How To Make A Deco Mesh Pumpkin

When I recently traveled to a nearby town to purchase deco mesh

from a store with a better selection than I could find locally,

I took the opportunity to look at wreaths that they had made

up.  A really cute one was the pumpkin wreath.

Well, it's not a round wreath but more like door decor made on

a wreath form.  The store had it made up on an official "work

wreath" but sometimes they are hard to find.  Here's how I made

one using the same technique as the store's wreath but with

readily available supplies from a craft store.

The pumpkin decor above was made on a 20" wire wreath form.

Other supplies purchased were a 21" X 30' roll of orange

 deco mesh, orange chenille stems, and orange craft paint.

 The two smaller rolls are optional...I'll explain later.

wreath form $4, deco mesh $10, chenille stems $1, paint $2...all these from Hobby Lobby

Because deco mesh has an open weave that you can see through,

I suggest painting the wreath form orange so that it won't be as

noticeable in the finished door decor.

After the paint dries, add the chenille stems to the wreath form.

This is the "pattern" that you will need:

7 twisted stems on the top and 7 on the bottom

 Twist the stems at least a couple of times tightly 

onto the outside wire of the form.

The outermost top side stems were 12" apart from the bottom side stems.

Then fill in along the top and bottom with more twisted stems

and glue them into place.  Originally I used a craft glue but got

tired of waiting for it to dry and added hot glue too.  Be sure

before you glue that the "open arms" of the twisted stems

are on the rounded (the "good" side) of the wreath form.

(The above photo is showing the back side of the wreath form...I was lazy and did not paint the back.)

After the glue has dried sufficiently enough to keep
the stems in place, you can start adding the deco mesh. 

 Leave at least 12" of deco mesh as a "tail" before your first gather.

  It will be tucked into the wreath later.

Gathering or pleating the deco mesh is important to give it a "poof".

I found it easier just to do tiny accordian pleats and keep them pinched

until securing the pleat point into the arms of the stems.

Your first pleat will be twisted into the first top side stem's

waiting arms. Twist tightly a couple of times.

Move down the deco mesh and make another pleat a little more

than 12" away.  You want this to produce a nice but not too high

of a poof when you attach it to the twisted stem below first

point of attachement.  This will be the side of your pumpkin.

From that point, you are going to take the mesh towards the top

of the wreath. Your third point of attachment is the twisted stem beside the first point of attachment. Gather/pleat the deco mesh at a point that produces a little more of a poof than your first poof.

 You are going to want higher poofs as you go toward the

 center to make the shape of a pumpkin. 

 After the center, you will decrease the height of the poof. 

 Do not cut the deco mesh at any point along the way.

Instead of going around the sides of the wreath, you are going to

go across the center of the wreath in an up and down pattern.

Always gather/pleat the mesh before twisting it tightly onto the

wreath form with the glued down chenille stems.

The center poof should be the biggest/highest one.

Don't skip any attachment points as you are

 going top to bottom with the mesh.

 You need all of them to make the pumpkin full enough.

After you have attached the pleated mesh in the last chenille arms,

you can cut the mesh leaving about another 12" tail. 

 You can just push the tail at the beginning and the tail

 at the end into the backside of the poofs. 

I only had a few feet left on the roll at the end and decided to

pull a few of the waving chenille arms to the backside of the

 wreath and attach the rest of the roll on the back to make it a little more visually full.  You would not have to do this step.

Again, just tuck the ends into the backside of the poofs.

To hide the arms of the chenille stems you can either wrap them

along the wires of the wreath form (this adds stability)...

...or just push them towards the center of the wreath out of sight.

To add deco mesh leaves to your pumpkin, make the beginnings

of a bow with 4" green deco mesh ribbon....

...and at the pinch point, secure it with an orange

chenille stem. Then cut the loops vertically.

Cut the ends of the mesh into a pointed oval like a leaf. 

Attach the "leaves" near the top of the wire form with

the chenille stem.

To make a deco mesh stem, roll about 16" of brown mesh ribbon

into a spiral/roll.  The picture of making the stem looked naughty.

 I didn't want it taken "out of context" so it is not here.

Wrap a chenille stem around one end of the "stem" and attach

it to the wire wreath form at a point amongst the leaves.

If you don't want to buy rolls of deco mesh ribbon just for the

leaves and stem, here is an alternative I came up with with

things I had on hand. You might be more creative.

I painted some fake leaves a happier green color.  For the stem

I hot glued at toilet paper roll in half and painted it brown-ish.

Chenille stems were added to the leaves and stem with hot glue.

Then they were wired onto the top of the wreath form.

I had to do a little pulling, pushing, tucking to the orange poofs to make them a better pumpkin shape...you might need to also.