A few years ago, I came across a fabric covered polystyrene foam ball as a Christmas decoration. I've always wanted to make some, but was never inspired quite enough to do it, until I thought about the fabric being a slow stitch space. And so now we have Joy. Joy for the Season, and joy for the act of taking time from the busyness of everyday life to make something that has no purpose other than to bring a little joy.
I experimented with a few different sizes of ball, but in the end the most important thing was having a reasonably sized space to stitch on. Next came trying different numbers of sections for the fabric pieces, and again, the biggest factor was having enough space to stitch on.
My inspiration foam ball was a bit small, so, here we have some 7cm diametre foam balls that give us plenty of real estate for our stitches, divided into 4 sections. For contrast, I decided to only stitch on two of the sections, leaving the other two plain. And because Christmas is all about the sparkle, some glitter tulle ribbon gives them that little bit of extra.
For the designs, I returned to the same motifs used for Angela - The Shapes of Christmas. I reduced the size of the motifs, and because I wanted extra stitching, I arranged a number of smaller motifs around the central larger motif.
An important lesson learned after using tulle to transfer the design for Aneira - Christmas Snowflakes, if you don't protect your pattern when tracing over it with a Sharpie, then you get Sharpie ink all over your pattern. Not rocket science, but a simple plastic sleeve and problem solved. The pattern remains clean and can be used in other ways if I choose.
Using the tulle gives us great visibility when positioning the pattern, and then later when placing the motifs. You can clearly see where the edges are, and where the motif is in relation to what is already on the piece
Because it is important that the pieces remain the same size, I chose to stitch these in a hoop. If you do use the section pattern included in our Resources page for downloading, make sure to test that the pattern does fit your foam ball with a test piece before committing to your stitching. I spent a lot of time learning how to draft the pattern with geometry, resorted to draping a piece of fabric and marking it with pen and even then, found that my pieces were only just wide enough. Cut generously, and you can always trim back later. Just make sure you stitch within the line, so you don't trim off your stitching.
Draw the sections on the foam ball (if doing more than 4 sections, more accurate measuring might be in order) then cut them with a sharp knife. I used a craft knife with a lockable blade. A butter knife was the tool of choice to slide the fabric into the section edges.
To complete the balls, use ribbon or braid to cover the section edges. If you like, you can glue this down.
The braid can be sewn or pinned in place, and a hanging loop makes them ready for the tree.
Light-weight and customisable, these bauble decorations are a lovely addition to your Christmas tree. I completed them in classic Christmas colours, but you can create them in any colour you choose. My stitching is in coordinating colours, but feel free to use more highlights or sparkles in your design.
Watch the making of these baubles on YouTube.
Watch our Stitch Library video tutorial for Blanket stitch on YouTube.
Watch our Stitch Library video tutorial for Chain stitch on YouTube.
Watch our Stitch Library video tutorial for Herringbone stitch on YouTube.
Watch our Stitch Library video tutorial for Fly stitch on YouTube.
Find all our stitches on the Stitch Library web page.
