Folded Fabric Spheres for Christmas

FOLLOW DIRECTIONS BELOW TO MAKE A BEAUTIFUL CHRISTMAS DECORATION! THEY LOOK LIKE THEY CAME OUT OF A FANCY BOUTIQUE AND COST A FORTUNE>>>>>>>>>>>NOT SO>>>>>I USED LEFT OVER CHRISTMAS FABRIC FROM PROJECTS OF THE PAST AND ONLY HAD TO BUY THE FANCY PINS WITH PEARL TOPS OR GOLD OR SILVER HEADS> THEY MAKE BEAUTIFUL PINS RIGHT NOW! ONLY NEED 33 of them for one SPHERE! HAVE FUN WITH THIS!
REMEMBER THERE ARE 14 pictures for you to use so be sure to check on the right hand side of the blog for the other steps. Every step for doing this project is on this blog! YEHHHHHHHHHHH

Supply list for Folded Fabric project

I like to use the 4" spheres for my project. I plan on making about 5 of them and placing them in a pretty bowl for a centerpiece on my Christmas table. They may be hung on the front door with little bells attached, and there are a million uses that you will find for these beautiful "works of art" that are sooooo simple to make. Once you get the hang of it, you will be doing it in your sleep. I love doing it when I am taking a break from quilting.
Supplies: 4" styrofoam ball (sphere) I like that word as we shall be thinking of this as a world globe with East North south and West on it.
1/3 yd. focus fabric cut into 3 1/2" squares. You'll need 26 squares
1/4 yd. contrasting color fabric cut into 3 1/2" squares- need 16 sqs.
200 straight pins. (use applique pins if you have them, they are tiny
33 larger and longer pins about 1 1/2" long with pretty heads on them.
1 extra long pin such as a hat pin to hold the hanging loop
Ribbon: 1 pkg. of at least 1" wide Christmas ribbon or veleteen, etc. pretty pretty ribbon for sure!
Press fabric well before starting to cut. I keep a spray bottle of half water/ half vinegar to spray the center fold that is creased so well on most fabric. Spray and iron with a hot dry iron. DON"T USE STEAM!

Folded Fabric Project Sphere

I placed the 4" sphere on a cutting mat to see that it was 4" and found the 2" center points of it on either side. I ran a piece of stiff florist's wire straight through the ball to come out exactly on the 2" line on the other side. THis is a good way to find the center of the sphere. Another way is to use a measuring tape and measure from the top point to 6 1/4" around to the other side and hopefully find the center of the sphere that way. I am not good doing it that way.
Once the center has been found, I take a black Sharpie pen and mark the styrofoam on the top center and the bottom center and remove the wire piece.

Steps 1-6

This project is done on a ball, called a sphere to make it more like a world globe. Thinking of it like that will make it easier for you to understand where to start with what, when, etc. You have cut 26, 3 1/2" squares of your focus print, and 16,3 1/2" squares of your contrasting fabric. Be exact in your cutting to make this work out very nicely. Some of you are quilters and know exactly how to make what we call, "Prairie points" and that is exactly what we are going to do with each of these squares. I don't make them ahead, I make them as I am ready to pin them onto the sphere. Take one square of focus fabric fold it into half, and then into half again. Crease it very well. open it up and stick a pin into it at the center point that we marked at first. Do this again and pin another square EXACTLY centered underneath the top square at the bottom of the sphere. They should line up when you look down at them!
For ones of you who do not know how to make prairie points, follow me through the steps 1-6.
Step 1: Fold a focus square into half
Step 2: Fold the square into half again. FINGER PRESS THE CREASES VERY HARD!
Step 3: Open up the square and see that I have marked the creases with a white pencil. This is just to find the center point for Step #6.
Step 4: With the square folded as in Step 2, fold the right corner into the center line and crease it.
Step 5: Fold the other side of the fabric to the center. Make sure that the top points are together and the folds in the center are lined up nicely!
Step 6: Go back to Step 3, and put a pin into the center point and pin the OPENED SQUARE to the top center of the sphere on top and bottom of the ball. These open squares keep the styrofoam from showing through on the first pinning of the prairie points.

Step #7

This step shows the North and South prairie points in place, and pinned using 5 pins on each point! That is most necessary. Pin the top of fold in place first, and then pin the two loose edges at the center bottom and then each of the outer points. After the two are in place, next pin the East and West points into place. This is the way to pin all of the points into place. There will be 8 points pinned on this row at this time. After North, South, East, and West, you'll go back and pin a point into every fold such as North-east, Southeast, etc. Be exact!

Step #8

This step shows all 8 prairie points in line and pinned on using the Focus fabric. Notice the loose square is still pinned to the bottom of the sphere. It will stay there until you have finished the entire top half of the sphere.

Step #9

Step #9 Shows that you must use a marker to know where to place all points using the contrasting fabric. The marker is made to measure 3/4" from the "fancy pin" to the point. EVERY POINT IS APPLIED LIKE THIS FROM THIS POINT ON! DON"T GUESS! IT JUST WON"T WORK! Remember that you must try to keep the lines of the folds in straight lines if at all possible. This is very important. However, when you get to the last row of the sphere, you might have to "fudge and oooch a little to make the lines match up. Not to worry, that is very common. The ribbon will hide the problem.

Step #10

Step #10 shows how the contrasting fabric looks after north, south, east, and west points are pinned onto the sphere.

Step #11

Step 11 shows where to begin the last row of "focus fabric points." Always begin in the center of a FOLD, and go from south to north to east to west. ALWAYS MEASURE using your marker! Don't guess where the points will go! It just won't work!

Step #12

This step shows the finished row of prairie points that were done exactly as on the other side. The raw edges will be covered by the ribbon and will hide a multitude of "sins." Not to worry!

Step #13 Sphere with ribbon attached

The Ribbon is wrapped around the ball and pinned carefully. The bow is made separately and the hanger loop is pinned into the center of the ball with a longer pearl pin. It might be glued in if necessary.