Baby Balls Made with Pentagons (Tutorial in progress)

I'm newly obsessed with making balls for babies. I used to make them for my kids, but I used a sewing machine and now I'm hand sewing. The stitching is more precise with hand sewing and corners are tidier.

The method of sewing I'm using is English piecing. Basically, you have a paper pattern for the pentagon, the shape that is used for all pieces in the ball, for each piece of fabric. The fabric is basted onto the paper pattern, then the pieces are stitched together until there are 5 pentagons attached to the same central pentagon. When you have two sets of 6 total pentagons (the central one and the 5 attached to it), those two halves are attached to one another. (I'll add more about this as I construct the next one in line.) Leave open at least one seam so you can turn the ball right side out (this will make sense when I post pictures of construction), stuff it about halfway, add the sound maker (will add a photo of that too) in the center, and complete stuffing the ball. I stuff it tight, but not too tight; you want to leave enough play in the stuffing for baby's hand to be able to grab a part of it and maybe even shake it!

Color specific - brown

Black and white high contrast. 

Kid interest - Sponge Bob

I use a pentagon that I drafted. You can use pretty much any size bigger than 1". I would not go smaller than that. The side to measure is shown in the photo below. I use 2".

It's a pentagon (five sided) with each edge being 2". You can find pentagon patterns all over the internet or draw your own. There are 12 pentagons in each ball and they all have to be the same size.

I generally print off one page of templates and stack the printed page with some blank paper, then cut out a few at a time. That way I don't waste ink printing lots of pentagons. I like to cut through 4 pieces of paper at a time. Any more than that and the edges get a little off kilter. Remember, we're going to fold fabric directly on the paper pattern, so it's good to have it as precise as possible. 

After a few sessions of cutting, I have a bunch of pentagons ready to use when I'm ready to pick out some fabric and get going. 

The first step to sewing is to pin a pattern piece to a piece of fabric! I put down the paper and then cut at least 1/4" around the paper in order to have fabric to fold. Choose an interesting design to pin the paper to because that's what's going to show. 

Prepare a needle with a single thread that is in contrast to your fabric. Fold down an edge of fabric and take a couple stitches, fold down the next piece of fabric and take a stitch, and continue until you have all 5 sides basted down. I use a long basting stitch. You do not need to knot your thread. You'll be cutting the thread and taking the paper out later. For now, you want to fold all edges over the paper and baste each one down.

Here is one pentagon with the basting completed. You can see my red stitching in contrast to the white and black fabric. For each ball, baste fabric onto 12 paper pentagons.  

Here's a pretty simple tutorial on English piecing with hexagons. This one isn't mine, but I've made several hexagon projects using essentially the same instructions as I was taught them my a friend.  I'm not using hexagons, but the method of prepping the paper pattern is the same. They say it better than I can :) If for some reason you click and the site is no longer available, you can Google English piecing for several tutorials, including videos.

I'll update this post as I have photos of the steps required. It may take a while, but it'll happen!

Okay, this is what I'm working on - how about you?

Sewing, sewing, sewing!

It's been a month or so of finishing projects, organizing fabrics after giving away about 20 pounds or more of fabrics that I sorted out as "stuff I just might not use." It's SO hard to do that! Every piece of fabric could be turned into something, right?

I realized that my hexagon quilt is going to take more than I thought to finish, so I have been basting fabric to paper seemingly endlessly. This is not something that will get done quickly, for sure. I love working with the English piecing and the hexagon shapes, but it has gotten to where I had to buy some charm fabric packets from a variety of people on eBay and Etsy. It turns out, a lot of people have just as much fabric as I do! By my last count, I'm about 1/3rd of the way done with the quilt top. What I thought would take about a year will probably take two years, and that's okay by me. I'm flying to Phoenix on Monday, and I will take the hexagon bag with me again to make rows while waiting in airports or just while doing a little bit of nothing else.

I'm on the lookout for more Peter Max fabric, and I have been working with my smaller Max scraps making potholders. What a great way to use up small pieces of fabric! I keep a small supply of heat resistant batting on hand so I can always fabricate a set. I had thought about decorating hand towels with scrappy bits of Peter Max fabric, but I'm not sure it would hold up to that much washing.

