How to make a taggie football

Boys don't get a lot of attention on Grace Violet. I'm sure it is due to the fact that I am a girl and tend to like girly things, and that I have two girls who surround me with even more girly things. But mostly I credit the lack of boyish crafts to the fact that guys tend to be difficult to craft for. Although, maybe I'm wrong, perhaps they do love appliqued tote bags, crayon aprons, and sugar scrubs. 

However, with a new nephew on the way any day now, I have had to force my mind to enter boy territory. I am proud to say that I not only crafted for a boy - but, I figured out a way to include ribbon.

Introducing, the taggie stuffed football. Perfect for chubby baby hands and drooly gums. And a father who plans to indoctrinate his son with Longhorn propaganda from the earliest stages.

My husband (a huge OU fan) had to look away in anguish as I brought UT fabric into our home.   

My first step was to cut 4 lenses. Lenses. 

That is the shape that you see below. 

I cannot tell you how deep I dug into the recesses of my brain, searching for the geometric name for this shape. I actually postponed the whole post because I had no idea what to call these 4 quarters of the ball.

After 2 minutes on Wikipedia, I had my answer. Lenses. 

Basically, to create my pattern for the lens, I drew a 7" line, then intersected it in the middle with a 3" line (forming a cross). Then, I freehanded the arc, starting at one end of the long line and going to the other. 

Basically, I cut out 4 cat eyes.

Next, I chose coordinating ribbons and cut them 3-4" long.

The ribbons form the taggies (that babies just love to chew on). I lined them up where I wanted. 

And pinned two lenses (right sides together) with the taggies tacked down. 

I sewed along one side, then, set that half of the football aside, and repeated with the other two lenses. 

Once both halves were completed, I stitched up the remaining two sides (leaving out taggies, but if I did it over again, I might have added more), leaving a small opening to insert filling.

It would have been cute to stuff a few jingle bells, so that the ball would rattle. Too bad I thought of that after I stitched the opening closed. 

Using embroidery floss (because of its thickness), I "laced" up the pigskin. I recommend lacing on the seam that was just closed up - it helps to hide any stitches. 

It turns out crafting for boys can be quite fun - I even have two more "guy" projects waiting for me on my desk. Except they don't include ribbon, so the motivation to get started isn't quite as high...