Yo-Yo Garland

For my little babe's birthday last summer, I enjoyed creating some fabric garland.  It was neat to create something unique for her with my own hands.  I hope to use it in the future too.  So, when it came time to think about a unique decoration for my big girl's party I scoured the internet for ideas.  I wanted to do garland again because it is fairly simple to create and it takes no room to store.

I ended up sewing yo-yos and then attaching them together to make garland.

I used this simple tutorial from none other than Better Homes and Gardens.  Here is another great tutorial.  Fabric yo-yos were very popular in the 1920s - 40s because they required such little fabric.  Old clothes and fabric scraps could be used to create lovely yo-yos that were then, most commonly, sewn into quilts.

Now let me be the first to say, I am not great with a needle and thread.  I get easily frustrated with complicated sewing projects.  Yo-yos are the easiest thing and the results are quite stunning.

At the party, I ended up just using them as sort of a table runner because there wasn't the best place to drape/hang them.

At home, I hung them in our kitchen windows for the week.

They were quite cheerful, especially on this cold winter week!