Craft Night {fabric balls}

I was up way too late last night finishing up our monthly edition of craft night {previous nights here: #1 #2 #3}.

The theme for the month was Just Do It...the goal was to bring a project that was on your 2012 Crafting To Do list (thanks to Pinterest, it seems everyone has a backlog of crafty projects).

We compiled our ideas on our group JUST DO IT January pinboard and brought our favorite picks to the table.

With snacks and drinks in hand, we worked on everything from sewing to scrapbooking to stenciling, jewelry making {bird nest + tree of life pendants}, a butterfly wall collage for a new baby girl, wood blocks for a new baby (boy?), felt hearts, coasters to gift away, and my pick of the night, fabric wrapped balls.

After a few hours of serious crafting, I am thrilled with how my fabric wrapped balls turned out. I was really starting to doubt my plan before I got going. I used the directions from Landee See, Landee Do and they worked great but I'm a details girl so I'll add a couple of side notes to her instructions.

{Fabric Wrapped Balls}

Supplies:

• Styrofoam balls - These were more expensive than I anticipated. It cost me about $20 to fill this bowl (full price). I recommend waiting for a half off sale or taking your mom with you to the craft store so you can use extra coupons like I did (thanks, Mom!). I bought three sizes: large (5"), medium (4") and small (3").
• Fabric - You don't need much. I definitely overbought in the fabric department. For example, for the three green and blue polka dot balls in the picture above (two medium, one small), I used less than 1/4 of a yard. And make sure you pick something fun! {My new decorating philosophy: surround yourself with things you love}
• Dressmaker pins.
• Rotary cutting mat & cutter + sewing scissors - 24 hours ago I had no idea rotary mats even existed. I asked one of my favorite crafting friends how to cut fabric in a straight line because I knew it was going to be an issue and she saved the day. I also used a yardstick so I had a straight edge to cut against.

How-To:

1. Cut your fabric into strips. For the large balls, I would cut your fabric into 1"-1 1/4" wide strips, for the medium balls, try 3/4"-1", and for the small you need 1/2"-3/4" strips. The length will depend on the size of your ball - you can start wrapping and then trim the fabric to the correct length.
2. Wrap your fabric around the ball once so there's enough for a little bit of overlap. Cut fabric to the correct length if necessary. Pin.
3. Turn the ball and repeat the wrapping in an asterisks-like pattern, ending in the same place each time so your pins all end up in the same area (you will end up with only one pin showing this way).
4. For the final strip of fabric, I folded the end over before I pinned just to give it a little bit of a more finished look.
5. Place in bowl or vase. Enjoy.

Thanks to Pinterest, craft nights are popping up everywhere. 

Have you hosted or attended a craft night recently?

{Please share the details!} 

Do you have a perfect craft night project to share? 

{Projects that are fairly simple and can be completed in a couple of hours -or- projects that are extra fun as a group effort?} 

Here's a chance for you to link up...