Temari Pattern 0801 instructions

We played with a simple Sakura inspired design on Talk Temari recently. There are many ways to interpret the cherry blossom design in temari, this is but one. It is a compliation of various sakura designs that can be found in several Japanese books. It's a simple version using uwagake chidori kagari in jyouge douji format, with a wrapped obi. The two bands of pink will also interweave, forming kousa. As is often seen, the actual sakura is formed in the negative/white space of the mari wrap.

25 cm ± circumference mari -wrapped in white.

For stitching - one or two colors of pink and a color of choice to wrap the obi.

Use fine gold marking thread (Jiwari) and also have some available for embellishing at the end. You will need 20 keeper pins for the threads at the equator as we work. Also, keep a pin at the what is the north pole while stitching.

Mark your mari into a Simple 10 division, with an equator, in gold marking thread (jiwari).

Place a pin for the North Pole and do not remove it during stitching. If you lose the NP orientation (i.e. turn it upside down) when working Jyouge Douji, half of your stitches go "backwards". This may seem to be not too important but it does make things look a little bumpy - the stitches don't lay together smoothly. Mentally "divide" the ten marking lines into 2 sets of 5. You'll stitch Jyouge Douji around on each set of 5 lines, but - remember, since this is an odd number, you'll actually travel around the ball twice to "get home" - where you started.

One set of lines will be worked in the lighter pink - and this is the set that creates the "centers" and "sides" of the petal image. Place a red pin on one line - this becomes the starting line for the "red set" - Lines 1 - 5. The other set of lines will be worked in the darker shade. Place a blue pin on one of these lines - which becomes the "blue set", Lines A - B. The stitching on this set of lines forms the bottom, outer edge of the petal image.Divide the 10 marking lines into 2 sets of five: 1-5 and A-D.

Place keeper pins at each intersection of the equator with marking lines. (I know that there are differing opinions about using keeper pins. BUT - there are some important "little things" that need to happen in designs like this to really make them pop.

You need to remember to always lay the threads smoothly going "into" each set of pins; it's also important to "stack" them neatly as you go; and it's very important to keep them all crossing sharply at the equator. If they "wander" or just bunch up, it detracts a great deal from the finished temari.

You'll be finishing with a flat wrapped obi, which also makes it important to have a neat placement of the threads as the cross the equator. I really suggest using them here; if you are experienced in stitching and can make everything happen without them, fine and dandy, go for it. But overall I think they are needed here).

Mark the polar stitch placements - on Lines 1 - 5, you will start 1.5 cm from the pole. On Lines A - B, you start stitch 1/2 the distance between pole and equator. These distances repeat on both north and south poles. Using lighter pin, stitch one round of Jyouge Douji on lines 1- 5 and as I said, you'll go around the ball twice to end at Pt. 1. Leave your thread hanging. Change to darker pink and repeat, stitching arund once. Pass threads through the keeper pins at the equator on both rounds and all further rounds.

The pattern will be formed by repeat alternate rounds (one round light pink, one round dark pink) of Jyouge Douji using Uwagake technique at each stitch. When working the light pink rounds, pinch the previous rounds in toward the marking line to narrow the wedge (see photo). You can place pins to hold the threads, or you can get the "feel of it" and just adjust the threads as you stitch. BUT -

It's important to remember that this is NOT just pulling a "normal" stitch tighter. The actual needle placement is altered to make it narrower. Keep a bit of tension on the stitch to maintain the effect (but not kill it) - You may also find it helps to loosen your tension just a little bit on with the light pink, it makes for a better narrowing effect.

Repeat alternating rounds (you should see the threads interweaving, forming Kousa effect, as you go) until you have bands of color in a pleasing width (probably about 5 - 8 mm) for the size of your mari. There is no set "rule" for how many rounds, but just be sure that you have worked enough for the negative space image to emerge. If you are wondering if it's enough it probably isn't :-P

The light pink bands will bend and soften some because of the "pinching" while the dark pink remains as usual (broader) and forms the bottom of the petal.

Obi can be purely decorative on a temari or they can also be functional, and this is a design where it's serving a BIG function - it's going to hold all of the threads that cross the equator from the Jyouge Douji stitching in place, since there is no stitch at the equator while doing tje Jyouge Douji. Part of what makes or breaks a JD design is keeping those crossing threads neat and inline...there are several ways to "secure" them but for this example and design it's going to be a flat wrapped obi.

Wrap with color thread of your choice. It helps to check and prepare the thread bundles at each crossing. You might find it easier and helpful to move your keeper pins out (as in widen the space between them) just a LITTLE bit, to allow the thread bundle to ease and flatten. BUT - you also must be sure to keep the threads in alignment and smooth (this is important in the final appearance of things).

Remember, the obi will cover probably about 3/8 to 1/2 inch (upwards of 1cm) when you are done wrapping it, and will cover up some of the true middle of the crossings.

This is how I find it helpful to get a flat and smooth wrap with the obi threads: Replace your keeper pins so that for each pair, the left one is below the equator marking thread, and the right one is above it. Again, allow that little extra "wiggle and flattening" space....not a lot, but perhaps 2 or 3 mm. Work the thread bundles so they are compressed/flattened a little bit yet still smooth and aligned. Measure off how ever many wraps of the thread you are going to use for the obi - if you are going to "shade" with more than one shade of green you won't need as much as if you are using one color.... figure perhaps about five or seven on either side of the equator in total - plus enough to start and stop.

Enter the thread right along the equator thread on one side of it, just to one side of a crossing bundle. Wrap around the mari as close to the equator as you can, and with a fair amount of tension (don't kill things
but the point is to flatten the thread bundles and hold them in place). Go around a second time, right next to the first - and you should be able to remove the keeper pins that are ON THE SAME SIDE of the equator
as you are wrapping (keep the other side in until you wrap that side so you don't loose the lay of the threads. Finish wrapping the total number of rounds you desire and end off. Repeat on the other side of the equator. Work a chidori kagari (zig zag) stitch over the obi threads - both for embellishment as well as to help hold everything in proper place.

Lastly, work sets of staggered long stitches across each pole in gold thread to simulate and enhance the floral illusion (see the finished example above). When you view the temari from the polar perspective you should be seeing the sakura image outlined by the bands of color from the Jyouge Douji stitching in light pink and the bottom of the petals formed with the wedge and bands of the dark pink. The flower itself emerges from the mari wrap in negative space (white wrap).