Hello fellow students! My name is Isabella C (a 6th grader), and I am starting a crafting column.
For this week, we will be hand sewing a Jack-‘o-lantern pouch. If you don’t hand sew, you can try to piece this together using fabric glue, or using a sewing machine.
Supplies needed for this craft:
- Midnight colored felt (if not in squares, cut it to the size 4”x4” by inches)
- Orange felt
- Yellow felt
- Green felt
- Scissors
- A needle
- Sewing thread, or embroidery floss
- A ruler
- Pen/ Sharpie
The stitches and knots in this project
It is important on what stitch you are using for this project, because they have different purposes.
The first stitch is known as “Straight stitch”. It is very simple and common, but not the one we’ll be using mostly. Here is an example:
When sewing, in the beginning, you tie a knot at the end, or your thread will pull straight through.
Another stitch we’ll be using is called “whip stitch”. It’s used for stitching pieces of fabric together, and we will be using it quite frequently. Here is an example of the whip stitch. If you get confused, here is a link to a video on whip stitch: Whip stitch video
Part one: Assembling the Jack o lantern.
- Step one: Cut out a pumpkin shape (including the stem in the shape) out of orange felt. You can use the pen our sharpie Make it small enough (but not too small) to fit on a 4”x 4” square.
- Step two: Cut out a small rectangle that is big enough to fit on the “stem” part of the pumpkin shaped orange felt. Cut a piece of thread to begin sewing. Then, thread your needle and tie a not at the end. Use the whip stitch to sew the rectangle to the pumpkin. To finish sewing the stem to the pumpkin, use straight stitch to finish it up.
- Knot of your work by pulling the needle threw your one of the stitches. Once you do, tie a knot at the end. Once you tie your knot, cut of the access. Here is an example.
- Step three: Cut out three small triangles. One for the nose, and two for the eyes. Then, draw a pointy, or blocky mouth on the felt, that indicates spookiness. Cut it out with your scissors When sewing this all together, use the straight stitch. When finishing it up, use the knot I told you about to finish your work. It should look something like this:
Part two: Attaching the pumpkin to the pouch
- Step four: Use whip stitch to sew the pumpkin to the 4”x4” square. If you don’t have one, use the ruler to measure it out, and cut two out (one for this step, and one for a later step.
- Step five: When you are finished attaching the pumpkin to the square, flip the square over to the back of the square, and then use whip stitch to attach the other 4”x4” square to it. When you’re finished, turn it inside out.
Enjoy the pouch! You can put anything in it, or if you already know how to sew, you can sew on straps to carry it by hand, or sew it to a belt, or maybe even a bigger bag.
The Swerve 