How to Make a Felt Jack O' Lantern ~ Pattern + Tutorial

Here is another simple pattern from the Little Ones Learn-to-Sew pattern series – a Jack O’ Lantern! This is a simple Halloween craft designed to teach kids how to sew and embroider!

The instructions are much the same as for the Felt Pumpkin Pattern, but just with a couple other ‘face’ options for a more Hallowe’en-y look. At the bottom of this post you will find PDF pattern downloads for two different Jack O’ Lantern faces.

ALL ABOUT LITTLE ONES LEARN-TO-SEW PATTERNS

All Little Ones Learn-to-Sew patterns are simple patterns with few pieces and easy-to-follow instructions that are designed so that older children should be able to do them with little help and smaller children will also be able to do them with just a little guidance. Of course, although these patterns are designed with children in mind, they are really for everyone to enjoy!

The printable download includes the pattern plus the instructions all on one page, so they are ideal if you are printing them for a class or a Girl Guide group, etc. and don’t want to print multiple pages per person.

All the materials you need for these patterns is a little felt, embroidery floss, and stuffing. Tools are just scissors, an embroidery needle and pins.

I came up with the idea for these simple little patterns when my daughter needed a project for her Family Studies class. I hope they inspire little ones to try their hand at sewing!

LITTLE ONES LEARN-TO-SEW PATTERNS:

Use wool felt – which is thick, doesn’t fray and is easy for children to work with
Are small projects – easy to complete in a short time
Use few pieces – not an overwhelming amount to put together for a beginner
Use simple, easy to follow instructions

I hope you will enjoy these patterns! Please do let me know if you have any questions or if anything is unclear and I will amend the pattern instructions for greater clarity. Thank you ♥

FELT Jack o’ lantern TUTORIAL

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

Printed Jack O’ Lantern pattern – see bottom of this post for free printable pattern
Wool blend felt – orange, green, black
Embroidery floss – orange, green, black
Raw wool or poly-fil stuffing
Embroidery needle
Pins
Sewing scissors (or scissors sharp enough to cut felt)

HOW TO MAKE YOUR FELT Pumpkin

Step 1: Gather all your materials and tools – wool felt, embroidery floss, stuffing, embroidery needle, pins, scissors and printed pattern.

Step 2: Cut out all the pieces of your pattern. Cut just outside the black outline of each pattern piece. Keep the instruction card so you can refer to it as you’re working. (Shown in the photo is the pattern for the pumpkin tutorial – I forgot to take a photo of this step for the Jack O’ Lantern, oops!)

Step 3: Pin your pattern pieces to the wool felt. You should have 2 main pieces in orange, 2 white pieces for the eyes, 2 black pieces for the eye pupils, 2 pink pieces for the cheeks, 1 green stem and 1 green leaf. Some of the smaller pieces are difficult to pin, so it might be easier to trace these in chalk or a washable fabric marker. (Once again, shown in the photo is the pattern for the pumpkin tutorial – I forgot to take a photo of this step for the Jack O’ Lantern!)

Step 4: Carefully cut out all your felt pieces.

Step 5: Pin the black eye pieces and the black mouth piece onto one of your orange pumpkin pieces.

Step 6: Using a straight stitch and with black embroidery floss, sew each black piece in place. Note: You could also use a contrasting colour to sew on the face pieces for a bit of a different look (see top photo in this post).

Step 7: Place the green ‘stem’ piece at the top of your pumpkin and pin it in place. Using green embroidery floss, sew a line of straight stitch along the bottom of the ‘stem’. Set your pumpkin pieces aside for a minute while we prepare the ‘leaf’.

Step 8: Take your green ‘leaf’ piece and thread your needle with green embroidery floss, knot one end.

Step 9: Using straight stitch, make a line of stitching down the centre of your leaf.

Step 10: Starting at the top and making stitches on either side of your middle stitching line, sew some more ‘veins’ on your leaf using straight stitch.

Step 11: Continue down the leaf adding more stitches on either side of the middle line of stitching.

Step 12: At the bottom of the leaf, you can pinch the ‘stem’ bit together and secure with a few stitches. This just makes your leaf curl up nicely atop your pumpkin.

Step 13: Place your leaf at the back lower edge of the stem and stitch in place using a few small straight stitches. Knot at back and trim end.

Step 14: Now place your two orange pumpkin pieces with wrong sides together and make sure edges are matching up evenly. Place a few pins to hold it together.

Step 15: Thread your needle with a long (about 20 inch) piece of green embroidery floss, knot one end.

Step 16: Beginning at the bottom corner of one side of the stem, begin blanket stitching around the stem. Do your best to stitch around the leaf when you get to it – it’s a bit tricky at that part!

Step 17: When you reach the bottom edge of the green stem, knot your thread and snip off end.

Step 18: Now thread your needle with a very long (about 55 inches) orange embroidery floss. You will begin sewing where you ended blanket stitching the stem with the green embroidery floss.

Step 19: Begin blanket stitching with your orange floss around the edge of the pumpkin using blanket stitch. Stop when you get 3/4 of the way around the pumpkin (leaving about a 3 inch gap open).

Step 20: Now that you have sewn 3/4 of the way around the pumpkin, you are now ready to start stuffing!

Step 21: Time to start stuffing your pumpkin! Begin by pushing some stuffing up into the ‘stem’. It helps to use something like the end of a chopstick to push the stuffing into this small area.

Step 22: Continue stuffing until your pumpkin is nice and plump! Now you’ll be continuing blanket stitch around the rest of the pumpkin.

Step 23: If you’re finding it tricky to sew up the rest of the pumpkin without the stuffing coming out, you can keep the gap closed using sewing clips (as shown above) or a few pins (just mind your fingers!).

Continue stitching until you reach the point where you started sewing. Now just knot the thread at the back and trim ends.

Your little Hallowe’en Jack O’ Lantern is complete! ♥

You can also sew a little felt loop and a carabiner clip and attach your Jack O’ Lantern to your backpack to make it a little Hallowe’en festive too.

To add loop: Just cut an orange piece of felt that is 3 inches long and 1 inch wide, fold it in half and stitch it to the side at the back of your pumpkin, then attach a clip or carabiner and your new little friend is ready to adorn your backpack!