How to Make a Temari Ball
Make the core, wrap with yarn, and then wrap with thread.....
Supplies to make a standard temari ball:
6 - 8 inch section of stocking or sock
rice hulls
1 ball yarn (25-35 yards )
300 + yards Overlock thread
Center Core
When I first began making temari, I used a Styrofoam ball as the core, but now after many years of making the entire ball from scratch, I’ve found that’s absolutely the easiest way to end up with a ball that is round with no lumps and bumps.
To make a temari from scratch, begin with an old, clean sock or stocking cut off at the ankle. One pair of panty hose will go a long way. Cut sections 6 to 8 inches long and stitch one end closed; then add filling. The filling should be soft and easy to mold into the shape of a ball. Some good ones are dryer lint, thread and yarn orts (left-over bits), or small scraps of fabric or batting. In Japan, rice hulls are a traditional filling and they work great! I bought a large bag from a winery. You can also find them at beer and wine home-brewing stores. Dried lavender leaves or other herbs make very special temari. In fact, you can add scented oils to your stuffing for a very special creation. Just make sure that whatever the filling, it is clean, dry and free of insects or mold. Scented oils should be placed deep inside the ball so there will be no possibility they will seep through the layers and come into contact with your lovely stitching on the ball’s surface.
Check the pattern for the amount of rice hulls to use. After filling your section of stocking, neatly fold the open end over. There is no need to sew it closed as the first few wraps of yarn in the next step will keep it closed.
Yarn Wrap
How much yarn do you need to wrap one temari ball? The answer to that is sort of like describing how much flour it takes to make a loaf of bread. It varies depending on the conditions. It depends on how thick and coarse the yarn and how tightly you wrap. The softer, the better, when it comes to yarn. If you have several differnt weights of yarn to use up by hiding them inside your temari, place the thicker, coarser one next to the temari core. Then wrap with finer, softer yarn. I don’t have yarn leftover from knitting projects so I purchase it at craft stores. I like to use Pound of Love by Lion Brand because, even though it is very thick, it’s super soft.
To begin the yarn wrap, I roughly measure out 25 yards. I consider one yard to be the distance from my nose to my fingers when my arm is extended. That’s why I say this is a rough measurement. (That measurement is actually about 37 inches.)
When I’m ready to wrap the temari core with yarn, I’ll walk around in my living room, measuring out the 25 yards and letting the yarn lie on the floor. Then I’ll put the skein down on the floor and head to the start of the yarn and begin to wrap the ball. This has turned out to be a very good technique because you don’t want any tension coming from the skein or from a ball of yarn when you wrap the temari. All the tension should come from your hand depending on how tightly you hold the yarn when you wrap. The yarn should be wrapped loosely. This is not the time to be thinking about stressful things in your life and taking it all out on the temari ball!
Wrap randomly by constantly turning the ball. Wrap and turn the ball,
wrap and turn the ball - all in one smooth motion. If you see an area where
several layers of yarn are piled up and a bump is formed, avoid wrapping
over this spot for the next few turns of the ball. Stop 2 or 3 times to
gently roll the temari around in the palms of your hands with the goal
of making the ball round. See a bump? Press it down gently and then continue
wrapping.
When you are wrapping yarn or thread on the ball, always wrap across the center or fattest part of the ball, not off to one edge. Why? Because the yarn or thread will not slip off the ball when it’s in the middle away from the edge. Wrap, turn, wrap, turn. Constantly change directions so yarn or threads are not lying parallel but are as randomly placed as possible.
Look carefully at the yarn-wrapped ball when you are done. You should have a round ball and the outer layer should be randomly wrapped so you don’t see any single yarn strands piled up in one place. Measure the ball now. This will be about the size of your temari after you’ve wrapped it with thread in the next step. Sometimes, the thread wrap will even compress the ball a bit. Add more yarn if you need to build a bigger ball called for in the pattern directions.
Thread Wrap
You will wrap regular sewing or serger thread over the yarn and that will be your base for stitching.
When I first taught a group of girls to stitch temari, they were very quickly bored with the slow process of wrapping one single strand of thread around the ball. One of them piped up and asked “Can we wrap with a lot of threads at once?” The first thing that popped into my mind was “No!” Then, “well, why not try it?” Thank heaven for little girls. They gave a name to this technique of wrapping with several spools of thread at once - power wrapping. I always use it now to quickly cover a yarn ball with thread. Here’s how it’s done:
Sit in a chair and place several (I like to use 4-6) cones of serger thread between your feet. Gather up the ends of thread and wrap the ball, holding it directly over the cones of thread. Just like when wrapping with yarn, be sure to wrap randomly so you don’t have the thread piling up in one spot. Wrap with a loose to medium tension. Remember that you want to be able to pass a needle easily through this layer when you are ready to stitch.
When the yarn layer is totally covered, clip off the threads so only one single thread is left. Then continue wrapping this final outer layer so you have a fine finish on the ball. Use the same good techniques as before - wrap randomly with even tension. Then when you see that the power-wrapped layer is covered by the single thread layer, it’s time to tighten up on the tension. Cover the ball with one final, thin layer of thread wrapped tightly and randomly. This top layer will hold your stitches so they won’t pull out of their proper place on the ball. If you are making dents in the ball with this last, tightly-wrapped layer, well, that’s TOO tight.
Ending off the thread wrap - End off by cutting thread from spool with a tail about 24”. Thread a needle with this tail and stitch randomly over the ball’s surface. Place the stitches a couple of inches apart. When you come to the end of your stitching thread, cut the tail even with the ball’s surface. You’re done!
Tools
You can probably find most of these items are already in your stash.
small scissors for cutting paper - You will be cutting the paper strip
used for marking the ball.
small scissors for cutting thread
#18 or longer darner needle or a doll needle about 3 1/2” long -
The length of the needle is a matter of personal preference so be sure
to try different ones. It needs an eye large enough for the pearl cotton
#5 to pass through easily.
1 1/4” to 1 1/2” pins with colorful tops - These will be used
as guide pins so you’ll know where to place the guidelines and the
stitched elements on the ball.
pin cushion - This is an absolute necessity for holding all those pins
and the different length needles.
paper strips (1/4” wide by 11” long) for marking - We have
a shredder at home which creates strips perfect for marking my temari balls.
Before we bought that, I’d just cut the side off a 8 1/2” by
11” piece of paper.
Optional items:
basket or box for all your temari supplies. I found a Caboodle at K-mart
that works great!
18” square piece of fabric used to wrap up temari-in-progress. In
Japan, this is called a furoshiki. A bandana works well.
small cards used to store opened skeins of pearl cotton thread. These are
sold next to the skeins of pearl cotton. Many needlepointers will automatically
open the skein and cut it in half. These shorter strands may present a
problem when wrapping bands around a temari. So, I never cut my skeins.
I open each one and wind it around a card, making sure the card is labeled
with the color number or the tag is tucked into the thread. A whole skein
of pearl cotton #5 will fit on a card. My cards of thread are stored all
together in a plastic box made for the purpose.