I have a thing for flowers that look like pom poms. Mums, allium, chive blossoms, dahlias - love ‘em! Since fresh flowers aren’t always in the budget, and because I have a brown thumb, I started thinking about what I could do to brighten up our apartment with flowers without actually using flowers. Soon, the idea for some sort of pom pom flower started bouncing around in my head, and this is what I came up with.
How to make pom poms? I googled around and found a number of tutorials, including several that use the cardboard donut method, which can be found here, here, and here. Unfortunately, I’m impatient and not particularly coordinated, so cardboard donuts were flying everywhere. My favorite method is found in the pom pom tutorial at Bella Dia. This method makes slightly more yarn scraps, but you can recycle the scraps by using them as stuffing for craft projects, or you can put them in a small fabric pouch and add a few drops off lavender, rose, or another type of essential oil to make a drawer sachet.
Though my method basically follows the Bella Dia tutorial, I have made some slight variations, so I’ve posted my method below.
What you’ll need for the project:
yarn
small, sharp scissors
wire cutters
a hot glue gun and glue sticks
materials for the stems (paper or fabric covered floral wire or my favorite, branches or twigs)
Using your thumb, hold the end of the yarn against your fingers as you begin to wrap the yarn. After a few wraparounds, you should be able to let the end go and continue wrapping. I size my pom poms by fingers: 2 is small, 3 is medium, and 4 is large. Don’t wrap the yarn too tightly, or you’ll have blue fingers and won’t be able to slip the yarn off easily later!
The more times you wrap the yarn, the fuller your pom pom will be. However, try not to overdo it, or you may have trouble in the later stages because there’s too much bulk. For small pom poms, I wrap between 50-75 times; for medium, 75-100; for large, 100-125. Yarns come in many different thicknesses, so you may find that you need more or less wraps to achieve the fullness that you’d like.
After you’ve finished wrapping the yarn, carefully slide it off of your fingers.
Cut a piece of yarn that is between 4 and 6 inches long to use as a tie. Place the wrapped yarn on top of the cut piece, trying to center it as much as possible.
Pull the cut yarn as tightly as you can over the wrapped yarn, and tie a knot.
Using a small pair of sharp scissors, cut the top of the yarn loops th entire way around.
After you cut all of the loops, you’ll be left with a shaggy looking pom pom.
Using your scissors, trim off the longer pieces of yarn until you’re satisfied with the appearance of the pom pom. Fuzzy!
Fire up your glue gun, and find a place on the pom pom where the yarn looks a tad sparse or where things are a bit flat or uneven. Basically, you’re looking for a good place to glue the stem. Part the yarn to expose the more dense area of the pom pom. This will make a sturdy anchor for your stem. Apply a small amount of hot glue to your choice of stem, and press into the exposed anchor area.
Ta da! You’ve got a pom pom flower.
Use wire cutters to trim the stem to the desired length, and have fun figuring out where you’re going to put your flower!
Great tutorial! I can see myself making these to adorn gifts!
posted: October 31st, 2008 at 1:36 pmWell how cool is that? I share your pom-pom flower love - great idea here!!
posted: November 7th, 2008 at 12:50 amThose look neat. I suck at craft projects and mine would so not turn out like that.
posted: November 10th, 2008 at 4:22 amThanks, everyone!
peabody - I’m about 50/50 when it comes to both craft and food experiments. And the 50% that fail are usually real messes.
Thankfully, this was a success, and I’m sure if you gave it a go you’d be pleasantly surprised by the result!
posted: November 10th, 2008 at 8:09 pmWell, now I will have to go collect some sticks on my way home from work so I can make this lovely project!
posted: December 3rd, 2008 at 5:08 pmAllison - yay for free craft supplies!
posted: December 9th, 2008 at 1:20 pm[...] Domestifluff - How to Make Pom Pom Flowers [...]
posted: December 14th, 2008 at 11:35 amThese are a great idea!! Thanks for sharing!! And, thanks for all the pictures along the way! They make tutorials much easier to follow, in my opinion.
