DIY Pom-Pom Pumpkin

10 days to Halloween!!! My pom-pom fever hasn’t subsided so I made this Jack O’ Lantern pom-pom pumpkin!

I love Halloween, though it is not commonly celebrated here (except those costume parties organized meant for adults) but I have experienced it once during my short-term stay in the UK, and that gave me a wonderful memory.

Seeing children dressed up in cute and spooky Halloween costumes, holding a Halloween basket, walking from door to door shouting “Treat or Trick” and they get treats in return, this is cute 🙂

I would love to carve a real pumpkin with spooky expression, place a tea light in it and put it outside my front door but I am in Malaysia… I can’t find this type of pumpkin which is so orangie, big and beautiful, even if there is, the price must be sky-high. All we have here is Kabocha Pumpkin, which has a green blotchy skin that is hard and mmmm… “ugly” but tastes great in cooking.

So, no real pumpkin for me, nevermind! With pom-pom, I can make a small Halloween Pom Pom Pumpkin decoration in just 30 minutes. The step is pretty simple.

Pom-Pom Pumpkin

Materials & Tools:
1. 45mm pom-pom maker
2. Orange and brown color yarns
3. Oval shaped template for trimming the pom-pom into pumpkin-shaped
4. A pair of thumb-pins
5. Tacky craft glue
6. Black felt (cut into the facial features of a Jack O’ Lantern)
7. A pair of sharp scissors

Gather all the needed materials and tools as listed above.

Wind the arm of the pom-pom maker with 2 – 3 layers of orange yarn.

Change yarn to brown color and wind a layer of brown yarn.

3 layers of orange yarn, 1 layer brown, and 3 layers orange again.

Cut the yarn across and you will see the stripes of brown yarn in between the orange. If you want to know more about the basic of making pom-pom using the pom-pom maker, click here.

This is pom-pom pumpkin before trimming take place.
You can see the brown stripes run from top to bottom of the pumpkin.
You can tie an additional string on the pom-pom if you plan to hang it.

Position the pumpkin template on both sides to trim the pom-pom into a pumpkin shape. Read more about trimming a pom-pom fast and easy here if you haven’t got a clue on how to do it.

Trim the pom-pom close to the template. Slightly under-trim is better than over-trim. Do the same on the other side, 90 deg to the left or right.

You can see the brown stripes more clearly now.

I prefer to apply some fabric glue on the tied string so that the pom-pom’s shape is “fixed”. Make sure that the fabric glue gets into the inside of the center.

Trim lightly on your pom-pom pumpkin to make it look neat if necessary. Remember to fluff the pom-pom often enough to get the “hiding” yarn out and trim it.

Lastly, attach the facial features onto the pom-pom with fabric glue. Remember to spread a thick and generous amount (but not overflow) of fabric glue onto the wrong side of the felt, wait for 5 -10 minutes until it is tacky before mounted them onto the pom-pom.
Here there is, a Jack O’ Lantern the Pom Pom Pumpkin!

What’s coming up next? Still a pom-pom project…. it is a black widow spider for Halloween 🙂 Stay tuned!