I also sold a few Halloween items. I made placemats and trick-or-treat bags and though they didn't all sell, some did and now I have a couple left for next season. Along the way, I cut squares of the Halloween fabrics and sold a few charm collections myself.

And just today, I finished a jacket I cut out some time ago, just in time to wear on my flight. I added pockets and did not add the buttons. I also redrew the hemline for the front pieces and made them into a wavy line rather than a straight one. The back is also straight. I used a light fabric with a brown and turquoise paisley pattern, and used a bias tape I made out of a complementary fabric (turquoise crystal type fabric) to bind the front, sleeve edges, and pocket edges. This gives it a bit of a retro look, but it also added a unique look to a very simple line. It was not a hard pattern to make, but it was a touch time consuming for me because I'm used to making smaller items. A full sized jacket was a bit bigger than I generally take on, but I loved making it. I love that it fits well and that I have the perfect tee shirt for wearing underneath it. I also love pockets and with the two pockets on the jacket and the several in my capris, I'll have plenty of  room! I'm flying from Virginia to Phoenix and this fabric is light enough that I can wear it for a bit of warmth on my side of the country, but not too much for the warmth of Arizona.

I have so many sewing projects in my head. Will I ever finish them all? Will you? Sew on, friends. Fall is here and it's time to sew clothes to keep you warm!

Hexagon Scrap Quilt

I decided I needed a new hand sewing project for several reasons:

1) Quitting smoking 11/18 and need something to do with my hands.
2) Having surgery on 12/14 and will need something to do while I hang out and rehab.
3) Want a new quilt made of scraps and that I can work on anywhere, anytime.

Years ago, I made a Grandmother's Flower Garden for my daughter in the traditional sense. I used English Piecing and fabric I purchased. I made curtains for her room out of the same fabric with a pieced block edge. I remembered how much I enjoyed that. I printed out 2" paper hexagons on recycled paper using a border of red so the lines would show on printed paper. Then I gathered 4" squares of fabric.

Each fabric is different and I won't be using a flower garden type pattern. This will truly be a scrap quilt.

Add a paper hexagon to the square with a pin.

Trim the fabric around the hexagon.

Baste the fabric to the paper design per the tutorial above.

I chose to stitch together rows of 10 various hexagons varying light and dark colors.

And then I stitched the rows of 10 together.

This quilt is a work in progress and is being made one row of 10 at a time. You can take your time and do the paper piecing first and then do the rows or do a little of this and a little of that for variety. Right now, I have a very large tote bag with all the components in it, including an envelope with paper hexagons, a contrasting thread for basting the pieces, a bag with basted hexagons, lots of rows of 10, and a small piece of rows that I've put together. In time, I'll be able to build on the piece until it's lap, twin, or queen sized, and then I can back it and use it. When you have surrounded one piece, you can remove the paper, by the way. The basting and paper are temporary. In the end, you'll have paper only in the hexagons around the outside of the quilt and those papers will be removed so you can back and bind the quilt.

These instructions are sketchy and a bit incomplete, but you get the idea. I'll be working on this for a long time and it'll be beautiful every step of the way.

Update 05/13/12: I'm still working on the quilt and it's growing by leaps and bounds. I'm working in strips of 11 in rows of 39. Four of those will make a nice sized quilt. I have a long way to go! Everyone should have a little something like this in the "what do I feel like sewing today?" pile.

Sewing in the new year

Happy 2011!

There are a lot of big changes in my life and one major resolution. My resolution is to sew every day, even if it's just one piece for my hexagon scrap quilt. I'll post about that in a minute. The big change in my life is that I have a new left knee. I'm three weeks out from the surgery and doing great. I'm walking with a cane, off the pain meds, and able to concentrate enough to sew again. P.S. I still don't smoke after having quilt on the Great American Smokeout in 2010!

I have a sub-resolution as well and that is to attempt to make a garment for myself each month as I continue to rehab, exercise, and lose weight.

Here's hoping you have a great time with your stash and that you use your scraps like a madwoman/madman! Sew them up and enjoy the use of something small turning into something large. Why buy a piece of fabric when you can make your own with scraps?