Yarn Pumpkins

Learn how to make these mini yarn pumpkins! Not only are they easy and super adorable, they are really inexpensive to make. Most of the supplies you need are free!

Who’s ready for fall!? Well, it’s almost here! So I have a really cute and simple craft for you that can work for your fall decor and also double duty for Halloween! These precious mini yarn pumpkins can be used in so many ways.

I am actually using them in my Halloween decor, of which I will be sharing with you soon, but they can be easily put into a bowl with some other fall fillers just like this.

You can also just set them up randomly around on some bookshelves, or make a DIY cheesecloth ghost and have him holding one of these pumpkins. Another great use for them would be to string them up as a garland. I actually used them as ornaments on a Halloween tree! Yes, you heard that right, a Halloween tree. 🙂 I will show you how to turn them into ornaments too.

The best thing about these fantastic little pumpkins is that they are almost free to make! They only take a few items to make, and most of them are items everyone has around the house! So no excuses! You have to try to make these!

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 yarn pumpkins. 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.

Supplies to make yarn pumpkins

*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.

One skein of fuzzy yarn – I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick Yarn in the color spice.
Scissors
Hot glue gun
Toilet paper & paper towel rolls
Sticks
Twine (Optional)

How to make yarn pumpkins

The first step in making these mini yarn pumpkins is to save or collect some used toilet paper or paper towels rolls. We have enough people living here using both all the time that I was able to find what I needed without having to save them up. The toilet paper rolls are great for making the smaller pumpkins while the paper towel roll works for the larger pumpkin.

To make the small size pumpkins, I just cut the toilet paper roll in half. You can measure and mark it if you want to, it measures to be just under 2″ long. For the large pumpkin, I was able to cut 3 from a paper towel roll and even have enough for a small pumpkin leftover. I did mark those. The large pumpkins are 3″ long. Since the paper towel roll is 11″ long, I cut three 3″ pieces and one 2″ piece from it.

To cut the rolls in half, I just squeezed it in half and cut it with scissors. You don’t have to worry about creasing the roll as that will not matter.

Wrap pumpkin with yarn

Before you start to wrap the pumpkin with the yarn, you want to make some small slits on the edges of the tubes. Space the slits about 1/2″ apart. Then push the cut tabs in on each end. This will make it easier to make it into a pumpkin shape later.

Next, cut some long pieces of yarn to wrap around the tubes. For the small pumpkin, I cut a length of 126″. My table is 42″ wide so I just measured it against my table 3 times. For the large pumpkin, I did 4x my table width so that measured 168″ in length.

Start by holding onto an end of yarn inside the tube, and begin wrapping the yarn around and through the tube. I crossed over the beginning end with the next two wraps and that would secure the initial end of yarn good enough. At the beginning it was easier to just bunch all the yarn into my hand and stuff it all through at the same time instead of pulling the whole length of yarn through the tube since it is so long. It is much faster that way.

Keep wrapping the tube with the yarn until you come to the end. As you are wrapping, try not to wrap too tightly, you want the yarn to be wrapped but not stretched.

If you have leftover yarn, wrap it around parts of the pumpkin that look like they need extra coverage. When you are completely done wrapping, push down and in on the top and bottom edges of the pumpkin to make it look more like a pumpkin shape.

Add a stick for a stem

Now go outside and collect some sticks from your yard to use for stems. Another cute option would be to use cinnamon sticks, they would smell great too! 😉 Break the sticks into 1.5″ long pieces and test it in the pumpkin. If all looks good, add some hot glue on the end of the stick before you push it into the pumpkin.

If there is any yarn sticking out of the bottom of the pumpkin, you can just cut that off.

Make some yarn pumpkin ornaments

At this point you can leave them like this or turn them into ornaments. There are two ways to do this. The first way is to tie a piece of twine into a loop and add the knotted end into the hot glue on the bottom of the stick when you are gluing in the stem. This makes for a cleaner looking ornament like the one in my hand below. However, I did not want them to stay ornaments forever.

So instead, I just tied a piece of twine onto the ornaments and tied it into a loop. This way I can remove the twine later and use them as stand alone pumpkins. You will see them on my Halloween tree shortly! You can also use these methods to make them into a garland, you would just use a lot longer piece of twine. 😉

Here are some other fun pumpkin crafts you may enjoy:

These little yarn pumpkins are a great fall craft for crafters of all skill level. It is even a great craft to get the kids involved in. I will be back soon with a fun Halloween craft. Until then have a wonderful week!