posted: December 14th, 2008 at 3:40 pm[...] yapımı size neşeli zaman geçirmenizi sağlayacak. nasıl yapıldığını öğrenmek için tıklayınız. habergentr_title = ‘Bu Çiçekler Gerçek değil!’; habergentr_description = ‘El yapımı pom [...]
posted: December 16th, 2008 at 7:52 amthese are absolutely positively gorgeous! I will most definitely be using this tutorial for my future crafts. Thank you so much for posting it.
posted: December 22nd, 2008 at 5:25 pmI’m so glad that everyone is enjoying the tutorial! Thanks so much for your wonderful comments!
posted: December 23rd, 2008 at 1:28 pm[...] 5, 2009 · Filed under Uncategorized I found these super cute pom pom flowers over at Domestifluff. They are adorable little accents for gifts or would look really cute across a place setting at a [...]
posted: January 5th, 2009 at 4:37 pmWhat a lovely simple idea! I haven’t made pompoms for years and I love those. Do you mind if I blog about your tutorial when I’ve made some?
posted: January 7th, 2009 at 5:58 amThank you, Joanne! I think it would be great if you blog about the tutorial when you’ve made some.
posted: January 7th, 2009 at 11:25 ami heart this! just ADORABLE!
posted: January 8th, 2009 at 3:11 pmLove pom poms! The white with the twigs are my fave. =)
posted: January 8th, 2009 at 7:09 pmI love that lamp. Where does it come from? The pompom are adorable too.
posted: January 8th, 2009 at 7:23 pmWhat a great idea, thanks!
posted: January 8th, 2009 at 9:16 pmThanks so much, Kate, Carrie, and Andi!
Savvy - I actually purchased the lamp at Lamps Plus (link goes directly to the lamp). It actually looks like they’re on a great sale right now!
posted: January 9th, 2009 at 11:24 amThank you so much. This is a great site. But is that the same lamp? Yours looks like it is shaped a little differently.
posted: January 9th, 2009 at 12:26 pmThe lamp base does look a little more “rounded” on the Lamps Plus site, but if you click on the “In Scene” photo, I think it looks more accurate. Plus, in the picture I took there was a dark shadow around the underside of the base, which doesn’t help because it makes the base appear flatter. It’s the same lamp, though!
posted: January 9th, 2009 at 9:06 pmThose are super cute! I am making some when I can find the scissors…I love the vase you put them in! I want one! haha
posted: January 10th, 2009 at 4:51 pmI was skeptical when I started reading, but it turned out very neat and looks great as a decoration on the package. I want to try this with hand spun yarn!
Keep up the great posts!
posted: January 13th, 2009 at 1:05 pmMade them……love them.
posted: January 13th, 2009 at 5:18 pmawesome! it would look really cool if you did multi-colored ones!
posted: January 13th, 2009 at 8:12 pm[...] Make pom pom flower [...]
posted: January 15th, 2009 at 9:23 amMegan - Thank you! The vase is from J. Mendocino, and I love it!
Brandon and Sandi - So glad to hear that you made them and that they turned out so well!
Lynn - Thanks! I have tried some multi-colored ones, and they do look cute. I’ve also experimented with using embroidery and crochet thread with the yarn, and that looks pretty neat, too.
posted: January 16th, 2009 at 11:36 am[...] | Domestifluff Más noticias sobre: Manualidades con Flores, Tecnicas Tags: lana, Manualidades con [...]
posted: January 17th, 2009 at 8:40 amI was just trying to figure out what to do with my small yarn scraps today. This is perfect!
posted: January 31st, 2009 at 8:14 pmohhh, cute!!! is perfect!!!
posted: February 3rd, 2009 at 1:51 pmThanks for the cuuute idea! My dad will be thrilled when I go get sticks for this–I’ll be crafting and cleaning up the yard at the same time!
posted: February 6th, 2009 at 2:24 pmI made these this weekend and they came out amazing! Thanks for the detailed tutorial. It made it so easy for me to walk thru it step by step myself.
