Fluffy Puppy Quilt Works: Pumpkin Quilting Tutorial

Here is the pumpkin quilting tutorial to go with yesterday's Pumpkin Quilt Block Tutorial. It's much easier than it looks, and you don't need any special quilting rulers. You can use whatever round object you want to mark the curved lines. In this tutorial I used a cereal bowl just like in my Dogwood Quilting Tutorial. Along with the bowl I used a large dinner plate to get different sized curves. Dishes are sewing tools, who knew!

The pumpkin in the main photo of this post is a 12" pumpkin. I quilted a total of 9 lines on it.

Important Note #1: The pumpkin I am quilting in this tutorial is a 6" pumpkin. If you make a pumpkin of a larger size, you may need to use larger round objects to mark the lines. Also, you may need more than 5 total lines.

Note #2: No matter how many lines you end up quilting on your pumpkin, there should only be ONE straight line, and it should be placed exactly in the center. This is to create the 3-D effect

Note #3: The smallest round objects should be used on the outside of the pumpkin , again this is for the 3-D effect.

Note #4: You need to use your own judgement to decide how many curved lines you want to sew depending on your pumpkin block size, and exactly how you want it to look. To me, using just a few lines creates the most realistic 3-D effect.

Note #5: I quilted the loops and swirls around the pumpkin by free motion quilting. Around the pumpkin you can do meandering, straight line quilting, whatever works for you!

At the end of this post there is a diagram for some optional pumpkin stem quilting. I did this on my small 6" pumpkins for the tutorial, but I find smaller pumpkins don't need it. Whether you add the stem quilting or not is up to you. I recommend you also check how for apart you can quilt your lines according to the quilt batting you are using. They usually say this right on the package. On larger pumpkins, the stem quilting may be necessary or else there won't be enough quilting holding it together.

Step 1: Mark a straight line down the center of the pumpkin. This would also be the middle of the stem, so you can use that as a reference to measure and mark your line quickly.

Step 2: Get a round object, such as a cereal bowl, to mark the curved lines. Align the bowl so that it almost touches the edge of the pumpkin, then mark a line. Repeat this on the opposite side of the pumpkin.

Step 3: Before starting this next step you should have 3 lines on your pumpkin. Mark the half way point between the straight and curved lines on the top and bottom of the pumpkin. The distance between my lines ended up being just under 2". Repeat on the opposite side of the pumpkin.

Step 4: Get a larger round object, or an oblong object, to draw the next set of curved lines. I used a dinner plate. Align the round object so that the edges touch both of the previously drawn half way markings between the straight and curved lines. Mark the next curved line. Repeat on both sides of the pumpkin.