Product review: clover yoyo makers

Well, I must say that I am a craft nut, and over the past two years (mostly thanks to the income I've made from my etsy shop berrysprite) I've been able to purchase really cool crafty items. Sometimes it would have helped to have had a product review to let me know if the item was really worth it (for example, I still haven't gotten the hang of the clover embroiderer) so I decided it may be helpful to make some of my own. So... da da da dum- here is my first product review, for the clover yoyo makers in size extra small and small. There's certainly a cadre of uses for these babies; sew them on a bobby or clip pin with a cute button for some diy hair pins, sew them onto pinbacks for pins for your clothes or bags, or you can use them as sewing or scrapbooking embellishments. I actually have the small flower one too, but at the time I was making this tutorial I couldn't find the directions and I didn't want to try winging it by myself (lazy, I know).

These yoyo makers are made by clover japan, a notion company that is the bees knees, seriously. They are made in heavy plastic and come in many sizes (extra small through extra large) and shapes (including heart, flower, and regular yoyo). For both yoyo makers, bits of leftover and scrap fabric work best; I wouldn't recommend using very nice or expensive fabric for this (i.e. kawaii japanese fabric) as the cute patterns will not show up well. However, calico, gingham, polka dotted, scrap linen etc will work well; very heavy or very thin fabric might be hard to use. For both yoyo makers, you should have a piece of fabric that will allow you to cut a circle a little bigger than the actual yoyo maker because you fold the extra over in order to stitch the yoyo together. Other than having just that much fabric, these yoyomakers turn scraps that might be thrown away into something really cute!

All in all I would rate both yoyo makers as very good investments, especially if you use yoyos in your work. They run from $4-$8 for one at various craft stores, and if you grab them on sale they're even better! What really makes them good is your ability to make yoyos that are the same size and can be gathered neatly; the yoyo maker has little holes around its circumference that act as stitch guides, ensuring even stitches. Incidentally, the only problem I ran into when using these yoyo makers was making the gathers lie nicely with a nice rounded hole at the top, but that can be fixed by guiding the gathers as you pull the thread tightly. I did find that it was more difficult to get the gathers on the extra small yoyo to lie flat and nice, but that may because I had too much fabric. The finished yoyos for the small yoyo maker had an approximate diameter of about 1" (2.5 cm) and the finished extra small yoyo was .75" in diameter.