Juggling Balls
“I’m trying to sew balls for my son to juggle with, and have tried using stretch fabric - the seams hold, but the fabric begins to shred at the seams, and the birdseed falls out. What needle should I try? Would denim work better? Any other fabric suggestions?” — Thanks
——
Hi there - about 7-years ago I too, made juggling balls!
The fabric I ended up using was a heavy weight cotton-blend; think of a very heavy muslin fabric. I made the shape a 4″ x 3″ rectangle, though in hindsight I should have made it 5-inches to allow a bit more room for filling.
My seams were all straight stitched with a very small straight stitch, and zig-zag stitched. I figured over-kill would be better then skimping on those seams as they were going to take a lot of abuse.
To fill the juggling balls I used split peas. The cats has great fun chasing the mess I made all over the kitchen floor. The open-end I filled from was hand slip-stitched closed - and then machine straight stitched too. I just pinched the seam area and sewed an 1/8″ edge.
You might consider making an inner pouch to fill with your birdseed or split peas out of tulle - closed securely, and then put into the larger pouch. This way if some of the outside seams do give, the inside should still be okay.
Good luck to your son and his new juggling career.