Autumn Leaves Pumpkin Pattern

Designed by UK pumpkin carving champion,

Dave Finkle

1. Firstly, pick the right pumpkin for you from our wide selection at Dobbies. If it’s for outside, the larger ones work well and for indoors you may want to choose a smaller size.

2. Cut a large hole at the bottom of your pumpkin with a sharp knife and then carefully scoop the insides out with a small scoop available from Dobbies. Scrape from the sides of the pumpkin to avoid getting too messy and remember to have a bin and hand towels handy!

3. Print off the autumn leaf patterned template (on page 3) and stick it your pumpkin using sticky tape or drawing pins.

4. Etch through the paper template with a hard pencil or marker pen on the dark areas of the template to leave a trace mark on the pumpkin.

5. Using the tracing as a guide, carefully carve out the black areas of the pumpkin using a Dobbies carving kit.

6. To finish, either recreate the leaf effect all the way round your pumpkin or add your own decorative pattern to the sides. For example, Dave’s used circle shapes to the side of his leaf.

7. For lighting your pumpkin you can use either our small tealights or if kids are around why not try our electrical LED lights.

What Dave says: “There’s more to carving pumpkins than scary faces, it’s also an opportunity to get more artistic. It’s great to see Dobbies customers are harnessing this trend. I am delighted that Dobbies has asked me to come on board to help inspire customers to create something different with their pumpkins this Halloween.

“The decorative stencil I’ve designed for Dobbies is a perfect introduction to carving as it’s simple but challenging, and offers the chance to let your imagination run wild and get creative!”

Fun, step by step guide on how to create an autumn leaf patterned pumpkin

The finished ‘autumn leaf patterned pumpkin’ by Dave Finkle

autumn leaf patterned template