How To Make a Fabric Yo-Yo

Supplies

• Fabric – It is best to use a lighter weight fabric for the fabric yo‐yos as it will be easier to make a tighter yo‐yo. 

• Thread – It is best to use quilting thread or button hole thread because it is strong and it will not break when pulling the yo‐yo closed. It is possible to double up on regular sewing thread to make it stronger. 

• Cardboard or thick paper for circle template

• Scissors

• Pencil

Directions
1. Trace a circle, the size of you choice onto a piece of paper. You can glue these circles on a more durable surface like Bristol board or cardboard from a cereal box, and then cut them out again. This is helpful if you want reuse the circles to make more fabric yo-yos. Use the circles to trace a circle on your fabric. You can also use household items such as a cup or plate to trace the circle.

2. Cut out the circle

3. Fold the fabric over about 1/4 inch.

4. Use a thread about 30cms long. Thread the needle then tie a knot at the other end. Start folding the seam (about a 1/4 inch) on the fabric circle you have cut out and insert the needle through the two layers of fabric. You can then use a running stitch keeping the stitches about half an inch apart. Please see the pictures below. 

5. Once you have almost stitched around the whole circle, make sure you leave enough space so that you can finish by inserting the needle almost directly on the starting knot. Please see the picture below.

6. To close the fabric yo‐yo tightly, you can go over the first stitch as outlined in the pictures and diagram below.

7. To finish, pull on the thread so that the seam bunches together forming a small circle. Then, insert the needle at the base of one of the folds as seen in the picture below. Then, tie 2 slip knots just below one of the folds, so that the knot will be hidden.

DIY Laundry Soap

My favourite household chore is laundry. I love hanging the clothes on the line because they smell so nice afterwards, it saves me money not using the dryer and it is good for the environment! I thought about how I could save even more money and so I looked online and found many different recipes for DIY laundry detergent. Luckily, I was able to find the ingredients at my local grocery store.

This was how much it cost me for the ingredients in Canadian dollars:

Borax $5.19

Washing Soda $6.39

Sunlight Bar $2.49 (package of 2)

I calculated one batch cost me about $1.75 and it makes 18 litres. I use about 1/4 cup per load which works out to about 1 to 2 cents per load. 

Ingredients

1 Sunlight Pure Soap Bar, grated

1/2 cup Borax (laundry booster)

1/2 cup Washing Soda (detergent booster and freshener)

4 cups water

Directions

1. Pour 4 cups of water into a large sauce pan on medium heat. While the water is warming up, grate the Sunlight Pure Soap Bar into a small bowl and then add it to the water in the sauce pan.

2. Stir the soap frequently until melted. Remove from heat and pour the soap into a large bowl.

3. Stir in the Borax and then the Washing Soda until it is dissolved.

4. Mix the concentrated soap mixture with 18 litres(around 5 gallons) of water. 

I didn't have a 18 litre container so I divided the soap mixture into different sized containers. I kept empty windshield washer fluid containers, large dish soap bottles, and empty laundry soap containers. I calculated that 3.5 tbsp made 1 litre of soap.

The soap does get a bit clumpy,  but all you have to do is shake it before each use.

For front loading laundry machines, use 1/4 cup per load.

For top loading laundry machines, use 1/2 cup per load.