A little history:
When I was 12 or so, my mom found a pom pom kit that she used ages ago. I tried making pom poms out of it (there may have been Japanese instructions), failed miserably and gave up. Then just over a year ago, I saw an adorable post by Jenn over at Ambrosia Girl about kid friendly Christmas Decorating ideas by Martha. They were all pom poms. I died. I made a bunch of white poms for my Christmas tree. Then I made a bunch of poms for winter hats. Then I made more poms for my Christmas tree this year. Then ALT happened.
At ALT, I met so many cool people with fabulous style. Each person was trendier than the next, wearing unique handmade jewelery and accessories to make anyone swoon. One of the many stand out pieces that I remember was Erin’s necklace. I remember things like that. Erin had the raddest embroidered necklace on from etsy seller spinthread. I want one.
As soon as I got home to some internet, I googled spinthread and was delighted to find so many cool things! Mostly I was blown away by her pom pom headbands and her crazy curly hair. You need to check it out. AND buy one of her headbands. Too bad they’re not in my budget. Boo.
My sister modeling the elastic pom since my hair is far too short for that sort of thing. Isn’t she so pretty?
I had to make some sort of accessory right away with a pom pom. I’m such a copy cat. I used some of my yarn stash (very small) to make one, but I wasn’t getting the volume that I had hoped for. Then it struck me, I have 5 yards of white jersey fabric, why not cut strips and use those to make the poms? It was perfect. I’m going to make my pom poms out of jersey from now on. For sure. There are a few tricks to getting it just right, so I thought I’d include a little tutorial on how to make them, just in case anyone else is interested in making some outlandishly large poms for head ornaments.
Materials: scissors, needle & sturdy thread, cardboard sheet ~ 3×5 inches, knit fabric cut into 1/2 inch strips
When cutting fabric, cut strips parallel to the stretch so each strip. Run each strip through your fist, stretching the material slightly. Each strip will curl around itself, forming a hollow string.
Wrap each string around the card. The longer the card, the larger the pom. Don’t worry that the string isn’t continuous, just keep layering each segment on top of the other.
Once you get a nice pile of jersey wrapped around the card, you’re ready to tie it off.
Before removing the pile of strings, tie one side of the loop off. This helps to keep the strings organized when you pull it off the cardboard.
Carefully remove the pile of strings from the cardboard. Tie the entire bundle with string as TIGHTLY as possible. You may need some extra hands for this part.
With your awesome sewing scissors, cut each loop in half. You’ll want to do this over a garbage can, it gets messy. After you’ve cut each loop, fluff the material out to make a ball. Trim the ball down to a round sphere, fluffing as you go.
Penelope loves this headband, even though the pom is nearly the size of her head. I can’t get enough of her wearing the headband, either. I think I’m going to be making more. LOADS more.
- Put them on headbands, elastic bands, teeshirts, newborns or in a basket for admiring. Enjoy.
To download this tutorial, Please click the download button above. This tutorial is free for personal use only. Thanks!
