Japanese inspiration

Here is my first embroidered ball inspired by the Japanese Temari technique.

This ball is composed of 12 hexagonal pieces assembled with each other.

You will find the design to download in the menu “Patterns” under “Patterns 2021”.

After having made several tests, I chose to work with pieces of 3,2 cm in order to obtain a ball of approximately 7 cm in diameter. You can of course change the size of the hexagons as you wish.

I do not make any color suggestions because in such a project the choices are individual and must reflect the personality of each embroiderer. I will only say that I used plain DMC threads to make this work.

I would also like to point out that you should not be afraid of possible difficulties in assembly. This is done by hand and does not involve any major difficulties.

To obtain a well-rounded ball, it is important to work with precision both in the drawing of the patterns and in the embroidery, and finally in the assembly.

I wish you a lot of fun and I hope that many of you will participate in this little original project!

The center is made with a woven spider web made with 2 threads. Embroider the edges of each piece with several rows of stem stitch juxtaposed with 2 threads. 

Another faster way to make the flowers

Also intersperse 2-thread straight stitches between the blanket stitches in the upper parts of the petals, here with a different color. Finish by filling in the centers with French knots 2 threads 2 wraps. Embroider the edges of the pieces as before.

Assembly plan

Cut each piece leaving about 0.5 cm of fabric for sewing.  They will then be assembled as shown in the photos.  

The assembly of this ball will be proposed in next week’s article!