posted: February 8th, 2009 at 10:00 pmWhat a great idea, thanks!
posted: February 13th, 2009 at 4:32 am[...] [...]
posted: February 16th, 2009 at 9:04 am[...] make! I specially love the one above with twigs as stems - don’t they look like cotton balls? Domestifluff teaches how to make them step by [...]
posted: February 17th, 2009 at 7:58 am[...] original aqui- em [...]
posted: February 24th, 2009 at 10:59 pm[...] Domestifluff encontrarás un manual detallado de como se pueden realizar, como así también de los materiales a [...]
posted: March 2nd, 2009 at 2:35 pm[...] pom-pom flowers (my latest obsession, shown here on my new dressing table); [...]
posted: March 16th, 2009 at 5:35 pmWe used to make plastic pom-poms the same way except we wrapped colored plastic around a piece of wood with 2 grooved ends for the twist-tie to go through and the other side was for the scissors to cut through. We made hundreds to decorate the cars in the wedding party
posted: March 25th, 2009 at 3:58 am[...] at Domestifluff over the past few months! I’m so flattered that people are enjoying the pom pom flowers and retro utensil stencils, and I hope to have many more crafts for you in the coming weeks and [...]
posted: March 25th, 2009 at 2:46 pm[...] ….Pom Pom Flowers [...]
posted: April 1st, 2009 at 6:15 pm[...] 21. Pom-Pom Flowers via Domestifluff [...]
posted: April 16th, 2009 at 6:51 amThank you for putting this up. My grandmother always put these on the slippers she crocheted for us and I couldn’t figure out how to make them.
posted: April 21st, 2009 at 11:25 pmTotally addicted to making these whilst watching tv (I even brought wool specially for this after seeing this tutorial!). Thanks so much for sharing.
posted: May 22nd, 2009 at 7:28 pmI tried and tried and tried to make these but I could not shape them into a perfect circle. I think I’ll have to try again because I want to use them everywhere!
posted: June 12th, 2009 at 12:46 amYour flowers are so cute: thanks for the tutorial!
posted: June 12th, 2009 at 6:38 amsooo sweet & just darling. thank you kindly heaps for this fantastic, clear tutorial. i totally need to try this, now! ;D
posted: June 12th, 2009 at 1:11 pm[...] I forgot how I came across this fantastic tutorial… [...]
posted: June 12th, 2009 at 4:28 pmThanks so much, everyone, for the great feedback. I’m so happy to see that this tutorial is still one that people want to try. And I love everyone’s pom pom stories!
Cindy - I’m sorry to hear that you’re having problems getting the pom poms to be circular. Sometimes I have to keep trimming the bits of yarn to get a nice circle. From time to time I still end up with a side that’s uneven or flatter, and I just glue the flower to the stem on that end. Perfect fix!
posted: June 12th, 2009 at 9:11 pmoh, what a wonderful idea. I’ve made pom-poms before, but never thought to attach to stick as a flower. brilliant!! now, my quest for billy buttons is over - this is a much better substitute! Thanks!!
posted: June 14th, 2009 at 6:42 pmI LOVE this tutorial! I didn’t do too well with the pom pom maker I got from Japan, but your tutorial is so easy and I just had to blog about it
posted: June 15th, 2009 at 1:42 pmhttp://fatninjainyoface.blogspot.com/2009/06/diy-pom-poms.html
These are great! I can’t believe how good the yarn looks. Linked to them from my blog, thanks!
posted: June 16th, 2009 at 1:32 pmI just posted a picture of my version of your flowers over my Blog ! Thanks a lot! They look amazing !
posted: June 19th, 2009 at 7:38 pm[...] DIY: Pom-Pom Flowers Using Yarn In Decor, Flowers, diy, fabric flowers on June 20, 2009 at 7:42 pm Domestifluff.com’s: Pop-Pom Yarn Flowers [...]
posted: June 20th, 2009 at 3:42 pm[...] at Domestifluff found via One Pretty [...]
posted: June 26th, 2009 at 8:52 pm