Here's a tutorial (my first sewing tutorial!) for a fabric flower with yo-yo centers. They're so pretty as hair ornaments, accessories for a bag or dress, or even a bracelet for a little girl.
These are a great way to use up tiny scraps of fabric.
I tried making a PDF file of the pattern, but couldn't figure out how make it to scale. So I took a photo instead of what you're going to need. You need to cut out 2 circles for the yo-yos and then 2 pairs of 6 petals each - 12 in all.
I used a Clover yo-yo maker which is 6 cms wide. I wanted each petal to be 1/6th of the flower - so each one was roughly 3.5 cms wide at the bottom straight edge. The yo-yo maker is marked in thirds so it was easy to measure out a sixth of the circumference. You can trace any circle and just adjust accordingly if you don't have a yo-yo maker.
To make the petal template I measured and drew the bottom edge on a piece of paper, folded it in half, and then drew half a petal onto one half of the bottom edge so that when I cut and unfolded it the two sides would be even.
Here is a sample pattern (with measurements in inches).
Make your yo-yos - if you don't know how, there are a lot of great tutorials on the web for that, including this one: Heather Bailey's Yo-yo Tutorial
Next, I placed each petal pair together, right sides facing in, and sewed along every edge except the bottom. Then I trimmed the raw edges with pinking shears.
Next, turn each petal inside out, and then make a quick running stitch along the bottom of each petal (not all the way to the edges) so that you can pull the ends to gather it, as shown in some of the petals below. (Backstitch one end of the running stitch so that you don't pull all the threads out when gathering, as happened to me a few times!) Remember to adjust your machine before doing this so that the running stitches are nice and long. I think that you could do this part by hand as well, or even skip it if you are good at gathering while pinning the petals on (which is the next step).
Next, pin two or three of the petals onto the back of one of the yo-yos, keeping them gathered at the bottom. Here's what it should look like:
They will overlap slightly. Sew each one down through one layer of the yo-yo (don't sew through the other side!). Keep adding petals until they are all on, and then trim your dangling thread ends.
Next, turn the flower over and sew on the other yo-yo. Again, be careful to sew through only one layer of the yo-yo as you do so. If you want, place a hair elastic on the flower before you sew so that you can use it as a hair ornament or a little bracelet. That's it - you're done!
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