Pumpkin Puppet Tutorial

 For our Mommy & Me Preschool Co-op
the number I was given to teach was #5.  

Seeing as it was October I thought it was fitting to incorporate
5 little pumpkins... 
which reminded my mom of a song that she shared with me.  (Thanks momma!)
I figured finger puppets just HAD to be made because... well... let's be honest,
the only thing cuter than pudgy little fingers are plumpy little pumpkins set on top of them.  :) With this adorable vision in mind, I began my 45 minute sewing venture to making my very own finger puppet pumpkin patch.

Before I began, I got fabric quarters ($1.50/ea) of varying prints of the same color: orange.  You can get these at JoAnn or Hobby Lobby.  You could probably get away with a lot less fabric though, depending on how many you're making.  I just happened to need 30, 6 of each fabric.

To get started, I drew and cut out various pumpkins shapes a little larger than my finger...

I traced them onto fabric... 

(with the pretty printed sides facing each other.)

As I neared the top. I stopped (with needle down to hold fabric placement) and added in the little stem, a piece of cute vine-looking green ribbon.

Sometimes a few seams would come apart since I didn't serge or zigzag... :) I did this in speed mode with less than an hour till my little preschooler's arrival :)  I can be such a procrastinator.  Eeeh.

So I just went with it and closed up the holes with some random straight-stitches. 

As you can see... I ran into this quite a few times.  Ha!

I think it gives them character. :)

I had a squirly stem fall out so I just sewed it right on.  Oh the joys of sewing for a preschooler and not a client.  :)

 I left a hole big enough to slip a finger through on the bottom and then turned them right-side out, tucking in the unsewn bottom.  Simple.  Easy.  Fast.  

 I just can't get enough of these little guys.

 The finished patch.

 I used our vinyl machine to cut the vinyl that I used as a stencil and painted on the 5 little pumpkins as well as the little gate on the opposite side.  I got these little purses for less than a dollar a piece and tied a myriad of autumn-esque ribbon onto one of the straps, (ie. orange ric rac, polka dots, gingham, as well as pumpkin patch & damask prints... in case you can't see the image very well.)  The polka-dots on the 5 are compliments of a sharpie.  Ha.

Haven loves that she can turn her pumpkin purse inside out and make the gate stand up as a prop to sing her little song.

So you can see how the song goes... I found this video of this cute little boy singing the 5 Little Pumpkins song.  I hope this helps!