Temari Egg, DL01

Temari Egg DL01
Contributed by Deborah K. Lauro / Download PDF file of this pattern

Kiku Egg, from Deborah K. Lauro

The original egg was made with a 3 7/8 x 2 13/16 inch Styrofoam core wrapped with baby yarn and then white sewing thread.

Threads used were:
Glorianna Silks: Twilight #089 and Monet’s Pond Green #108.
Rainbow Gallery Purple Metallic: Petite Sparkle Rays #PS43; Green Metallic: Tiara T114;

Glorianna is a softly shaded 12 stranded silk which divides into 3 clumps of four stands. I further separated and realigned four strands and used them together, encouraging them to lay smoothly side by side. This is much easier with silk than floss. Sparkle Rays is a ribbon which likewise needs care in laying flat, but it is not difficult if you align your threads where you want them to go and then hold your finger on them near the point where they will re-enter the mari until you pull most of the thread through the mari.

Wrap and Mark the Egg:
Wrap the egg form in white thread. Use matching sewing thread to make a simple eight division. I use a double strand for marking just to help me distinguish it from the thread wrap itself.

Make extra matching markings:

1. Place a pin at the halfway point of every other marking line (4 marking lines with pins.)

2. Adjust these pins 5 mm up from the center. (This is an arbitrary measurement and can be adjusted. I did it because I wanted the design to be more centered, and placing the mark equally between north and south pole on an egg would have the design too far down because of the egg’s fatter bottom.)

3. Double check each pin is equal distance from the north pole. Run a marking thread around the center at these pins for an equator.

4. Now measure the distance between two pins on the equator (1/4 the circumference of the egg at the pins.) Take this distance and divide it in two. Put a pin above and below the pin on each line at this distance. For instance, my egg measured approximately 26 ½ centimeters. ¼ of that would be approximately 6 centimeters. I place a pin 3 cm above my center pin and another 3 centimeters below my center pin on each line.

5. Now take more matching sewing thread. Run a thread from the bottom pin on one line to the top pin of the next line with pins, taking a tacking herringbone stitch. Then continue around going down to the third pinned line, up to the fourth, and finally back down to the first line. After tacking, go and do the same thing starting at the top pin and zig-zagging around so that there are now four areas with simple 8 divides. Tack the centers of these areas if you wish to be more secure.The marking is complete.

Kiku designs on body of the egg:
Work a kiku (use Uwagake Chidori Kagari) in each of the four simple 8 divides you just made. I believe I started 2 centimeters out from center for each point and as close to center as I dared for the inner points. For a smaller or large egg adjust accordingly. I worked metallic, two rounds of purple, a round of green, another purple, and then metallic seemed to get it about to the sides. Do as looks good to you.

Kiku designs on the poles:

For these I placed a pin on each of the previously pinned lines about 3.5 centimeters from the North Pole, and another on the alternate lines ½ centimeter from the NP. Working first metallic green beyond the bottom of the lower pins and up taking your first top stitch above the upper pins work your first round. These pins can now be removed. Continue working rounds with green silk stretching the points until they go between the kikus already made. Finish off with a round of metallic green. Then for purple place upper pin on the opposite 4 lines about the distance where the last metallic round crosses the first. Make sure all four pins are equal distance from the NP. Then place the lower pins a few millimeters from the outside of the green kiku. With purple metallic and silk work as before only doing fewer rounds so that the purple remains at least a centimeter from the previously made kikus when finished.For the bottom follow the same as for the top except the long green points were started 4.5 centimeters from the SP instead of 3.5 centimeters.