Monday, October 15

How to Make a Pom Pom with a Homemade tool


Pom Pom Tutorial Method II
Making pom pom's with your fingers is definitely fun but there is another way to make a pom pom without spending money on a special tool. Kids like to use this method because they don't need to struggle with yarn that is too tight around their fingers and they can use the templates (circles) to make perfectly trimmed pom pom's.

What you need

Yarn, sharp scissors, 3 pieces of cardboard (or other sturdy material) - 1 (3" x 6") and 2 (2" round circles).
Notes: My cardboard rectangle is cut to about 1" larger than the width of my desired pom, but the length is cut to my desired tassel size so I can use it for tassels as well.
I just used a piece of a box.


1. Make the pom pom tool: Cut a slice out of the center of the larger cardboard piece that is about 1/2"-3/4" wide by 2" long.

2. Loosely wrap the yarn around the center width of the cardboard 75-100 times for single strand of worsted weight. You'll need to wrap more for thinner yarns and less for thicker or doubled yarns. The density of the pom depends on how many times you wrap the yarn.

3. Cut the yarn from the ball. Cut a separate piece of yarn about 3" long. Take the short piece of yarn and thread it through the center hole on one side of the bundle, around the back of the wrapped yarn, and back through the center hole on the other side of the bundle. Make 2-3 tight knots to secure the center of the pom.

4. Cut the bundle of yarn at each edge of the board taking care not to cut through the knot or center hole.

5. Carefully pull the pom out through the center hole.


6. Flatten the pom between the two circles of cardboard so that the knotted piece of yarn is sandwiched in the center. Begin to trim the pom to the size of the circles (crustless pom sandwich). After the first trim, take the pom out, fluff it and rotate so you smoosh it flat in a different spot and trim between the circles. Continue to rotate the pom, smoosh it between the circles and trim until it is fluffy and evenly trimmed. If you want to make the pom smaller and denser either make smaller cardboard circles or continue trimming free hand.

You can adjust the size of your pom poms by increasing or decreasing the size of the pom pom maker and templates.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is so awesome! I wanted to make pom poms for chicks this Easter and had forgotten how to make this from years ago. I am so thrilled you put this on here! I will be teaching my daughters how to make these and hopefully they will remember in the future.
Len fron NM

Anonymous said...

This was such a great craft with your detailed and easy to understand directions. We just used it at the Craft booth at our school carnival and all the kids loved it. Kindergarteners, 5th graders, boys and girls. We must have made about 100 pom-poms! Thanks so much!
Lisa

Anonymous said...

I have just used your insructions to make some pom poms - brilliant! Much quicker than using the two donut shaped card method!

Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this i had to make a pompom for a bunny tail and really didnt want to buy a pom pom maker. it so worked

ingrid groome said...

i like this idea of making pom pom it is much faster
ingrid
trinbagonian lover of crochet

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this, just made a pom pom for a hat and it worked perfectly.