Truncated Icosahedron or a Patchwork Ball!

Le Challenge - Geometrics

A truncated Icosahedron is the Archimedean solid shape that a football is based on. It has 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons. Because these shapes will not tessellate on a flat surface they make up the ball.......put simply....if you lay them out on a table and try and make them fit....you can't, there will always be a gap and it is this gap that makes the patchwork curve enough to give the ball shape.


When Nat and Lucy issued the first challenge I was going to the Sewing Directory meet up in Exeter the next day. Thanks to Fi and Kerry it was a tremendous success. I hoped that Kerry would use 1 inch sided hexagons, so I quickly cut out some pentagons from an old shirt to take along too.


Kerry had precut some hexagons for us to use and also I used her Sizzix to cut a few more. I sewed the hexagons to the pentagons, making the ball shape as I went along, making sure each pentagon had 5 hexagons surrounding it.


Eventually I ended up with this.....


....and after removing the papers that were stuck down with a Sewline fabric glue pen instead of basting.....thanks for the great time saving tip Kerry!


......not quite perfectly round as it is stuffed with carrier bags and 2 e-cloths....whatever was at hand in Portugal in the van! Depending on the next Challenge I might have to cut up Tim's shirt or the tea-towel!!!
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