Yo-Yo Fun

To some of you, I may seem a little slow on the uptake.  But after seeing lots of cute and beautiful creations made with fabric yo-yo's (aka Suffolk puffs), I have finally tried my hand at creating these sweet adornments.  I had a few requests to show off my new found skill, so here is a little post about what I've done so far.

I'm not going to share a tutorial for making the yo-yo's since I followed this fantastic tutorial I found on the amazing Zakka Life blog.  Instead, I have a fairly quick hair clip project using yo-yo's.  Now, I say fairly quick but, if like me, you have two little girls who want full involvement in designing said yo-yo's and hair clips, then this project might take a little longer while everyone debates over which fabrics and notions should be used!

All you need for these simple hair accessories are large-ish fabric scraps for your yo-yo's, some buttons, and some hair clips (I used snap clips because my girls love them).
I might add that I found it easier to gather and arrange my yo-yo's to the desired ruffled/puffy look when I used more lightweight fabrics.  The middle yo-yo turned out the best for me and is cotton (I think).  The right yo-yo was made from synthetic fabric and was a little too floppy to work with, while the green yo-yo was made from rather thick quilting fabric and I found it a bit thick and stiff for getting into a nice round shape.  I was also too lazy to cut out a circle template for my yo-yo's and merely used a roll of packing tape as a template.

Once you have made your lovely yo-yo's following Jessica's tutorial, you should have a nice little pile of yo-yo's ready for your creative projects.  Once I made this trio and my girls had stopped arguing over which buttons to use, I sewed one button over the middle of each yo-yo to cover up the hole and my ungainly stitching.  (And I can't resist using buttons in my craft projects either, LOL).

When I sewed the buttons onto the yo-yo's, I tried to catch the ruffles as well to ensure that everything was secure and sturdy enough to withstand the rigours of being worn by two small girls.

The next step is to attach your decorated yo-yo's to your hair clips.  I love these snap clips with the little hole at the end.  They're great for gluing as the glue has something extra to "grip" and they're great for sewing too.  I chose to sew my yo-yo's onto the snap clips since I wasn't sure if my usual glues were suitable for fabric.  I suppose I could have tried using my hot glue gun, but my needle and thread were already raring to go (so to speak) and I don't like using my hot glue gun around the kids.
After you have sewn your yo-yo securely onto the hair clip, all you have to do is sit back, and admire your handiwork and bask in the appreciation you will receive from the recipients of these clips!

Miss almost 3 modelling a yo-yo snap clip.

My girls have requested that I also make them some elastic headbands adorned with yo-yo's, so I guess that will be my next yo-yo project (as well as some snap clips for my friend who admired them so much I promised to make some for her two year old).  I am thinking that for headbands I will either make the yo-yo's in a larger size or group multiple small yo-yo's in a row.
I had a brief thought that the yo-yo's would be great for stringing into a garland, but the thought of making enough yo-yo's for two garlands quite frankly scares me!  Of course, I could just go to Spotlight or Lincraft and buy a yo-yo making tool such as those made by Clover.  That would probably make my life a lot easier, and they have tools to make yo-yo's in an assortment of fun shapes too!

So have I inspired you to try yo-yo making too?  Or have you been making these sweet decorations for years now?  Feel free to share with me your yo-yo projects or ideas.