Sewing my own homemade poi

Hi there, anyone got any ideas / comments on the following?

I saw an unusual set of poi at Glastonbury Festival 2003, the guy had some long stripy material with a small ball near the end, they looked like socks but without the heel, no handles, no tails, just stretchy fabric which he held at one end. Looked great.

I'm making my own, I've got the material (heavy weight satin, quite slippery so I'm hoping it'll be good for wraps and hyperloops) and the thread, just wondered if anyone had any ideas about how to sew a hemisphere on the weighted end.

I want the poi to be as smooth as possible all over as my style is very wrappy and slidey, I've seen some patterns like that on a tennis ball:


Would this work?
Anyone foresee any problems?

The weight will be dried beans, any ideas about how to secure these at the business end? Again, I won't be using any handles per se, but grips of some sort might be in order.

Any comments appreciated, catch you later!

J

I'm currently using that same pattern for a ball that I am hand stitching. Making the pattern is a bit of a pain kind of a trial and error. It's kind of a rounded hourglass. Once you get it the stitch I'm using is a baseball stitch. Click here for a link that helped me.

Are you going to make like a tube sock with the weight at one end? If so I would not worry too much about the hemisphere pattern if the stitching is at the very end, the stitches would not come in contact with anything while wrapping.

Thanks Cody, that link's quite helpful!

The stitching at the end is just for the look, to be honest, I want the whole poi to be as smooth as possible...

...seamless, in fact.

I'm going to start tonight...

J

They probably were just socks that you saw... over time they stop looking like socks!
Quick, easy cheap and seamless, just buy some knee-high ladies stripy socks and away you go, weight them with whatever you like

this is the kind of pattern you want - the green is the seam allowance and the blue bits are darts - you wouldn't neccesarrily need them, it depends how rounded you want the end.

Might wanna try knitting some.. like this Fun Knitted Multi-Colored Poi I could get you in contact with the guy who made them for me.. they're fun.

They look nice Hexus

Tao Star: that sounds like the pattern I need but I can't see the picture. It's all the way reddexed.

Polythene: they might have been socks, but they didn't have a heel...

Haven't got round to the sewing yet, was playing Ultimate (frisbee) all weekend and had T'ai Chi class last night. Maybe tonight.

J

There's a way of putting a ball into a sock that gets rid of the heel, but it's pretty hard to type out to that it makes sense

To start with, turn the sock inside out and then put the ball inside.

Then you twist the ball around a few times before pulling the sock the right way out again. Unless the sock has really long feet parts, the heel should be hidden


For the sock-type poi that I have the sewn bit at the end is just a semi-circle. I work on the theory that it doesn't have to be a proper hemisphere because it's going to be spinning and no-one will notice if it's not exact.
Plus, I'm lazy when it comes to sewing

I wash wondering how can people see the heel when they're spinning round??

I like the look of the knitted ones....I think I might get some done by my girls Mom cuz she's a knitting allstar and is even knitting a humongus sofa throw for me!!

That vid is cool....thanks!!

You mentioned that your fabric is a heavy satin material. From experience satin is a pain to work with and isn't as strong as the kinds of fabrics poi are usually made from. It may be well worth your while to find some sort of strong light lining fabric and double up the thickness of your satin with that.

Also, satin frays like crazy and can drive you nuts if youre not used to how to deal with it. Give yourself a really huge seam allowance and possibly consider picking up some sort of seam sealer (a product you put on the edge of fabric to keep it from unravelling).

To hide the heel in sock poi try putting the ball in the sock inside out, turning it once or twice so that the sock is tight in the toe, tie that off with somthing (a zip tie perhaps?), and then turn the whole thing right side out.
It'll shorten the sock but should hide the heel. If that doesnt work do the same thing one more time, but start with the sock right side out. (is that what you meant Bovril Monkey?)
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OK - did a search and this was the closest that came up... hope it's the right one...

I'd like to make a set of "sock-like" poi.. meaning some (LED)-ball in some fabric... no chain, no tail... the handle will be the end of the fabric folded over and sewed...

now I've been going through this thread and saw that a pattern was attached.... MOST UNFORUNATELY this sewing pattern was deleted.... for whatever reason

PLEASE could anyone help me out with a sewing pattern for "sock-like" poi made from a stretchy fabric?????

That would just be aweseome

Easier than snotting... *g*

Awesome and thanks to you Bovril!

i'm making my own poi today, i've not really bothered with any planning, just doing it as it comes. I'll post pics when i've finished

oh ya! please please please!