So Your Pumpkin Needs a Sweater?

Today was the day. Time to make my pumpkin a sweater.  Okay, so I'm joking;  my pumpkin is only serving as a modeling dummy :) The first step was to cut the sleeves off the sweater. You can see this on the left of the pic; the sleeve is wadded up there. They I cut down the middle of the front of the sweater, from the v-neck to the bottom ribbing.

And I pulled the back of the sweater neck up, just to get an idea of what things might look like. I like the neck edge around the top.

Then I just pulled the sweater up around the pumpkin, so I could see what the end result might look like. This kind of messing around sparks the imagination and lets one see the possibilities.

Time to trim. I knew I wanted to keep the neck edge, but I needed it to wrap around the top of the pumpkin neck, so I cut it off most of the rest of the sweater, except the very back by the tag.

Then I looked at the bottom ribbing of the sweater.  Isn't it nice how the ribbing looks when pulled together to make a "seam" along the front of the pumpkin?

And when I wrapped the neck edging around the stem, I thought I liked that too.

Okay -- enough doodling with imagination. Time for action! So, I cut the sweater apart savagely and opened it up around my pumpkin model.  I was so proud of her;  she stood perfectly still.

Then I began experimenting with ways I might want to shape the sweater around the pumpkin.  I knew I wanted to fit it so that there were seams, or ribs, running down the pumpkin, so that the finished product would look like a pumpkin with its lines running down. Hm -- still looks like a pumpkin wrapped up in a sweater though.

Then I began to pin and shape, and cut away the excess. Raw edges of sweater fabric make me nervous, but all went well -- no unraveling.

 

You can see the ribs I'm intending to make, running down the pumpkin sides. My plan is to turn the sweater-pumpkin inside out, sew the ribs on a sewing machine, and then add a decorative stitch on the outside, along the ribs, with yarn.

The project thus far.  Dinner called. I have Bible study tonight.  I'll have to get back to it tomorrow.  Well, actually, the girls and I are going out of town until Saturday night, so it might be next week .... Sorry to keep you in suspense! My poor pumpkin will have to be shivering in the cold until then :)