In today’s post: Spruce up your fall decor with these easy DIY plaid flannel pumpkins made with toilet paper rolls.
You’ve probably seen toilet paper pumpkins before – this is one of those crafts that’s been around for AGES. I mean, I think people were making these back when I was a kid and that was a LONG time ago. Anyway, I was at the fabric store the other day and saw a collection of gorgeous plaid flannels and decided the good old toilet paper pumpkin could use a little update. A PLAID update.
Crafting doesn’t get much easier than this, people. Find yourself some pretty fall colored fabric, wrap up a roll of toilet paper, and stuff a stick in the top for a stem: (pumpkin) mission accomplished.
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How to make toilet paper pumpkins
As you’ve probably deduced, this craft hardly requires instructions, but it’s your lucky day–you’re getting them anyway. Start by gathering your supplies:
- Toilet paper rolls: I used “mega” rolls because they are a lot wider than the standard rolls. We want our pumpkins to look round and fat, not tall and square (more on that later)
- Fabric: you’ll need an 18 inch square of fabric for each pumpkin. You can buy a fat quarter, which is 18×22 inches, or purchase half a yard of fabric, which will be enough for two pumpkins. I used plaid flannel because it’s soft and pretty, but you can use pretty much any fabric you’d like.
- Sticks: you’ll want at least one 3-4 inch stick for each pumpkin stem. I just told my kids to find me some sticks last time we were at the park and then I cut them to size. If you don’t want to forage for sticks, feel free to buy cinnamon sticks and use those instead.
- Green ribbon or leaves
- A pencil
Watch this video to see how to make plaid flannel toilet paper pumpkins (written instructions follow):
1 – Lay out your fabric square. Place a roll of TP in the center. 2 – UNROLL the toilet paper 8-10 times. Then loosely ROLL it back up, twisting and scrunching the toilet paper as you do so. This give you a rounder pumpkin shape. 3 – Grab one corner of the fabric and tuck it inside the toilet paper roll, using a pencil to push it down. 4 – Continue with the other three corners, gathering up the fabric as you stuff each corner into the center of the toilet paper roll. 5 – Tie a ribbon around a twig and stuff it in the center of the pumpkin for a stem.
Did you catch the most important part of the instructions? Make sure to UNROLL the toilet paper about 8 times, then loosely roll it back up, twisting it as you do so, to make your toilet paper roll a little rounder. This makes the finished TP pumpkins much cuter!
Want more Halloween ideas? Check out some of these posts:
Print + fold Halloween bookmarks
Print + color Halloween masks for kids
20 best Halloween treats for kids
20 scary movies for tweens and teens
Love these pumpkins and it’s just what I need right now! I saw some cute pumpkins similar to this at JoAnn’s today and even though there was a good sale I just couldn’t see paying $5 for a small stuffed pumpkin. Well now I don’t have to! I’ve got plenty of fabric so I’ll be making a few this evening. Love your website! Thank you!
Love this! So adorable
This is something I think I can actually do! Thanks so much.
I feel out of touch! I’ve never seen these before but they are so adorable! That plaid is awesome!
Love this – something I can make with The Grands, while knowing my minimalist DIL won’t be too upset because G’ma stuck her with something more to store – easy enough to take apart and keep the makings in one flat ziplock bag (or hand them back to me), They can even use the tp after Halloween!
This is a unique idea and more attractive also very easy. I must try this.
SO SO HAPPY U POSTED THIS ! ❤️THank u bunches , loving these and while I’m not the craftiest Grammie I’m going to pull this off with the kids 👍🎉very excited 😆 neighbor kiddos saw it and want to do it too ! Wonderful good instructions and it keeps them out of trouble double win !!
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Very cute idea! Think I’ll be making some for Thanksgiving this year…
this has to be one of the cutest things I’ve seen in a long time! Going to the fabric store tomorrow!
I love the pumpkins..I will be making some.
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I made these! They are so cute! Thank you for the idea!
I also used brown pipe cleaners shoved into the center hole and wound them around the pencil to make curly vine looking accents.