Balloon Ball

I wish I had discovered balloon balls years ago. The best way to describe a balloon ball is almost like a pillow case for a balloon. You place a flat balloon inside the opening then inflate it before tying the balloon up as normal. The child is able to play with the balloon but if the balloon happens to break the child won’t get hurt by the balloon bursting in their face or choke on the little slivers of rubber. The fabric also helps protect the balloon from bursting on sharp edges of things.

This pattern is from Babies First Toys by Flosstyle. This pattern has an opening gap of around 1″ for you to place the balloon in. I have seen other patterns where the gap is actually overlapped so you have to pull back the folds to access the balloon or ones that have the gap the size of a button hole. Even though the gap is 1″ I think it is still very safe for the child and they wouldn’t choke, they would really have to shake the flat around the get the pieces of busted balloon out. If I was to make this pattern again I would make the circle piece larger (if you purchase the pattern you will understand the piece I’m talking about) The reason I would make it larger is that you need to turn and top stitch it and I think the larger piece would be easier. Your centre gap would still be the same. I also top stitched the circle around twice not once after turning it. If you make this I suggest cutting out all the pieces with pinking shears from the start. Towards the end of the pattern you are told to cut the pieces with the shears but if you did it from the start it would eliminate the need to at the end.

The fabric is used is some bubble fabric I found in my stash. I forgot how cute this print is, for a floating balloon it is perfect. This was a really quick pattern to make so perfect for last minute gift ideas. You could easily use scrap fabrics to make this however the pieces do need to be cut on the bias so you’ll need pieces large enough for that. Also if you were to give it as a gift you will need to explain exactly what it is. When there is no balloon inflated in it, it does look peculiar.

Cassiy

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