Sew a Cloth Baseball
Whether you're making a toy, a decoration, or even a pincushion, these instructions will show you how to create a basic "baseball" template for making a cloth ball. No matter what it's ultimately going to be used for, it makes for a fun craft project and a great little gift.
Steps
- Draw your pattern. A baseball is sewn from two pieces of material. The pieces are shaped roughly like a figure eight or dumbbell.
- Take the round object, such as a glass, a jar lid or a can of soup, to use as your base template. Bear in mind that the finished ball will be approximately the same diameter as the round object you use to trace the pattern with.
- Trace the round object once and then move it 2/3rds of its width away from the original tracing and trace it again.
- Join the two circles from edge to edge.
- Narrow the "neck" part of the diagram by approximately a quarter of the total width of the circles on both top and bottom. From here on forth, ignore the "outer" lines, as they were for reference only.
- Using the inner lines as your guide to make the final template, round the inner corners.
- Draw a second line (dotted in this case) around the outside of your shape to serve as your cutting line (allowing 1/4 inch seam allowance). seam
- Take the round object, such as a glass, a jar lid or a can of soup, to use as your base template. Bear in mind that the finished ball will be approximately the same diameter as the round object you use to trace the pattern with.
- Pin two layers of cloth together and cut two of these pieces from your heavy cloth.
- Sew the two pieces together along their seam line (1/4 inch from the outside edge), starting the rounded end of one piece in the middle of the "waist" of the other piece and with right sides facing together as shown.
- Leave an inch or so of opening for turning right side out and stuffing. Back stitch the ends of the seams to prevent unraveling at inopportune moments during stuffing.
- Clip the seam allowances every quarter inch or so up to the stitch line to allow the seam to lay smooth when turned, being careful to clip up to the line without actually cutting the seam.
- Turn the ball “right side” out and stuff it to the level of firmness you like.
- Blind stitch the opening closed.
- Voila! You’ve got a cloth ball!
Tips
- These would make great juggling bags or hacky sacks. If you'd like to juggle three (or more) of them, fill them with rice, birdseed, or even fine gravel. Stuff them only loosely full.
- If you like, you can use embroidery floss to stitch decorative stitching along the seam line to make your cloth ball look more "baseball like." Be careful to hide any knots inside the ball and clip the floss short when you’re done.
- This can be sewn either by hand or by machine.
- A heavy cloth works best.
- For example, my ball, made of felt: circles: 2.375 inches in diameter, and 1.5 inches apart, seam allowance included.
- If your ball looks rather "squarish" (see photo) you drew your two original circles too far apart.
Warnings
- Needles and scissors are sharp. Be careful how you handle them! Children need adult supervision.
Things You'll Need
- Heavy cloth scraps (an old pair of jeans or a scrap of heavy twill will do excellently)
- Sewing machine and/or needle and thread
- Heavy thread such as embroidery floss
- Marker
- Scissors
- Round object: a glass, a jar lid, or a can of soup
- Stuffing material such as pillow batting or similar.
