Recently I purchased a large collection of vintage apron pieces at an estate sale, and included in the lot were several apron strings in various pastel colors. The fabric was lovely, but I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. After much tinkering and some trial and error, I finally came up with an apron string patchwork pumpkin. The colors and context make it non-traditional, but it’s exactly the effect I was going for, especially since I made it to help decorate my toddler daughters room for Halloween.

The best part of this project is that it was extremely easy to do. The fabric was simply decoupaged onto an inexpensive 6″ tall faux pumpkin from the craft store using Mod Podge. When that dried I coated the whole thing with two coats of Sparkle Mod Podge to give it a bit of an unexpectedly glitzy and festive finish. I also painted the stem so that it would coordinate better with the rest of the pumpkin.

While I used apron strings, this project can also be made with any kind of lightweight cotton or poly cotton fabric strips. It’s a great way to use up fabric scraps or short cuts of jelly rolls from your stash. And bonus, the day after Halloween all of the fake pumpkins at the chain craft stores get marked down to half price! So if you want to make a few for next year you can do so on the cheap.

PS – Joining the link parties at “Make Share” at Apron Thrift Girl and “Fabric Fun Thursday” at Cheap Chic Home.