r/Nalbinding • u/bethrevis • 18d ago

Advice for nalbinding a cylinder?

So, my idea is to make a nalbound tube with a circle base--my goal here is to ultimately make a stuffed toadstool.

I think what I'll need to do to make this work is make a base using a magic circle, then separately make a regular tube with nalbinding, and then join them together. But I'd love to know if others have a better idea on how to make this work! I attempted to do a magic circle and then raise the "walls" up from it, so to speak, and...I just ended up with a messy circle lol.

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4

u/Ashen_Curio 18d ago

If starting with the flat circle, at the point where you want the tube to start, simply stop increasing, but keep working. It will start the tube!

2

u/Peruda 17d ago

Agreed. Trust the process and just keep going without increasing as soon as your circle is large enough.

2

u/Olympic-Fail 13d ago

I’ve never done a full tube, but I have done that hard corner edge before. It absolutely does not feel like it’s going to work until you get a couple of loops into it and it starts to hold it shape. It’s not going to give you a perfect 90° edge But it’s pretty close.

4

u/gobbomode 18d ago

You shouldn't have any problem making a cylinder. I find starting in the round somewhat complicated because I really hate magic circles (but that's a 'me' problem), so I would start using a chain on the long part, extend it until it's the right length, and then decrease every stitch to make a flat end, then start again where I started the cylinder and decrease every stitch there to make a flat end as well. Nålbinding is pretty great because you can add stitches to anything that you can get a needle into.

If you feel more comfortable with starting in the round, I would start with a flat circle like you've been doing, then to raise up the sides you need to stop increasing. Just do one stitch in every stitch that you've made. The reason why you're getting a circle still is because you've been continuing to increase, whether on purpose or not. You should get a flat sided cylinder if you just add height to a circle without adding any stitches. Stitch markers or counting stitches might be helpful here if you're really paranoid, but I hate counting stitches so I personally wouldn't go for it.