Make DIY Sweater Pumpkins For Fall

Sweater pumpkins are so soft and plush and can be made from an old sweater you have in your closet or sweaters that are thrifted. You can sew them by hand or use a no-sew version. Your fall decor is about to get cozy. Let’s get started!

I love to decorate for fall but I’m also a little thrifty when it comes to seasonal decor. If I can make crafts from upcyled or thrifted items, it’s a win in my book. This year I made cute sweater pumpkins from old sweaters I hadn’t worn in years.

If you don’t have old sweaters on hand, you can find them at Goodwill or other thrift stores. Dig through your kids closets, too!

How do you make sweater pumpkins?

To make sweater pumpkins, you’ll cut pieces from the sleeves for small pumpkins and from the body of the sweater to make large sweater pumpkins that can be used for decor or as a DIY fall pillow.

I have a complete list of supplies that you’ll need to make them, a step-by-step tutorial, and ideas for decorating them.

Supplies for DIY Sweater Pumpkins

• Sweater
• Polyfil
• Yarn or twine
• Needle and thread (or use my no-sew options listed at the bottom of this post)
• Scissors
• A stem (more on this below) (or buy cute faux pumpkin stems)
• Fall leaves or other fall decorations.

How To Make Sweater Pumpkins

When you cut your sweater, the sleeves will be used to make small pumpkins and the body can be used to make large ones or a pumpkin pillow.

Don’t forget you can also use baby or toddler sweaters to make various sizes. To demonstrate the basic steps, I’m going to use a sweater sleeve.

1. Cut a sleeve off of the sweater. Depending on how long your sleeve is, you may be able to get two pumpkins out of one sleeve. If you cut off the cuff of the sleeves, you can use them at the end as a stem option.
2. Turn the sleeve inside-out and either tie off the bottom with twine or sew it up using a gathering stitch. I tied mine with yarn.
3. After it’s tied very tightly, turn the sleeve so that the right side is out and your twine is hidden inside.
4. Stuff the pumpkin with Polyfil.
5. Gather the sweater up at the top and use a needle and thread to sew a gathering stitch about 1 1/2 inches from the cut edge of the sweater. If you gather too closely to the edge, it’s hard to tuck the rest of the sweater inside so it doesn’t show.
6. Before you tie off your thread, pull the top almost all of the way closed, tuck in the raw edges then pull the rest of the way and tie it off with a knot.
7. If you want your pumpkin to have sections, cut a piece of yarn or twine long enough to go around the pumpkin about four times. Find the middle of the yarn and lay it on top of the pumpkin and pull it around to the bottom and cross over like you would when you are wrapping a ribbon around a gift box. Continue until you get the desired number of sections. I did this three times.
8. Adjust the yarn for the sections if necessary to get them all even.
9. Add a stem and fall decorations.

How To Make No-Sew Sweater Pumpkins

To make pumpkins that you don’t have to sew at all, you can use a styrofoam pumpkin in place of Polyfil. Cut a hole in the top and bottom of the pumpkin that is around an inch in diameter. Rather than using a gathering stitch, you can just tie off the ends of the sweater and tuck them inside the pumpkin.

I made both versions and preferred Polyfil over the styrofoam pumpkin. I will say that if you’re using styrofoam pumpkins, choose a sweater with a lot of texture for best results. The one I made with a smooth sweater looked a little plain.

Making The Stem

You can use a stick that you find outside, a faux pumpkin stem, a real pumpkin stem or roll fabric to create a stem. I also made one by rolling the cuff of the sleeve and it turned out pretty cute.

Decorating The Sweater Pumpkin

I used fall leaves and rust-colored bunny tails to decorate mine, but you can also use smaller pumpkins, silk flowers, or anything that you’d like to create different variations. I got the bunny tails at Hobby Lobby, but they sell similar bunny tails on Amazon.

I also have a post about how to make pumpkins with socks that you may enjoy. I’ve also made fabric pumpkins with drop cloth and pumpkins with chunky yarn. Stay awhile and take a look!

Happy crafting,

Denise