Want to make a yo-yo?

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A fabric yo-yo, that is :)

A 'yo-yo' is basically just a gathered circle of fabric. 'Yo-yo' quilts were popular in the 1930's and 1940's, and were a great way to use up fabric scraps.

I have a yo-yo story of my own.
As I mentioned a few posts ago, I grew up surrounded by fabric since my mom is the sewing and quilting Queen. Apparently one summer when I was eight years old, I was complaining of boredom, so my mom introduced me to yo-yo's. She gave me a stack of fabric scraps, a circle template, a needle and thread, and basic instructions about how to make a yo-yo. Now, thirty years later, I am digging back into that same stack of fabric scraps that I've held onto for so many years... I just love looking at the 1970's fabric again!!

It is super, super simple to do... wanna see how?

Yo-Yo Tutorial

Step 1:

Use a circle template to trace a circle on to the fabric. The circle 'templates' that I used were just household plastic lids. The lid on the red circle measures approx. 3 1/2" in diameter, and the other lid measures about 2 1/2" in diameter. When finished each yo-yo will be approximately half of the original circle size, you may have to experiment to see which size circle works best for your project.

Step 2:

Grab a needle and thread (I only used black thread for the visual purposes of this tutorial, obviously it would be better to use a lighter colored or white thread).

Stitch a running stitch about 1/8" to 1/4" in from the edge of the circle.

{Technically, you're supposed to turn the fabric under 1/4" before stitching which will give you a more finished look once gathered, but I knew that I'd be adding a button over the center, so I did not turn the fabric under first}.

Step 3:

Pull the thread to gather the circle into a yo-yo; then tie off and cut the thread.

Here are the finished yo-yo's:

The red yo-yo measures about 1 3/4", and the yellow one is a dainty little 1 1/2" in size.

I used the yo-yo's to embellish this card:

Using floss, I stitched through the button centers to adhere the yo-yo's to the card front; then I adhered the card front to the card base, added some green rick rack for stems and voila, darling little flowers! Just add a sentiment, and you have a quick, easy, & cute little card.

Here is another card that I made recently using yo-yo's as flowers:

'Thanks A Bunch' card

I've never written a tutorial before, so I apologize if this didn't make sense! If you have any yo-yo questions, just shoot me an email (my email link is above) and I'll be glad to try to answer them. Also, link me up if you try to make any yo-yo's of your own... I'd LOVE to see what you create!

Until next time~
Hugs!