Friday, December 5, 2014

How to Make a Yo-Yo (Quilt, That Is) - Saturday Snapshots

When I inherited a yo-yo quilt from my mom, I knew it needed repair; but I had no idea it was in such bad shape! It's a bigger project than I realized. So lately I've been spending random moments working on fixing it. This project has given me a new appreciation for just how much time my mom devoted to the quilt's construction. Out of curiosity, I decided to create just one individual yo-yo from scratch to get an idea of what was involved and document the steps. Here they are. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

I used a DVD as my template. It's about inches in diameter. The resulting yo-yo has a 2-inch diameter (approximately).

Gather the edges of the circle, turning the raw edge under about 1/4 inch as you go along. Bigger stitches are better. I think mine are too small. Use a heavy thread like quilting thread.

Pull the stitches tight, then take a couple of locking stitches and tie a knot to secure the thread. 

Once you've made about a million yo-yos, tack them together to form the quilt. (These stitches will be on the back side of the quilt and won't show, so they don't have to be perfect.) 




Here's my mom's yo-yo quilt.

I'll probably sew this quilt to a backing (gotta figure that out!) to make it more stable. By the way, there are lots of tutorial videos on YouTube showing people making yo-yos, in case you'd like to give this a try. 

I doubt if I'll ever make a yo-yo quilt from scratch, but I have a sentimental attachment to this one. Not only did my mom sew it by hand, my niece Kristin also contributed her stitches. Now I've become a part of it too.


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19 comments:

  1. I'm more at the sewing on buttons style of sewing. I've see those quilts but never known the name, what a wonderful family keepsake to have.

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  2. Over here we call those little circles Suffolk puffs. There's an awful lot of work in them - I've done things with them in the past, but only small scale projects, like dolls' quilts and such like. But I've done a large crochet blanket - not quite a quilt, but you can see it at my Snapshot at http://chriscross53.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/hooky-happiness.html

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    1. I wonder why they're called Suffolk puffs! Yes, there's definitely a lot of work but the result is stunning, isn't it?
      I just visited your blog, and your crocheted blanket is beautiful.

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  3. Interesting. Thanks for the detailed instructions. Beautiful handiwork!

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  4. Amazing! I am hopeless with needlework, etc., but I once knew how to crochet...LOL.

    Thanks for sharing...and for visiting my blog.

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    1. I enjoy crocheting too. In fact, I've been itching to crochet something lately. Maybe a scarf for my granddaughter ...

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  5. Yes, I love them. Magnificent !! Very nice !!

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    1. Thank you. Repairing the quilt has been a time-consuming project, but I'm happy to do it.

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  6. Love them! My mom was always making different types of quilts but sadly I never had the patience to learn.

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    1. As far as I know, this is the only quilt my mom made. However, she made all kinds of other crafts all her life. Crochet, sewing, etc. She always had something going on!

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  7. Wow! I would never have thought of using a DVD as a template.

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    1. I was looking around for something that was about the right diameter and came across a DVD. It worked!

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  8. I have only made very few sporadic yo-yos. They are time consuming to make enough for a whole quilt. Wonderful that you can preserve your Mom's quilt. A treasure for sure.

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    1. I'm delighted to have it, and one of these days I might actually get every last yo-yo sewn back together!

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  9. What a great treasure to have from your mother.

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  10. What a wonderful legacy to both receive and pass on! And I think it's just beautiful!

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  11. Both of my grandmothers used to crochet, knit, and sew. I'm not sure if they quilted but one of my aunts does. Sadly, all of those skills are lost on me. The only way I'd ever tackle a project such as you have is for the same reason you did. :-)

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