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Temari Techniques: A Visual Guide to Making Japanese Embroidered Thread Balls
Bringing a time-honored art form into the modern needle-working world, this visually rich how-to guide reveals the techniques of Japanese temari balls. Anyone with an interest in fabric arts, particularly Japanese arts and design, can master stitching techniques and layer threads to create pattern, color, and texture. There are more than 40 easy-to-follow patterns to help fine-tune this skill set that will appeal to not only temari enthusiasts, but to quilters and embroiderers as well. Step-by-step directions and detailed drawings explain each technique, while mini patterns aid in practicing the new skills and help to lay the groundwork for individual and unique designs. This volume is great for beginners and for those stitchers looking for new challenges and intermediate temari designs. The book is more than a collection of patterns: once the basic techniques have been mastered, instruction is provided on how to combine patterns on the same ball to create a unique temari. A guide for left-handed stitchers is also provided.
- GenresCraftsNonfiction
199 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2012
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50 people want to read
About the author
Barbara B. Suess
4 booksBarbara B. Suess discovered temari in the late 1980s while living in Yokohama, Japan, where she shared her love of quilting, sewing, and embroidery. A self-taught expert, she writes patterns, teaches classes, and creates temari-inspired jewelry. In 2015, she earned Kyoujyu (Master, Level 4) certification from the Japan Temari Association.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 31, 2022
3.5 stars
Temari is yet another craft in the craze of appropriated Japanese arts and crafts that has taken America by storm. It's not the most useful technique as it's very specific and is really just something to look pretty. But that has it's usefulness, too, and is no worse than the plethora of food and everyday object items made from felt that are apparently so popular they have their own books. (See my review for Big Little Felt Universe: Sew It, Stuff It, Squeeze It, Fun!.) The book says the roots of Temari were from the latter half of the first millennium C.E. from a men's kickball game and another game where women rolled balls between each other. (Oooo exciting! Well that era wasn't particularly pro-women's sports. I mean, how do you kick a ball when your feet have been bound so you can't walk?*)
I like this book in that it shows a traditional way of making these balls unlike another book I read that had the base being a Styrofoam ball. The instructions are quite good and make the art actually seem achievable despite the complex and perfect look of the samples. I don't think mine would be as perfectly round, though, without using a pre-molded ball, but that would come with it's own host of problems as it's a lot harder to embroider something solid.
There's a wide variety of designs and patterns although there is insufficient information to make the projects, in my opinion. In the back is a section on design and display as well as some motifs to get you started.
*My family has a sick sense of humor. My feet are tiny, disproportionate to my height even though I am short, and my parents and relatives joked on multiple occasions that my feet were so small they wouldn't even have had to bind them if I lived in ancient China. Had to?
Temari is yet another craft in the craze of appropriated Japanese arts and crafts that has taken America by storm. It's not the most useful technique as it's very specific and is really just something to look pretty. But that has it's usefulness, too, and is no worse than the plethora of food and everyday object items made from felt that are apparently so popular they have their own books. (See my review for Big Little Felt Universe: Sew It, Stuff It, Squeeze It, Fun!.) The book says the roots of Temari were from the latter half of the first millennium C.E. from a men's kickball game and another game where women rolled balls between each other. (Oooo exciting! Well that era wasn't particularly pro-women's sports. I mean, how do you kick a ball when your feet have been bound so you can't walk?*)
I like this book in that it shows a traditional way of making these balls unlike another book I read that had the base being a Styrofoam ball. The instructions are quite good and make the art actually seem achievable despite the complex and perfect look of the samples. I don't think mine would be as perfectly round, though, without using a pre-molded ball, but that would come with it's own host of problems as it's a lot harder to embroider something solid.
There's a wide variety of designs and patterns although there is insufficient information to make the projects, in my opinion. In the back is a section on design and display as well as some motifs to get you started.
*My family has a sick sense of humor. My feet are tiny, disproportionate to my height even though I am short, and my parents and relatives joked on multiple occasions that my feet were so small they wouldn't even have had to bind them if I lived in ancient China. Had to?
April 11, 2017
The book needs more structure. Step by step.
March 5, 2026
I haven't gotten too far into this, but I do think it's funny she thanks her proofreader so profusely, then the introduction is RIDDLED with typos. Maybe she wrote the intro after her friend proofread the rest? hah!
Quite a few typos throughout, one was even a title of a section. Ugh. BUT, that's the only ugh I have.
A wealth of information and pictures and diagrams and gorgeous projects to be made.
The only wish I have for this book is this:
I wish she would have taught a technique, then had the projects that go with that technique right after, sort of as a progression of skills tied to the project to gain that skill. She does have the projects at the end get progressively more challenging, but the beginner things are explained, but not really tied to a project to practice it (if that makes any sense).
Quite a few typos throughout, one was even a title of a section. Ugh. BUT, that's the only ugh I have.
A wealth of information and pictures and diagrams and gorgeous projects to be made.
The only wish I have for this book is this:
I wish she would have taught a technique, then had the projects that go with that technique right after, sort of as a progression of skills tied to the project to gain that skill. She does have the projects at the end get progressively more challenging, but the beginner things are explained, but not really tied to a project to practice it (if that makes any sense).
February 19, 2014
This book presents good guidelines for creating Temari. There are lots of ideas that build on one another. Well done.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews