How to Make Fabric Yo-yo Santa Ornaments

This Santa ornament is adorable and easy to make.  It would make a cute ornament for an ornament exchange or to give as holiday gifts.  Hang them off a present with a gift with a tag as an additional decoration.

The body of the Santa ornament is made from fabric yo-yos.  Fabric yo-yos are easy to make by hand stitching using Clover Yo-yo Makers. A bead faces kit is used to complete the Santa ornament.

A few months ago, I shared with you a tutorial to make a Yo-yo Snowman ornaments. These snowman ornaments are made in a similar way to this Santa ornament, so you might also be interested in making them.

I found this vintage Santa ornament made from yo-yos in my ornament box.  I have a lot of old ornaments made by my grandmother.  I used this ornament as inspiration for this new updated yo-yo Santa ornament.

Learn more about this Santa yo-yo ornament by watching our video through the link below or keep reading this post.

WHAT YOU NEED to make this fabric yo-yo Santa ornaments

• Red & Black Fabric
• Clover Yo-yo makers - Small (green) 30mm, Large (orange) 45mm.
• Red & Black Thread
• Sewing Needle
• Crafting/Yarn needle
• Wooden Beads with Santa Faces kit – this kit includes the beads for the faces, hat, ball, twine and ribbon.

INSTRUCTIONS to make Santa ornaments

Step 1: Make Yo-yos from black and red fabric

You don’t have to use the Clover Yo-yo maker to make the yo-yos but I find it easy to make yo-yos with them. Click the link to learn how to make yo-yos with the Clover Yo-yo makers.

For other methods to make fabric yo-yos, visit our page How to make Fabric Yo-yos.

Using the red & black fabric, needle and thread make:

• 3 large from the red fabric - 1 ¾” wide yo-yos
• 1 large from black fabric - 1 ¾” wide yo-yos
• 2 small from red fabric – 1 ¼” wide yo-yos

Step 2: Stack the Yo-yos

Stack the yo-yos to prepare to make the Santa ornament.  The top side of the yo-yo is the gathered side and the bottom is the flat side.

This Santa ornament has one stack of fabric yo-yos:

• Small red yo-yo facing down
• Large red yo-yo facing down
• Large black yo-yo facing up
• 2 Large red yo-yos both facing up
• Small facing up

Step 3: Thread beads onto the twine

Cut a 16” - 18" length of twine.  The twine is included in the bead kit.

Fold the twine in half and thread the two ends through a craft needle with a large eye.

There will be a loop at the end of the twine.  This will become the loop to hang the ornament. Tie a knot approximately 3” from the end of the loop.

For each Santa ornament, select a face bead, a red cone bead, and a white round bead.

Start threading the beads onto the twine.  First thread the white round bead for the Santa's hat puff. It may be difficult to thread this bead.  Keep working it back and forth until you can get the twine through the bead.

Next, thread the red cone bead with the smaller side first.

Finally, thread the face bead with the top of the head first.  It should look like the photo below.

Step 4: Thread yo-yos onto the twine.

Thread the yo-yos onto the twine starting with the top of the stack.  The top of the stack has three red yo-yos.

Put the needle through the center of each yo-yo. It may take a little bit of wiggling back and forth to get the twine through the yo-yo since the twine is thick.

Push each yo-yo up against the beads and the other yo-yos so there are no gaps.  Don't squish the yo-yos since we want them to be puffy.

Step 5: Tie off the twine.

Remove the needle from the twine and tie a knot close to the bottom of the Santa ornament.  The knot should go up into the bottom yo-yo center.

The Yo-yo Santa ornament is complete!

We hope you enjoyed learning how to make these fabric yo-yo Santa ornaments. If you would like other projects to make with fabric yo-yos, visit our 30+ Free Fabric Yo-yos Projects page.

 

MORE TREE ORNAMENT IDEAS

• Felt Stacked Christmas Tree Ornament
• Plastic Canvas Wreath Ornament
• Scrappy Christmas Tree Ornament
• Mini Felt Wreath Ornament

Other Fabric Yo-yo Projects

• How to make Fabric Yo-yo Pumpkin & Turkey for Fall
• Fabric Yo-yo Towels Project Idea