Mini Yoyos

I hope you don't mind this report.  This week I am busy with finals at the college where I teach.  But this is what I am busy with these days.  In fact I am doing another pink heart.

I like making fabric yoyos, little round pieces of fabric gathered together at the edges to make a little textured piece of fabric.  You can use it for all kings of things.  At one time women would sew the completed yoyos together to make comforters for a bed – often used in the summer.  I have made Christmas ornaments, pins, table mats and wall hangings.

Usually a finished yoyo is anywhere from 1½ inch to 3 inches in diameter.  But a few years ago someone challenged me to see how small I could make a yoyo and that began it all.  My yoyos were as small as ½ and ¾ inches in diameter.  Yes that is small.  So what do I do with tiny little yoyos?  I make things. 

Most of what I make are table mats or doilies as I often call them.   It started with a miniature challenge.  I made a wall hanging that was about 14 inches wide and long.  It had about 225 yoyos in it.  Sounds crazy, huh?  Yes well, I won a blue ribbon in a miniature category in a quilt show for it.   I don’t mind crazy for a blue ribbon.

them in quilts and other needle work where a button is required as an embellishment. But I can also take small cross stitch or bead designs and use those designs as a guide for my yoyos.  Where you would put a cross stitch or a bead just sew a yoyo.  So for example if you are making a design with 3 beads in a row, take that design and sew 3 yoyos together.

With that I have made all kinds of table mats or wall hangings.  I have a small 2 inch heart cross stitch design, which I have made into mats with my yoyos.  I used a bead design of an awareness ribbon, to create a pink ribbon out of yoyos.  My favorites are some bead designs for a pumpkin and jack o’lantern.



Now these designs could work with bigger yoyos but understand that it would make the entire piece huge.  Let’s take my little heart. It needs 9 yoyos across and 9 down.   With ¾” yoyos, it’s about 7 inches square.  A nice size for a table mat.  But if we use let’s say   2 inch yoyos, that would make it finish at about 18 inch.  Now we are talking about more of a table cloth.  (My Blue ribbon yoyo piece I mentioned above used 15 yoyos across the top and 15 down.  With 2 inch yoyos that would make it 30” wide and 30” long.  This could be more like a baby quilt or coverlet.)

To make the small yoyos you need a piece of fabric that is twice the size as the finished yoyo with about ¼ inch for a seam allowance.  So for my 3/4 inch yoyo, I start with a circle about 1 3/4 inches in diameter. What I really like is it uses all kinds of small pieces of fabric (I was taught by my Grandmother to never waste fabric.).  If you are not sure how to make a yoyo of any size, here is my tutorial on making yoyos.

Now yoyos are one of those things that you either enjoy making them or you don’t.  I enjoy them.  It is not something I have to concentrate on.  It is very repetitious so it tends to be relaxing.  I often do bunches at a time when I am really busy and just need a little relaxation or am mentally exhausted and need to keep my hands busy like when I am grading term papers.   I often have a supply of hundreds of yoyos and then it is just fun to see what I can do with them.

So if you are one who likes yoyos and likes the challenge of making tiny things and don’t like to waste even a little bit of fabric, try making some mini yoyos. They are fun to make but I warn you they are addicting.  You can’t make just one.

©2019, 2020- Cheryl E. Fillion