Wednesday, August 23, 2017

A bit of a challenge...


There is a sweet lady who I have helped out with some sewing over the last few years - she does lots of handsewing but not able to do the machine part - and the quilting....  I have a bit of a soft spot for her but she does give me some challenges to work on...

She started these yo-yo (suffolk puffs) a few years ago to make a single bed topper for a granddaughter... who now has a double bed


a real labour of love... so so much work in them... some of them were coming undone and you can see she has repaired by adding a little daisy over the top.... looks cute with that

I suggested she got a double bed sheet for me to use as a background and I started by making a frame that would fit the yo-yo top....


I covered the wadding with extra fabric cut off the sides of the sheet ....


... and quilted this with a bold design all over the frame...


she hadn't wanted extra weight behind the yo-yo's so that was left just the sheet and I trimmed back the wadding for the frame...


the yo-yo top needed a bit of stretching as two sides had got a bit shorter than their counterparts - luckily with yo-yo's there is quite a bit of give...


I then used my glide foot on the machine and went through every 4 lines of yo-yo's to give some stability and hold them down....

The glide foot is perfect as it floats over any pieces that are sticking up and could get hooked on a regular round foot...


Because of the pull of the yo-yo's, and no wadding the back did wrinkle up quite a bit...


I caught the line between the first and second rows of yo-yo's to just inside the frame...


Besides the tucking at the back I think it has come up well - she just wants it to be a cover over the top of the bed - the border is all the way around but narrow at the top where it will fit under the pillow.


The pink is the binding which I have added and she will do the final handsewing of it....

Have you worked with a yo-yo top like this?  I struggled to find ways to finish them off besides just lying loose as they are like a coverlet ....

Righto Gotta Go..... I need coffee!!!

18 comments:

Raewyn said...

Great work Fiona - it's good to see what you have done with these yo-yos...framing it like that is an excellent idea. I have a glide foot but haven't used it yet but it does look like a wise buy :-) I bet your friend - and her grand daughter - is delighted with it!

Deb R said...

ohhh what a challenge but always you have come through! It looks great and Im sure your friends is pleased!

Anonymous said...

Hi Fiona,boy yes what a challenge,i have never seen a large quilt done in yo's yo's ,what a special gift for her GD,you did a fantastic job my friend xx

Susan said...

OMGosh - you surely do need coffee..such a clever idea to do that...I imagine sewing over them could have been challenging...thank goodness you had the right tool for the job!

Jennifer said...

Fiona, that's a really good way to approach yo-yos. They look so pretty with the coloured backing showing through, don't they?

Karen S said...

That was a tricky one but i am so impressed with how you found a way around it. That is an amazing finish!!

Peg - Happy In Quilting said...

Omg.... that looks fantastic well done to your ❤️

Allie-oops Designs said...

Oh my goodness that's BRILLIANT. It turned out beautifully, Fiona, what a clever gal you are!

Jeanette said...

What a challenge. The quilt turned out wonderful. Hugs, xx

Daffycat said...

Oh, clever you! That looks great and I don't mind the tucking one bit, gives it texture, right?

Maria said...

Oh Fiona you did an amazing job of the YoYo top...Such a tricky job. Looks fabulous,

Janet said...

Wow! What a friend you are to her and what you did with the yo-yos looks great! I haven't ever worked with them and would have been totally stumped I think.

Janice said...

That sure was a challenge, but your treatment worked out really well. Mum made a double bed yo-yo cover in the 80s. I even have a photo of her working on it, which is rather special. She just left it as yo-yos and used it as a cover over a plain bedspread. It had been languishing in the linen press for year and when she went to the retirement village she said she no longer wanted it. I now have it in my linen press. It is a great showcase of dressmaking scraps from our lives.

Louise said...

What a creative way to finish your friend's yo-yo top! I think it looks really, really good. The purple makes a super "neutral" background. As you told me, don't worry too much about the bunching on the back. No one really notices such things. The eye is totally dazzled by all the fun colors and fabric in the many (many, many, many) yo-yo's :)

Jane said...

what a great idea. The backing will give it extra stability and longevity, it looks fabulous

kiwikid said...

That was a challenge but you have done a magnificent job with it! Well done!! The bunching on the back fits with the puffiness of the yo-yo's I think.

Joy from Days Filled With Joy said...

Wow, you did a great job with that! What a good idea to put it in the middle of the quilt, makes it very unique and pretty. Beautiful quilting too, and what a handy foot... need one of them for my Gammill :) xx

Carolyn said...

Looks amazing! Lucky grand daughter :)

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