Mid Mod Yo-Yo Pillow

After thinking about what I could make to enter Amy Butler’s Midwest Modern Contest this month, I found inspiration a few weeks ago on the Sew, Mama, Sew! website for Yo-Yo pillows. I love reading the blog Oh, Fransson! (the designer of the adorable pillow) and was ecstatic when I was able to use this pattern to inspire my entry for the Amy contest.

My Mid Mod Yo-Yo pillow features fabrics from Amy’s Midwest Modern and Midwest Modern 2 collections. Though I haven’t entered a lot of contests before, it was enjoyable to work on this pillow because it got me outside of my comfort zone with the bright, splashy fabrics.

Click below to read more about the project.

A Close-up of the Yo-Yos

Why I wanted to do this project: I wanted to try my hand at entering a contest and am venturing into sewing nicely designed pillows. I saw the idea for the rosettes on the Sew, Mama, Sew! website which provided me inspiration for the pillow.

How long it took me: About five hours. I hand stitched ten yo-yos, each one taking about fifteen minutes. The piecing of the front of the pillow took minimal time. The binding took a bit longer because I had to wrestle the girth of the pillow when blind stitching at the end. Plus, I was designing the pillow as I sewed, which ate up a bit of time!

Back of the Pillow

Bumps in the process: I had to learn how to make yo-yos, which wasn’t too difficult, and I kept changing my mind when it came to the design of the pillow.

What I learned: Yo-yos are fun for embellishment. I hope to make this pillow a few more times using some different fabrics and pillow dimensions.