How to Make a Quilt With Yo-Yos
Yo-yo quilts first became very popular between the 1920s and 1940s in the United States. Yo-yo quilts are not warm blankets like most quilts, but rather decorative coverlets to put over utilitarian blankets to brighten up a room. A yo-yo quilt is an ideal take-along project, as you have to make all the yo-yos by hand. Cut out a pile of fabric circles and bag them up to take with you anywhere you'll be sitting around waiting, like at soccer games or doctor's offices.
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Things You'll Need
- Cotton quilt fabric
- Old CD or DVD
- Black marker
- Scissors
- Bag
- Needle
- Cotton thread
Instructions
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1
Lay the cotton quilt fabric on the table in front of you with the right side, or brighter side, facing down. Place an old CD on top of the fabric and trace around it with a dark marker. Move the CD to the side and trace around it again. Trace as many circles as you can on this piece of fabric.
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2
Cut out all the circles from the fabric. Store all the cut-out circles in a bag from which you can randomly pull one piece or another. Cut circles from a number of different fabrics. Yo-yo quilts are often scrap quilts, and the more fabrics you have in yours, the better it will look.
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3
Lay one circle on the table in front of you with the right side down. Fold the outside edge of the circle up and in toward the center, creating a 1/4-inch fold all around.
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4
Cut a piece of cotton thread 18 inches long. Thread the needle, double the thread and tie the ends together into a knot. Sew a running stitch along the outside of the circle, stitching down the fold you made. Keep the stitches relatively large, almost basting stitches.
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Pull the threads on the edge of your quilt when you have sewn all around the circle. This will gather the fabric into a pleated circle. Gather it tightly to totally pucker the center of the circle, then tie a knot and clip off the thread.
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6
Push down on the fabric circle with the right side down and the puckered circle center on the top. The fabric below will puff out, creating a circle with a puckered middle. This is a yo-yo.
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Make more yo-yos in a variety of colors. Stitch the yo-yos together into rows, then the rows into a coverlet. The number of yo-yos you will need depends on what size quilt you want to make.
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Tips & Warnings
Iron the yo-yos by setting an iron on them and letting it sit for just a few seconds to press the shape into them. This will keep the puffs flat.
Set the day's batch of yo-yos under heavy books to squash them if you want to avoid ironing. They will be pressed after spending the night under the books.
