Yo-yo ornaments for Mary

Recently, a reader named Mary asked if I had a pattern for the yo-yo ornaments I had mentioned in this post: Christmas Fabric Source and Ideas.   The answer is yes ... and no.  I detailed a bit how my granddaughters and I made these ornaments in this 2009 post.  You can read it here:  Yo-yo Christmas Ornaments.    In case others might like to know more about these ornaments,  I thought I would write a brief post explaining how to make them.

At one time I did have a pattern for these.  I spent quite a bit of time this morning going through my magazines and file of Christmas crafts, but to no avail.  I wouldn't copy the pattern, but if I could find it, I would definitely share the name and issue of the magazine so others could locate a copy.  Etsy and eBay are great sources for such things.  But I just can't find the pattern.  I had thought it was in a Country Handcrafts magazine, or Crafting Traditions, and it may be, but my search came up empty.

So, if you are familiar with how to make yo-yos, you should have no trouble with these rather sketchy directions from my 2009 post.  (If you've never made a yo-yo, I'm sure you could do a search for "fabric yo-yo tutorial" and come up with some good instructions.)

  Basically, you make yo-yos starting with 3 1/4-inch circles of fabric, and just before pulling the gathering threads, you center a 1 1/2-inch poster board circle in each one. This stiffens the yo-yos and makes them suitable to work as ornaments. (Without the cardboard, they would be too floppy.)  In the candy cane, there are 4 red and 4 white print yo-yos. You hot-glue them together to form the ornament, then hot-glue a loop of ribbon or cord to the back to serve as a hanger.


If you wish to add buttons, ribbon bows, or other embellishments to the center of the yo-yos, you will probably prefer to do that after assembling the ornament, just to make it easier.
 
The other ornament possibilities suggested in the pattern are wreaths 

and Christmas trees. From the photo of the wreath my granddaughter made, it looks as if there are 8 yo-yos of various green Christmas prints.  We only made candy canes and wreaths, but I'm sure there might be other possibilities as well.  

Hope this helps!