Making Yo-yos.

Yo-yos are an old quilting technique. A few years ago, I bought an old quilt that was falling apart. Right away, I knew I could use the old yo-yos on my scrapbook pages. Remembering my quilting days of the 1980's, I taught the technique to a group of friends on one of our scrapbook retreats.

1. Start with any size circle of fabric. Something thin like cotton is best. Whatever size you choose---just know that your little yo-yo will be half that. For example, it you have a 4 inch circle, you get a 2 inch yo-yo. If you start with a  2 inch circle, you get a 1 inch yo-yo.

Draw any size circle on the wrong side of the fabric and cut out. You do not have to be exact. Nothing about this technique has to be exact.

2. Thread a needle with any color thread (it won't show) and knot it. Start a simple running stitch about a quarter of an inch from the edge. Again, it doesn't have to be exact. A running stitch is a simple up and down motion. It looks like this:  ___   ___   ___   ___

Pull the thread as you go along. The fabric will start to curl. You do not have to pull it tight just yet.

3. When you meet the knot, then draw up the thread. It will look like this---a little pouch.

Knot it off. I usually run it through the gathered part a couple of times before knotting it. Do not cut the thread yet.

4. With the thread still attached, go ahead and flatten it out. You might have to pull some of the fabric to shape it.

 5. Voila!---finished. You can cut it, or if you plan to add any other embellishments, now's the time before you cut your thread.

6. Using your threaded needle that you did not cut off, sew on buttons, ribbons or anything else you want. The gathered part is the top of the yo-yo. With one 4" piece of fabric, you can get one 2 inch yo-yo or four 1 inch yo-yos. These can be adhered to your scrapbook page with glue dots.

When Mindy was a baby in 1984. I made these for her socks with lace, ribbons, buttons, little bells and bows. They were so cute. I wish I had taken a picture back then.


But, when I took apart that old quilt, I had so many yo-yos, I came up with this idea in 2010:

You have to look really close. The whitefish one is a yo-yo and to the lower left of that is another. I sewed buttons on to them and sewed them on to some glittery snowflake ornaments. This was a little tree that had handmade ornaments that I made that year.

I'd like to thank Jeanne for being my hand model.

No animals were harmed in the making of this tutorial.