By: Vickie Kipp
National Yo-Yo Day was named in honor of Donald F. Duncan, the American businessman who began manufacturing the "Duncan Yo-Yo" toy in the early 1900's contributing to the popularity of a toy that had been around for hundreds of years. I don't have a Yo-Yo but we can celebrate with a Yo-Yo flower!
Making fabric Yo-Yo's is one of the first sewing projects I remember. My grandmother taught me how to trace around a Mason jar lid; cut out the circle, then hand gather the fabric into the Yo-Yo shape. It took me all summer to make a doll blanket.
A few years ago I came across a really fun tool for making Yo-Yo's much quicker than the way I learned to make them. The tool is manufactured by Clover and is call the Quick Yo-Yo Maker. The directions with the Quick Yo-Yo maker have you place a piece of fabric over the disc into the plate then cut the extra fabric off to fit. But guess what makes the Quick Yo-Yo Maker even quicker to use, Accucut circle dies.
The circle from the Santa #5 die works with the small Yo-Yo Maker. The circle from the Coaster #1 die works with the large Yo-Yo Maker. There may be other circle dies that work with the Quick Yo-Yo Makers but these are the dies I have. Even if you don't have the Clover tool, you can still use the die cut circles and handstitch the Yo-Yo's.
By cutting the circles with the GrandeMARK, it makes it much easier to make Yo-Yo's on the go. No need to carry my fabric scissors or big pieces of fabric. Just cut the circles ahead of time and they are ready to stitch whenever I have a few minutes. Follow the package directions for stitching as shown in the following photos.
I made a pink tulle flower and added the green Yo-Yo and a button to the center. I cut five pieces of pink tulle using the Coarsters #1 die. Fold the circles in half and lightly press. I used a running stitch along the folded edge overlapping each circle almost 1/2 inch. Pull the gathering stitches together and tie a knot to secure the stitches.
You now have a five petal tulle flower.
Stitch the Yo-Yo and a button in the center of the tulle flower and you have a cut fluffy flower ready for adding to a hair clip or project.
So cute! I love those yo-yo flowers!
Posted by: Tiffany | June 06, 2011 at 01:02 PM