To begin I retrieved the strip of paper I had used to "measure" my ball. I folded it in half,
then folded it in half again. I adjusted my compass to this length.
I could have used ordinary paper to make my pattern but I chose to use freezer paper because, with the aid of a warm iron, I could temporarily stick the pattern to the ultra suede. (I usually use adhesive vinyl when I make reuseable patterns, but I thought the freezer paper would show up better in the photographs.) I creased the freezer paper to divide it into quarters, set the point of the compass at the center and drew my circle. Then I used my circle template to draw a 1 3/4" circle in the center of this circle. I used the circle template again to draw a 2 1/4" circle between the two circles. (If you don't have a circle template you can use a compass or visit this page to learn how to draw the inside circles with strips of paper.)
After I cut out the circle I was ready to mark the 16 "petals" on the pattern. The circle was already divided into four parts, because of the creases I made before I drew the circles. I lined up the existing folds and made two more folds to divide the circle into eight parts. Then I lined up the existing folds to make four more folds to divide the circle into sixteen parts. It is a bit hard to describe in words but with two fold to go it looked like this.
And after I made the last fold it looked like this.
Next I used a ruler and pencil to draw the slits that divided the donut into sixteen petals. Note that the slits stop at the middle circle, 1/4" before the inside circle. Then I drew lines to divide the circle into 16 equal parts and cut out the inside and outside circle.
Click here to return to the ornament tutorial.
Pinwheel 2011
