Craft Basics: How to Make Pom Poms + 3 Easy Project Ideas

Do you remember making pom poms at school? Talk about a great busy project to keep a wily bunch of kids at their desks!

The humble pom pom is not only easy and fun to make, you can also add it to just about anything to create a little bit more pretty in your life.

Once you’ve mastered this simple pom pom making technique, you’ll be addicted to using up all that left over yarn to create all sorts of little projects around the house.

We’ve also included a pom pom maker template for thrifty folks out there who don’t want to purchase a fancy pom pom maker.

If you are already a master pom pom maker, you can skip the tutorial below and check out some cute project ideas at the bottom of the post.

Firstly, the materials:

MATERIALS //

1. Yarn
2. Scissors
3. Pom pom maker template
4. Strong cardboard
5. Pom Pom maker (an alternative to the making your own from the template above. I use this one which I modified as shown below).

Let’s get started!

STEP 01 // MAKE A TEMPLATE (Skip to Step 2 if you have a pom pom maker)

Take your downloaded and printed template and cut out the size you want to make. For the cushion and wrapping projects below I use the largest size and for the flower project below I used the smallest size.

Then place on heavy card stock and cut two.

STEP 02 // MODIFY POM POM MAKER

I found it was a lot quicker to wrap the yarn around the pom pom maker if there was a gap in it.

With this in mind, if you are using the same maker I use, cut a gap in the plastic. Normal craft scissors work fine.

If you want a super fancy pom pom maker, you could use these (the home made templates above work perfectly fine however!).

STEP 03 // LINE UP YOU POM POM MAKER

If you are using the cardboard template you will need to make sure you have your gaps lined up.

If you are using the same one I did, make sure the ridge is on the inside of the two sides as this will provide a gap for the yarn you tie around it later to hold the pom pom together.

Now for the wrapping!

STEP 04 // WRAPPING

This is where you’ll thank me for the advice about the gap!

Place your yarn on the maker and then wrap around, ensuring there is an even distribution of yarn around the maker.

The more yarn, the fluffier your pom pom.

I wrapped the above in less than five minutes so it doesn’t take very long (unless you get distracted by the TV which I tend to do).

Step 05 // CUTTING

Take the point of your scissors and carefully cut into the yarn, following in the middle between each side of the maker.

Be careful not to let the yarn where the gap is fall out.

STEP 06 // TYING

Now take a 30cm piece of yarn and tie around the middle of your pom pom (use less yarn if you want a smaller length to hang it by).

The reason I don’t place this piece of yarn in the holder in Step 3 is because I have seen many a pom pom crafter cut it while cutting the outside yarn away.

Once you have securely wrapped and knotted it three times, you can remove the sides of the pom pom maker.

STEP 06 // TRIMMING

Your pom pom will need to be fluffed out and trimmed before it looks truly pom pom pretty.

Be careful you don’t trim too much away as then you will end up with a different sized pom pom.

Now, get busy with that yarn and make yourself a few more!

Once you make a few of these they are a piece of cake and you’ll be wanting to make a whole bunch of pom pom projects.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

PROJECT 01 // POM POM FLOWER

Using a pom pom made from the smallest template above along with a hot glue gun, attach the pom pom to a stick from the garden (or florist wire if you have that handy).

Cute!

PROJECT 02 // POM POM CUSHION

I attached my pom poms to a cushion I already had in my studio (made from some of our fabric) using cotton thread and a sewing needle.

It only takes a few minutes but it adds maximum pom pom cuteness to your room! (and the cats love it).

PROJECT 03 // POM POM GIFT WRAPPING

Using some of our fabric we wrapped a packet of Pete’s favourite lollies and tied some pom poms as decoration.

I’m not sure if he really noticed how cute the pom poms looked but he loved eating what was inside!

If you have any questions about our first “Craft Basics” post, we’d love to help you out, so make sure you leave us a message below.

We hope you love making pom poms as much as we do.