In today’s post: Spruce up your fall decor with these easy DIY plaid flannel toilet paper pumpkins.
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.
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):
Toilet Paper Pumpkins
Supplies
- 1 18x18 inch Piece of flannel fabric
- 1 roll of Toilet Paper Mega size is best
- 1 stick
- 1 9 inch piece of Green Ribbon
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Instructions
- Lay out your fabric square. Place a roll of TP in the center.
- UNROLL the toilet paper 8-10 times. Then ROLL it back up, twisting and scrunching the toilet paper as you do so. This give you a rounder pumpkin shape.
- Grab one corner of the fabric and tuck it inside the toilet paper roll, using a pencil to push it down.
- Continue with the other three corners, gathering up the fabric as you stuff each corner into the center of the toilet paper roll.
- 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
Eileen Templin says
85 yrs., old will be doing this with a Great Grand daughter…..SO SO Cute….Thanks a Million Maybe even the Senior Center…Your Super
Nancy Rorye says
Thank you so much for this craft. I had 3 of my grandchildren over today. (2 8 yr olds and 1 3 yr old), I do not have energy as I am going through chemo but this was easy for me to do with them. They loved it. The 3 year old held it upside down and said it was a toasted marshmallow. Then she said it was a popsicle so it stimulated her imagination as well. Thank you again.
Lila says
I am a bit afraid to “waste” toilet paper lately. I have learned to covet our supply these days. I guess you could scrunch up some newspaper and hot glue it around an empty tp roll?
autumn says
Hi Lila! The great thing about this craft is that you aren’t actually wasting any TP. Once the holiday season is over, you can take the pumpkin apart – just remove the fabric – and your TP is still there ready to use. But you could absolutely try it with newspaper if you’d prefer!
Karen Goodwin says
Thanks for this idea I have been pumpkin obsessed most of my life. I have made plaid and Halloween ones love them they are so fun and cute!
Valerie Poutanen says
Rather than going to the fabric store to buy mateiral, I went to my local thrift store and bought several button up shirts and even a jacket in fall and neutral colors, even one knit type. Saved a bunch of money doing this considering the price of new fabric. Just had to cut an 18 inch square from the back and have some leftover materials and buttons for another project.
Gmama Jane says
Great tip! Gonna head on down to my local through store asap! At approx.$2 per flannel or plaid shirt, a Lot of cute pumpkins for cheap!!! Hint: I always wash any thrift items before using just because I’m a germ nut!