How To Make Fabric Yo-Yo's

I have read so many other blogs and seen their cutesy crafty attempts at creating hair accessories...so I finally decided to have at it, and here is what I have created:

 

Yep...I made my daughter and I matching hair accessories for the 4th of July. This was SUPER easy...which is what I'm all about!! The technique is called: Yo-Yo Fabric.  So, here is my first attempt at doing a tutorial:

This is what the yo-yo maker looks like. I purchased mine at JoAnne Fabrics. I used two different sizes: small and large. 

The great thing about this is that you can use up your scrap fabric. I have a lot of little pieces of fabric left over from making Emily summer dresses last summer and they are the perfect size.

So, to begin, take your fabric and place it between the two pieces of the yo-yo maker. Cut around the edge...you really don't need much extra fabric around the edge for seam allowance, just enough to fold over the holes.

Next, you take your needle and thread, put a couple of knots at the end of your thread...fold the fabric towards the center of the disk and make your first stitch by coming up from the backside of the yo-yo (the picture below shows the direction of the first stitch.

Continue your stitches around the entire yo-yo...don't forget to continue to fold the fabric over to assure that the stitches go through it. Make sure to go around the circle with your stitches so that the stitch doesn't go over the hard plastic section. For example, my next stitch below would go to the right. When you have stitched around the entire circle you need to go over your first stitch one more time.

At this point...keep your needle on your thread. With your finger, push the disk through the hole to separate the two pieces. Remove the fabric from the disk by lifting the seam.

Now all you need to do is pull the thread. The folded seam will automatically tuck inside of the yo-yo. Once the opening is closed, I made a few extra stitches through the creases (I don't know why...probably just to tend to my paranoia) and then make a knot.

These are perfect just the way they are...OR you could add some embellishments with sewing a button in the middle of add a little bit of beading as well.  For the finishing touches, I hot glued my yo-yo's onto felt and then I hot glued mine onto a plain headband and my daughters onto an alligator clip (which I found a pack of 12 clips for $2)

Tada!!! The final product. This was fun to make. I made both accessories while I watched TV after Emily's bedtime...the night before the 4th of July. All that to say...these are super easy to make and they look ADORABLE!!!