Hi First name / friend!

 

Holiday powers, activate! Today, it’s Kim here, bringing you a tutorial for a yo-yo wreath. This project, being all handwork, is portable and meditative, perfect to work on while cuddled up on the couch. Customize to your favorite holiday and color scheme!

Clover Large (45mm) Yo-Yo Maker (orange/yellow). I’ve tried the freestyle method but I much prefer the Clover Yo-Yo Maker for efficiency. With this tool, you don’t have to cut precise circles or struggle with keeping an even seam line or evenly spaced stitches.

 

Matching or neutral 40wt quilting thread. Or any strong thread – it needs to survive pulling.

 

Hand-sewing needles appropriate for the fabric (and for your eyesight)

 

Needle threader. Optional, but necessary for my eyesight. I love my Prym Birdy!

 

Scissors. Sharp fabric scissors to trim the fabric, little snips for cutting the thread.

 

Pins. This is a good opportunity to use your worn, bent, and stray pins.

Wreath Form. I wanted something biodegradable so I bought a straw form. However, it came wrapped in plastic and is held together with plastic monofilament, so in the end this might not be preferable to a styrofoam form. The pins do stay put in the straw form. I used a 12” form.

 

Fabric. This is a great scrap-buster project. You need a 4” square for each yo-yo if using the 45mm Clover Yo-Yo Maker. I used fabric from my scrap bin, including Ruby Star Society’s Speckled basic and some sweet prints from my newest collection, Sugar Cone. You do not necessarily need to cut each square out - I just snapped the Clover tool onto larger remnants or yardage and trimmed. I also used 3” muslin strips to wrap the wreath form.

1. Wrap the wreath form and pin the ends of fabric into place. This prevents the wreath form from shedding and looks better if you end up with any background area peeking through your yo-yos.

2. Place fabric, wrong side up, between the outer disk of the Clover tool (the one with the lip, not seen in picture above) and the inner disk.

3. Snap inner disk into the outer disk as shown, making sure that the lines on the inner disk line up with the nubs on the outer disk. Trim the fabric so there is at least a ¼” seam allowance all around.

4. Holding the seam allowance down toward the center of the disk, start stitching from the back. Stitch all the way around the disk with a running stitch. At the end, take one more stitch through your starting point - your thread end will be at the front of the work.

5. Snap out the inner disk and remove the fabric.

6. Pull the two thread ends to gather the yo-yo, turning the fabric to right side out. Nudge any raw fabric edge into the center. Arrange the gathers to your liking. Pull the threads firmly and knot them together 3x, trim the thread ends close to the knot, and tuck any visible thread into the center.

 

My wreath used approximately 100 yo-yos, and I did not cover the back side of the wreath. I estimate the sewing to take about 10 hours total.

7. Pin the yo-yos onto the form through the center. Use a pencil eraser to push the pin in securely.

8. When your wreath form is covered and the yo-yos are arranged to your liking, pin a ribbon loop to the back, hang, and be merry!

More inspiration on Kim's Yo-Yo Pinterest Board