You are currently viewing Pumpkin Decor | Using An Old Pair of Jeans

Pumpkin Decor | Made from an old pair of denim jeans

Styling our homes for the change of seasons is something we love to do! It’s always fun to break out all of the seasonal decor. Better yet, it’s more rewarding to create unique additions to our stash!

We also love to re-purpose and upcyle items we have lying around the house.

We’re excited to show you how EASY it is to transform a plastic bucket into a new, darling pumpkin decor, using an old pair of jeans!

Pumpkin Decor Supplies Needed

It doesn’t take much to make these darling pumpkins! And hopefully you already have most of these items lying around your own home! To get started you’ll need:

  • plastic trick-or-treat bucket
  • pair of old denim jeans
  • leftover paint (optional)
  • paper plate
  • tape
  • hot glue
  • rotary cutting kit
  • scrap fabric and rope for embellishing
  • vintage knobs/handles for pumpkin stem

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. As an Amazon affiliate we earn from qualifying purchases. See our disclosure for details

Optional Step

pumpkin decor
pumpkin decor

Painting the pumpkin is completely optional.

I was originally intending to wrap my plastic pumpkin in burlap, and I didn’t want the bright color of the pumpkin to show through.

Choose what type of fabric you want to use, and decide if painting the pumpkin is necessary.

Upcycle An Old Pair Of Denim Jeans

pumpkin decor

Do any of you have a stash of old denim jeans that have holes in them, or maybe don’t fit well anymore?

I keep my stash handy in my craft room for any type of DIY I may want to tackle in the future.

pumpkin decor
pumpkin decor

To begin, cut a leg from the pants.

Then wrap the pumpkin with the jeans about half way, to get an idea of how long the denim strips will need to be.

Cut the leg to the desired length.

pumpkin decor

Then trim several strips of the denim jeans about 2″ wide.

Using my rotary cutting kit really speeds up the process when cutting several pieces!

The clear ruler lets you see through to the fabric so you know exactly where you’ll be cutting.

Not to mention, that the rotary cutter itself makes it so much easier to cut straight lines!

If you’ve had this on your wish list for a while, you’ll thank yourself for finally getting one!

Applying Jeans To Pumpkin Decor

pumpkin decor
pumpkin decor

Prior to painting the pumpkin, I traced the top edge of the pumpkin onto a large paper plate. After cutting the opening out, I taped it onto the pumpkin.

Applying the strips of jeans is super easy!

Place a small amount of hot glue near the center of the paper plate. Then apply a strip of the cut jeans onto the glue. Repeat at the bottom edge of the pumpkin.

(I poked a hole in the center with a pair of scissors to stick the fabric in. This will also be where you’ll attach the pumpkin stem at the end.)

pumpkin decor

As I began working around the top of the pumpkin, I decided to trim off the top edge of the denim strip at an angle, creating a triangle piece when cut off.

This gave me a little more room to attach the denim strips into the hole without having a huge bulk of excess fabric.

Continue applying your fabric strips all the way around the pumpkin.

pumpkin decor

I ended up making 2 of these. After deciding that I was using and old pair of jeans, I realized I didn’t need to paint my second pumpkin.

Embellishing Pumpkin Decor

pumpkin decor
pumpkin decor

To spruce this pumpkin decor up a bit, I decided to cut the side seams and add them around the pumpkin.

This mimics the indentations of a pumpkin and adds a bit more character.

You could use anything for this step. A coordinating fabric, jute, ribbon, yarn…be creative and make it your own.

pumpkin decor

Last year we purchased some vintage knobs and handles to use as pumpkin stems. It is so fun to repurpose vintage items into our crafts!

I love how aged and worn they are. These add just that much more character to these darling pumpkins!

pumpkin decor

Simply apply to the center hole of the pumpkin with hot glue.

pumpkin decor
pumpkin decor

I also cut some leaves out of some scraps of fabric, and attached them to the top with hot glue.

Then to finish them off, I tied a thick piece of rope around the vintage handle.

Darling Denim Pumpkin Decor

pumpkin decor

So what do you think?

Aren’t they adorable?

When I was making them, my teenager asked “what are those blue balls for?” 🤣

Apparently to him, they’re just blue balls…but I think they’re adorable!

This is such an easy way to upcycle and transform an old plastic trick-or-treat bucket.

And of course you can use any kind of fabric you want! They don’t have to be “blue balls”.

pumpkin decor
pumpkin decor

I’m loving the way they look on our front porch!

We’ve styled them on the farmhouse bench with the reversible Dollar Tree Rug Pillow we made.

For more pumpkin ideas check out 5  Simple Pumpkin DIY Ideas that Look High-End.

HALLOWEEN DECORATING IDEAS

I even decided to keep them out for our skeleton Halloween display this year!

Come decorate with us! You’ll get behind the scenes access to our decorating methods.

Steph’s house is all about skeletons.

Michelle’s is all about bats!

Thanks for spending a little time with us today! 

We’re always excited to share what we’ve been working on. If you’re new here, WELCOME! We love having new readers and friends! You can learn more about us here.

Please PIN and save for later, and share with your friends!

And as always here at Sunny Side Design

WE HOPE TO BRING YOUR HOME TO THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET!

pumpkin decor

Be sure to follow us on Pinterest for even more home decor and DIY ideas.

To see what we are working on before it’s on our blog, follow us on Instagram.

You can also find our video tutorials on our YouTube channel. 

This Post Has 17 Comments

  1. PATTY

    I love your pumpkin pants. Can’t wait to try them myself.
    THANK YOU FOR SHARING.

    1. Michelle Dickson

      Awe, thanks Patty. Cheers!

  2. Rhonda parry

    I totally love these denim Pumkins! thank you so much for showing us how to do them! as the weather cools I will be trying one or two of my own!!

    1. Michelle Dickson

      We’re so happy you loved them. We think it’s a great way to upcycle old jeans and we love they way they look decorating the porch. Please share your creation with us. We’d love to see!

  3. Sue Pickens

    thanks for the detailed directions…gonna try this!

    1. Michelle Dickson

      Wonderful Sue! Please share how yours turns out.

  4. Yvonne

    What a lovely and different take on pumpkins. I will try with the old jeans i have lying around. Thanks!

    1. Michelle Dickson

      Thank you so much Yvonne. I do love the look of denim for fall. Please share your pumpkin with us.

  5. Michelle Dehart

    What a great idea. It was so cute that I might leave it up all year around. I saved it in my Pinterest projects to make.

    1. Michelle Dickson

      Thank you so much Michelle. It’s definitely one of our favorite projects that we’ve made. And it’s so rewarding to upcycle!

  6. Cindy

    I love these…what a great idea! You are very creative. I work at a resale shop, so I’m off to get some jeans!

    1. Michelle Dickson

      Thank you Cindy! WE love to repurpose and reuse! Please share with us your creations.

  7. Ethel Maqueda

    Love the idea! I will work on that soon. Thanks for the tutorial!

    1. Michelle Dickson

      Thank you Ethel, we are so happy you liked our idea! Happy crafting!

Leave a Reply