Decorative fabric balls

I found a post about these decorative fabric balls and think they're fun, and surprisingly easy to make. Wanted to share it here...

(I played around with some scrap fabric, so they're not matchy matchy)

But if you've got 15-20 minutes, you've got time to make one. I made them watching an episode of Ugly Betty :)

All you need is a Styrofoam ball, small straight pins, a ruler/cutting mat with a grid, and fabric. Oh! And a thimble! to save your fingers!!

You can get the free detailed tutorial from Knitty Gritty Thoughts and you should check hers out because she has a really cute basket full of these!!!

But basically it's a few steps.

1) Cut a few dozen 2"x2" squares. 2) Pin down a base square for the top

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3) Fold a square in half _______ 4) Then again so it's abt 1"x1"

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And then you start pinning them on!

Take your 1st folded square, (with the folded point pointing upward) pin it's left side over the top.

Make the 1st row, by overlapping the folded squares like so...
Then you just shift the next row a bit, and pin them down like before.

It's kind of hard to see on my busy fabric, but the Knitty Gritty Thoughts blog has up close pictures of every step! so you can see it better.

When you get to the end, you just use 1 pin to put a square on the direct bottom.

I used Malaysian batik fabric on the bright colored ball and the navy ball, and the gray was some IKEA fabric which was a bit heavier material so it looks more like paper.

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I love my new little artichoke balls. I want to make some that match my living room...