How to Make a Pumpkin Hat

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Crafts
A beginner-friendly, step-by-step craft tutorial 🎃
 

One autumn afternoon, Arthur Lamb was sitting at the bottom of the Village garden and admiring the pumpkin patch when he had an absolutely wonderful idea. Jumping up on his tip toes, he shouted, “A pumpkin hat for my noggin!” Then he said, “Whoopsie-daisy!” for he had just startled his friend Reginald Fox who was tending the garden. Reginald said it was quite all right, so Arthur scooted off to gather the supplies he would need for his hat. What a perfect project for a cozy fall day! 

 🍂

If you would like to follow Arthur’s example, this blog post will show you how to make a felt pumpkin hat for your woodland friends. It is an excellent project if you are new to hand-sewing, because felt holds its shape well and is very easy to work with.

For more experienced sewists, particularly those who might have a machine, feel free to use any sturdy fabric and you will probably be able to whip this hat up very quickly indeed. If you go this route, we recommend finishing your seams to prevent fraying and adding some seam allowance for a rolled hem at the bottom edges of your pattern pieces.

Happy sewing! 

What you will need:

  • Craft felt in orange, brown, and green
  • Matching thread
  • A needle
  • One small button
  • A pencil or pen
  • Scissors
  • A tiny bit of stuffing or scrap fabric
  • Sewing pins (optional but helpful)
  • Printed PDF pattern

Start by printing your pattern and cutting out the pieces. Trace each piece on your felt as indicated below. If you would rather make both the leaf and the stem in green, you can skip the brown felt.

  • Piece A, x5 (orange)
  • Piece B, x2 (orange)
  • Piece C, x2 (brown)
  • Piece D, x1 (green) 

For the B pattern piece, trace it once with the text on the pattern piece facing the fabric and once with the text facing away from the fabric. This will make sure that no pen or pencil marks show up on the front of the hat.

To begin sewing, thread your needle in orange. Here at the workshop we use this technique for tying quick knots; we highly recommend it!

 

Place two A pieces on top of one another and use a backstitch to sew them together along one side. Here is a quick backstitching tutorial. Your line of stitches should sit about 1/4” from the edge of the felt. Tie a knot at the bottom and cut your thread.

Open the piece you just made, and align another A piece with one of the un-sewn edges. Repeat the same method to sew this piece on. Here is how it should look:

 

Sew all five A pieces together this way.

Once all five 5 pieces are attached, it's time to sew a B piece on each side. Make sure that any pencil marks on your B piece are on the seam side of the felt, so they will be hidden inside the hat. Align it like this:

Stitch along one edge the same way you've been doing, and repeat on the opposite side with the second B piece. 

 

Finally, sew your B pieces together at the top to connect the two sides of the hat. 

 

The base of the pumpkin is complete! Now it’s time to make the stump. Thread your needle in brown, and stitch together the two C pieces around the sides and flat top. Do not stitch the bottom curve.  

We sewed a little closer to the edges for this, because you will be you turning it inside out and you don't want the seams to be too bulky.  

When you finish and tie off your thread, turn the stump inside out. This is a little tricky but you can use a pencil to help poke the fabric through. 

 
Ta-da! Next, tuck the stump into the top of the pumpkin like this: 
 
 
 

Now is the time when a few pins will really come in handy if you have them. 

 
Stitch along this edge to sew the stump to the pumpkin. Make sure you are sewing it nice and snug, particularly around the ridges/seams. 
 
 
Now flip your project inside out, and you have a proper pumpkin! 
 
 
Bring out your pencil again to poke a little bit of stuffing or scrap fabric into the stem. Our stuffing stayed put so we didn't bother covering the bottom of the stump, but you could sew a little circle of felt over it if you want. 
 
 
You are almost finished! 
 
 
Sew your button onto one flap. Here is a little button-sewing guide.
 
 
On the other flap, mark a line that is a little bit shorter than your button. Make sure not to mark too close to the edge of the felt. 
 
 
Fold the flap and snip the line you cut to make a buttonhole. Take care not to snip too big a hole – it will also stretch out a bit once you button it. 
 
 
Last but not leaf-t: use green thread to sew on your pumpkin's leaf. A few stitches will hold it in place just fine. 
 
 
  
 
Now that's a mighty fine pumpkin! 
  
 
🍂
 
When Arthur's pumpkin hat was done, he tried to think of the perfect way to debut it to his friends. "I know!" he said, "I will hide in the pumpkin patch, and if I am very still then Reginald will think I am a pumpkin too." So Arthur scampered back to the garden, tucked himself in amongst the greenery, and tried to be as quiet as a pumpkin would be. However, Arthur is not a very quiet lamb by nature, and before long he had started humming his favorite tune. Naturally when Reginald passed by and heard someone humming, he looked a little closer and quickly deduced that one of the pumpkins was not like the others. But Arthur didn't mind that his disguise wasn't perfect, because Reginald told him his pumpkin hat was the finest that he had ever seen. Good job, Arthur! 
 
 

Did you make this craft at home? Send us a photo or tag us on social media @hazelvillage! For any questions, please email us at hello@hazelvillage.com. 

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