattier pumpkin. You can see the difference in the bottom of the Sherpa pumpkins below. See how the bigger pumpkin’s ribs look tighter? Either way works well and gives you options for different looking pumpkins.

How to make a faux pumpkin stem

I wasn’t sure how to make the pumpkin stem but I knew I needed to wrap something in jute twine to recreate the Pottery Barn look. I also wanted the stem to have a bend in it. So I used some 12 gauge wire as the base so it was bendable but stout enough to hold it’s shape.

I stuck the wire into the pumpkin to see how long to make the stem, leaving about 2 inches of wire inside the pumpkin. Using wire cutters, I cut off the wire and then shaped it how I wanted the stem to look.

Next I wrapped the wire in packing paper to give some girth to the stem. I folded a 2 foot section of paper in half to be a little longer than the wire. You don’t have to be precise on this, you can always add more paper if want the stem to be thicker.

Start rolling the wire in the paper and cut off the extra paper on the end if it gets too long. Hot glue down the edges and end of the packing paper.

Cover the faux pumpkin stem in burlap and twine

Use a thin strip of burlap to apply to the end of the stem. Add hot glue all over the end of the stem and add the burlap. You will be able to see the hot glue through the burlap but we will add a second layer of burlap to hide that. Cut off any excess edges of the burlap.

Add another layer of burlap, this time only gluing down around the edges. Make sure it is completely glued down on the sides and again cut off any corners that stick out.

Starting at the very top edge of the stem, hot glue down some jute twine and wrap it around the stem. Keep wrapping and gluing until you get about two inches from the bottom. This will be the part you will insert into the pumpkin.

Make space in the hole on the top of the pumpkin for your stem moving the threads out of the way if needed. Add a generous amount of the hot glue to the unwrapped portion of the stem and insert it into the hole. Pinch the stem through the pumpkin in different areas to make sure the hot glue attaches to the fabric and the stem is secure.

Your stems will be securely attached, I have even lifted the pumpkins up by the stems with no problem. However, I don’t recommend swinging the pumpkin around by the stem. 🙂 I am pretty proud of how the stems turned out! They look very similar to the PB pumpkins and are even moldable if you want more or less bend in them.