Mending and fixing and other boring stuff

All it seems that I have done lately is fix and mend clothes...fixing holes in pants, mending a fallen hem here or a small tear there. Nothing really exciting really. I was a little disappointed when the beautiful pink dress I had already fixed for Emilia in a previous posting came out of the wash with pen stains on it. So now I need to make more yo-yo's to cover those stains too. I am going to have to find more fabric to make more...bah. I spent so much time fixing this dress for Emilia where the elastic was stretched out...it did not work out how I had planned...I think I will have to add something else to cover up the top maybe a ruffle or something. We will see how things turn out, but I just can't call them finished until I am happy with them.

This is the dress with the blue ink spots...she only got to wear it once. Not sure exactly what I will do yet as the spots seem to be strategically placed in the front...if you know what I mean. I might need to do a giant ruffle, or maybe two ruffles. We will see.

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!