Monday, October 15, 2007

Yo Yos - bet you can't make just one

I love quilts but I don't quilt. Well, not yet anyway. But recently, I've discovered the joy of yo-yos, those wonderful little puffs of scrap fabric that can be stitched together to make coverlets, tablerunners, you name it. The history of yo-yos seems to have started in the late nineteenth century, but the popularity of the coverlets didn't really take off until the 1920s and 30s. The fact that yo-yos take scraps of fabric makes sense as a way to quilt during the Depression. See the lovely example of a vintage quilt at A Piece of My Soul. I'm currently working on a pillow case, with aspirations of a coverlet at some point.

Yo-yos are easy to make, even for those sewing challenged crafters like me. I watched a favorite movie (The Usual Suspects) and cranked out a bunch over the weekend. Check out the instructions for making yo yos here.

1 comment:

Lorraine said...

My paternal grandmother, who couldn't sew but wanted to be crafty like her DIL, made yo yo quilts. Unfortunately, her color palette ran to browns, oranges and yellows. And not good yellows.

And shout out to Kaiser Soze!