a few years ago I made a puzzle ball for my grandchildren…and it is a puzzle! I’ve been asked recently how I made it so…here it is…how I make a puzzle ball.

you will need

a plate to draw round, any size…the size you choose will determine the size of the ball

pencil

paper

Scissors

ruler

material/ felt

thread

needle

polyester stuffing

step 1. Draw around the plate to make a circle, then divide into four quarters using the ruler. Cut 24 quarters using these as a template. Alternatively, cut 6 full circles of material and then cut those into quarters. Either way you will need 24 quarter circles

Step 2. Now on another piece of paper, use one of the quarter templates and draw along the curved edge. Next, flip the template over and, making sure the points meet, draw again along the curved edge to make a shape almost like an American football. You will need to cut out 12 of these

step 3. Putting two of the quarter circles together, first stitch the two straight edges. You can do this by hand as I did, or by machine. Stitch almost to the corner leaving a small seam along the edge.

step 4. Next, place one of the curved pieces along the curved edges making sure to sew the corners firmly. Along the other edge, leave a small section open to turn it to the right side and for stuffing.

step 5. Before you turn the prices inside out, carefully snip the corners to help with turning out.

now stuff each piece very firmly and sew up the gap by hand

step 6. Now to put it all together!

piece one.. sew four of the triangles together into a circle by joining the corners and the sewing the centre points together

piece two. As before join all the corners together to make a circle but this time join two points together, then the other two points as in the picture

piece three. As before sew the points together into a circle but do not join any of the centre points.

step 7. Putting it al together is the fun bit. Piece one is the centre…place piece two over piece one as shown below. You might need to squash it in a bit but it will go on

next…put piece three over the other two pieces