Not Yo' Mama's Yo-Yo's!!

Once more, everything old is new again…and the quilt world is rediscovering yo-yo’s. These aren’t the “walk the dog kind”, but lowly little circles of fabric. Several weeks ago, the Carnation Quilt of Alliance hosted national quilt award winner Karen Phillips Swallen. She spoke about her collection of quilts, including a beautiful yo-yo quilt. This “coverlet” contained several hundred, if not a thousand, yo-yo’s stitched together in fabrics ala the 1920’s. We all ooh’s and ah’d, and thought to ourselves we should could go home and start a yo-yo quilt…or not, as we look at the unfinished projects sitting around our work areas. But here’s the thing. Karen Swallen makes her yo-yo-quilts in her free time, oftentimes while waiting for something else to happen. It takes very little time to make a yo-yo. It just takes hundreds of them to make anything made out of them look like something.

Yo-yo quilts were very popular during the 1920’s-30’s. Women didn’t have a lot of money so they frugally used their fabric scraps in as many ways as possible. Nothing went to waste. A basic 3 to 4 inch circle was stitched around with a needle and thread, and then drawn up to form the yo-yo. Sooner or later, there would be enough of them to make a quilt or coverlet.

At the Aurora NEORQC event last week, the women were sopping up yo-yo makers like water in a sponge, with many of the vendors selling out of them. These makers allow you to make various shaped yo-yo’s, including flower and heart shaped. They are made by an outfit called Clover Company, and sell for around $5.95. I bought a set of yo-yo makers for $24.00 at the Columbus Quilt Show last spring made by another company. So they are around if you want them. We have come a long way when women would use can lids for patterns.

And the old fashioned way still works. If you are computer savvy, take some time and surf the web. You will find site after site dedicated to the art of yo-yoing, demonstrating the techniques that my grandmother used. Talk about marrying the old with the new. As my grandmother said: Waste not! Want not! No new fangled sewing accessories for her. So I am teaching my students this wonderful “new” idea, using a computer, to show them how they did it in the old days.

Here are some links to some web sites relating to yo-yo’s. Next time you go to throw out that 4” square scrap of fabric, think about making a yo-yo. Then when you are through, go walk your dog.

ALL ABOUT YO-YO'S OR SUFFOLK PUFFS

GLENDALE QUILTING GUILD