How to make a pom-pom

Some of our patterns use pom-poms - usually to decorate the tips of the hat. However not everybody is familiar with how to make one at home. We prepared little photo-tutorial on how to make a pom-pom at home with very little effort and only simple tool.

First of all you have to decide how big the pom-pom should be (always make the pom-pom as the last part of a hat so you can judge the size). Take a piece of hard paper or cardboard and cut two the same rings. The easiest way is to use a pair of compasses but you can also use something round and draw the circle around it. Cut the ring with a whole in the centre. The distance between the outer and inner edges -A- will determine how long the strings of the pom-pom will be (how big the pom-pom is going to be). The diameter of the inner hole -B- will influence the thickness of the pom-pom (bigger diameter = longer radius of the ring = more wool which can fit on the ring). Also if you make the hole small it will be difficult to draw the wool through.

Put the rings on each other and work them around together. If you have a big ball of wool, just cut some and wrap it round by round both layers (both rings)  around the ring. If it happens that you cut too short piece of wool, just cut another and add it to the ring and keep wrapping. Don't attach the new string or try to make a knot to join it with the fist string, just add it and continue with your work. Later you will cut the longer strings.

 When you finish wrapping around you can cut the wool. As you can see in the picture on left, there might be some little sports between the strings. It does not matter. As long as you have almost all place covered, it is fine. So, make a little space on one place (push the strings forwards a little) as in the picture on right. In the next picture you can see why it was important to have two rings placed on each other. Stuck a tip of scissors in between the two paper rings and start cutting the wool.

Be careful the separated pieces of wool might fall away from the ring and we do not want this yet. Cut the whole ring around.




When you are done cutting take a string - you can use the wool you made the pom-pom from but it is better to take some stronger thread. Put it in between the two paper rings and carefully keep tightenning all the way until you tight the separated strings together and make a knot. It should be fasten enough so the separated pieces of wool would not loosen from the pom-pom.

The finished pom-pom look a bit uneven but we will correct it in a minute. First you have to take the cardboard or paper rings down. You can cut the paper and take it away but maybe you would like to use the pattern again or make more pom-poms of the same size so just carefully pull off each piece to the side.

Using your fingers adjust the shape of the pom-pom and if there are any longer strings, simply cut them with scissors away. Of course sometimes it happens that the separated strings are not tightened enough and keep falling from the pom-pom. Well - just make another one and tighten the string in the center (before taking the paper rings off) more carefully.

You can use any color you wish. You can also take two strings of wool of various colors and wrap them around the ring. Then you get two-colored pom-pom as the teddy below is wearing.

Have fun!