Yo-yos, Yo?

A little while ago I tried my hand at making yo-yos. I'm not a quilter but I think these things are adorable. I started making them and then I didn't realize how many I made. I just cut a bunch of circles and one thing lead to another (great, now I have The Fixx stuck in my head).

 

 They're like cute little button flowers.

I made a tutorial for these little guys. They are fairly easy to make and they do not take too long to make. Once you get the hang of it, you'll zip right through them.

 

 Here is what you will need:

5x5 inch cotton fabric squares
pencil
scissors
needle
thread
something to use as a circle template (I used a tin container for coasters)

 

Place your template on the fabric and trace. 

*note: you really should iron out an wrinkles in the fabric, but I was lazy and didn't (they came out just fine).

 I traced out all my circles before I started sewing anything.

 

 

Then cut out the circles.

All ready to go!

 

Now it starts to get only a smidgen tricky. And by tricky, I mean trying to keep the fabric folded over to sew together.

  

Begin by folding over the fabric by a 1/4 of an inch (wrong sides together) to get a folded seem.

LOL! Sounds a lot harder then it really is. I made sure to take loads of pictures to help explain.

Knot off the beginning of the thread, then begin threading though the fabric all the way around.

So, now you are sewing through the top and the "bottom". 

DO NOT knot it and finish off the thread.

Next, you grab a firm hold of the thread and begin to pull gently until the fabric starts to gather or pucker.

I took a photo of another one that shows the gathering.

 Once the fabric closes in on itself, tie off the thread and trim the excess thread.

And you are done!

You have just made your first yo yo! Pretty easy, right?

The circle that I started out with was roughly 4 inches, and the finished product is around 3 inches.

You can pretty much make any size you want.

Yoyos, yo?

I've always seen these little things here and there, I never knew what they were called. A while ago my sister mentioned that we should make some. I said sure, but that were quickly forgotten. 

But then I saw them on the Internet and that re-sparked my interest. 

I can't believe how easy they are to make.

They take very little fabric and thread to make. I put a little tutorial together to show how easy they are.

You will need: 

5 x 5 inch pieces of fabric

needle 

thread

pencil

a circle template (I used a Spiderman tin)

scissors

 

I started out with a 4 inch diameter circle. (I just used a tin lid, because it was the perfect size and convenient)

 

 Trace the circle onto the fabric using a pencil or what ever you prefer to use.

 

 Then cut out the circle, like sew, ha ha, get it? sew, so, um yeah...

  

I use a lot of scraps I had saved, worked out very well.

 

Next, fold under about a quarter of the fabric and then take your needle and thread and tie off the end, large enough that it won't slip right through the fabric and start a running stitch around that quarter inch fold. Kinda like a hem.

 

 Try to make sure that the stitches are small and even.

 End you last stitch right next the first stitch, but don't tie it off, you then firmly grip the thread and GENTLY pull on it.

Then it will start to gather. 

 

 It will now have soft pleats as you gather the edge. Sew a stitch or two to hold the gathers in place, then knot (a couple of times to make sure it stays) and cut off the end of the thread.

  

 This should be what they look like when you are finished.

A little under three inches.

You can adjust the size of you circle if you want larger or smaller yoyos.

 I ended up make few, after I got the hang of it, it went pretty fast.

Now I have to think of what I want to put these on. My sister said she wanted to make a quilt out of them. That's A LOT of yoyos! But it would look adorable.

I'm thinking more along the lines of a necklace or a headband. Much easier.