Secret Santa 2018 - Juggling Balls

Video HERE

Yes, my intention was to upload the making of my Advent Houses, but the PC gremlin has stolen it from me - I still have the disc on which it's saved, but there is no way I know of to recover the three videos contained therein... any tech knowhow would be appreciated...

Anyway, this year I signed up for the You Tube Secret Santa, and then couldn't decide what to make...

One of my New Year's Resolutions for next year is to learn to juggle (Odd, but it makes sense to me) and for that I have taken a few of my patchwork ornament balls (another video that is MIA) and filled them with lentils rather than stuffing fibre to give the right amount of weight. A challenge shared is a challenge ...well, shared as my giftee is in the US, but I like the idea of sharing this skill (or of making someone else also suffer through the frustration) so I decided to make another set of balls.

This template gives you three options, depending on the amount of time you want to spend sewing, and the relative size of your fabric scraps. The triangle needs to be an equilateral one - equal sides with all angles at 60, or things won't fit together neatly - you could go for a football-style of patchwork, but I will leave that much geometry to you.

You Will Need:
Your chosen template shape in sturdy card
Scrap Paper
Pencil
Scissors
Fabric Scraps (Or fat quarters)
Contrasting Thread*
Pins and Needles
Thin Ribbon**
Stuffing***

*My fabrics were all Christmas shades of red and green so I chose a white thread. If you want your stitching to be less visible then you will need to match the colours, and probably sew the pieces together from the inside.
**When I make these as hanging ornaments I always sew in a small loop of ribbon to hang from, and I did that here for ease of packaging so that I could tie them together - with a pretty ribbon - and keep my lentil-filled ones from the internationally safe set.
***The stuffing material is up to you. As I said, mine are filled with lentils, you could use rice or other small grains. For balls that are likely to go any distance - ie. in the post - something non-biological is wisest, beads, gravel or plastic pellets are probably best. You could send them unstuffed, but that would just spoil the whole thing!

Method:

1. Draw round your template onto the paper and cut out the pieces - depending on which shape you use there is a considerable difference in the amount of sewing you will need to do, so take this and your own level of patience into account before you decide which to choose. You can make as many as you wish, I hope to get to juggling 3 balls by the end of next year, but I made 4 in case I excel.
2. Pin the paper pieces to your fabric and trim the excess to a sensible margin (1cm) before folding the sides around the paper and pinning into place.*
3. Align 2 patches with paper-sides touching (ie. good-side out), making sure that the edges are precicely aligned, and sew together using a crossed stitch of about 2mm (roughly the same width as the thickness of the fabric to make an even cross pattern). Add another piece and continue to build up the shape**
4. Once each piece is completely sewn around pull out the paper, it shouldn't be stuck firm. You will end up with the last two pieces on the inside, but they are easily pulled out before stuffing.
5. Fill with your chosen stuffing material until firmly filled, but not packed tight, then sew the opening closed.

*If you want you can fiddle with the corners, but I find that they settle themselves pretty much as you start sewing the sides together. If you have a limited number of pins available you can either make up and combine a few patches at a time or run a tacking stitch around the shape to hold things together and free up your pins.
**Triangles - Sew together two sets of 5 into pentagons, then the rest into an alternating up/down loop ( /\/\/\/\/\/ ) before adding the top and bottom
Diamonds - Sew together two sets of 5 into pentacle stars, but leave one space unsewn in one star (I used a neon thread to tack the fabric flat and free up the pins, which also meant that there were no sharp points remaining once the equator was sewn) Sew around the equator, bringing the edges together as you go rather than pinning first to avoid unnecessary finger-stabbing.
Lozenge - I prefer to start at one end and sew down and back all the way around, leaving an opening in one of the flat sides rather than towards the points so that there is less fabric to deal with when closing up.

Each of the Monthly Reports on my You Tube channel will feature a quick segment on my juggling progress, If you would like to join me you are welcome to follow along as I fight my innate clumsiness and frustration and -hopefully- master at least 3 balls by this time next year!