Heart Yo-Yo's

Good Morning!

Today I am going to do a tutorial on yo-yo making. This is in honor of my Oma who would never let any small piece of fabric go to waste. I never liked fabric yo-yo's but have decided to embrace them and make them into new and fashionable ideas. Usually when you find them they are made into a project that looks old fashioned. My goal is to find new projects and ideas to bring fabric yo-yo's into the 21st century. One day I think that I am going to write a book on 101 ways to use a fabric yo-yo. I hope that you can learn to love them too!

I found this dress at the second hand store and it had a couple of small stains. What better way to use my new clover heart shaped yo-yo maker. You don't necessarily have to use a yo-yo maker either...you can cut your fabric in the shape of a triangle and still follow the same steps sewing along the edge and gathering. I just find it so much easier with the maker.

Sorry, I started to put the yo-yo's on before I took the before picture.

First take your co-ordinating fabric and place it between the two pieces of your clover yo-yo maker. Make sure that you fabric can be seen through that little window, this will be the top side when you start to sew around. Then you need to cut around the whole thing leaving a little bit of fabric around the edge.

Next, you need to sew along the edge. The clover makes it so easy, you just need to follow the guide. Make a knot in your thread and sew along.

This is the underside. You want to make sure that you are going through the two pieces so that when you are done the unfinished edge will be hidden on the inside. Once you are done sewing around the entire edge then you can pop the heart out and remove your fabric. Pull the thread to gather the edge and use your fingers to guide the fabric so that the right side is out, you can also make adjustments to the heart as you go along to make it look just the way you want it. Once you have it the way you want it then you can sew it on to your project. I kept the thread attached and added a button to the middle to hide any imperfections and give it a little bit of button bling.

The finished product! A beautiful new dress for Emilia!

Isn't she a beauty!

She loves to pose! When the camera is rolling, she is on!

E for Emilia

So after a long night I finally finished the fabric covered wire E for Emilia's room. I loved this project as soon as I saw it and just had to make one for her. I first saw this project in the Family Fun magazine and then found it on the internet on a blog called Goody-Goody by a very talented mom named Lauren. I didn't have any covered wire so I used an old coat hanger and covered it with strips of towel first to give it thickness then covered that with the fabric pieces I chose. After that was my favorite part, embellishing. I used some old buttons and beads to add some whimsy. Also I made a beaded flower with a button center and used a butterfly clip, because I have decided that when I redo her room I want to decorate it with butterflies. I had so much fun doing this project! I can't wait to make more! Thanks again to Lauren for thinking this one up!