Making a perfect (and easy) circle
Do you ever need to make a circle and then wander the house looking for something round you can trace that’s just the right size? And you get completely bewildered about how to actually create a perfectly even circle because you can’t freehand one? Oh, that’s just me? Well, still, I thought this little concept warranted its own breakout tutorial. I’ve mentioned it before a few times, including last week’s bolster pillow tutorial.
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One way to draw a circle, if you remember geometry class, is to use a compass. You know, those little adjustable things you stick a pencil in and then put the pointed end in the middle and try to draw a circle with the pencil part. And it never comes out even. Ever. You feel like you could be in one of those infomercials where people try to do something simple but it always results in them completely spazzing out and looking ridiculous. But, thank goodness, there’s a solution! For your circle, it’s this easy tutorial.
But wait, there’s more! It’s totally free. Send no money now. Or ever! |
Let’s talk math
Let’s do a little geometry review. This part is for the projects where you need to determine how big your circle needs to be. If you already know, go ahead and skip this part and go to the easy part below.
Say you’re making something with a round end, such as a yoga-mat bag or a bolster pillow. How big should your circle be, exactly?
Some key terms:
Diameter (D) = distance across the circle from side to side through the center.
Radius (r) = distance from center to one side of the circle, or 1/2 of the diameter.
Circumference (C) = distance around the outside edge of the circle.
Pi = 3.14 = it’s the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter
C = Pi x D
D = C/Pi
OK, so let’s do an example. Let’s pretend you’re making a bolster pillow, which is essentially a tube with circles on either end. Say in the picture below that A = 30″ and B = “25.”
You sew your A sides together to form your “tube” and you have two round ends, B, that are 25″ around. That’s the circumference of your end circles. So what is the diameter?
D = C/Pi
D = 25/3.14
D = 7.96″, or basically 8″.
Radius is half of that, or 4″. So you then proceed with the steps below using your calculated figure for the radius.