If you have never made yo-yos before, you will be surprised at how easily and quickly they are made.
Many people make fabric yo-yos as table runners and bedspreads. Yo-yos can also be made into Christmas garland. Often while decorating for the holidays we may want to choose a non-traditional color combination. The problem is that when you go to the store, you are limited to what is available. You have the option of changing your color scheme or making your own decorations. Yo-yo garland allows you to make a color co-ordinated garland with a homespun feel.
Materials Needed:
- One half yard of cotton fabric
- Needle
- Thread
- Scissors
- Small (6-7") saucer or other round object the same size that can be traced
- Pencil
- Optional-twine
- Optional-Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Preparation
- To start, you need to double your fabric and lay it out on a flat surface. Lay your saucer (or other object) on the fabric and trace the outside circle. Continue doing this until you have filled the entire fabric with circles. The pencil marks can touch but not overlap each other.
- Cut out all of the circles. Since you have doubled the fabric, each circle you cut will give you two pieces.
- Thread your needle and knot one end of the thread.
- Run your needle in and out going all the way around the edge of one circle about 1/4 of an inch in from the cut edge.
- Pull up the thread and gather the fabric. It will all meet in the middle of your circle.
- Knot the end of the thread and cut the needle off.
- Use your hands to flatten the yo-yo into a smaller circle.
Assembly
You have three different options for assembling the garland. Any of them will work but provide different degrees of strength.
- The first option is to simply sew the edges of the yo-yos side by side. You continue sewing them in a line fashion until you run out of yo-yos.
- The second option is to sew the yo-yos onto the twine so that the edges of the yo-yo's are side by side and the twine is all but invisible from the front. This is going to take the stress off of the yo-yos and let the twine do the work.
- The last option is for the crafter who is tired of sewing at this point. It is as strong an option as number two, but gives you the ability to simply hot glue the yo-yos onto the twine rather than using needle and thread.
Which ever method you choose is up to you. Just make sure to have fun with the process.
The copyright of the article How to Sew a Yo-Yo Garland in Crafts is owned by Mary Welling-Bonney. Permission to republish How to Sew a Yo-Yo Garland in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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