Woollen Pom-Poms

Continuing my tissue paper addiction, with wool - join me!

What You Need:
Cardboard
Wool
Scissors / Pencil

Pom-Poms are probably one of the first things I can remember making in art & craft at first school.  These little woollen balls are so, so simple to make and great for children to get involved with too.

I'm going to be using them for quite a few projects over the next few weeks, so thought I would post a quick tutorial on how to make them, should you fancy it too.

As long as you have some wool, you will have everything else you need around the home.

Start by drawing two equal circles on to card [I used the back of an cereal box and drew around a small pot as my template].  The size of your circle will effect the size of the pom-pom.  If you don't have anything to use as a stencil to hand, try creating your own.  Then draw a small circle in the centre of each [I used a drinks bottle cap as my guide] and cut out:

  

Don't worry about the neatness of your cutting, or the inside circles especially, as long as there is room for the wool to be threaded and wrapped around the templates will work.

Start by cutting a long length of wool.  The length of wool that you use will effect the overall 'fullness of your pom-pom and you ideally want a length that will wrap all the way around the pom-pom template twice.  However; don't worry if this doesn't happen, as I will show you how you can add more wool as you go along.  I recommend, after cutting your length of wool, wrapping it around your fingers  and then the wool will be neatly bunched to thread through the centre.

Hold the end of the wool at the top of the guide and hold in place.  Thread the rest of the wool through the centre and wrap back round, catching the end to secure in place.

Continue wrapping the wool around the template, until it is completely covered.  If you run out, you can easily start the process again, holding the end and securing in place with the new wrap of wool.

Once complete, hold the end in place [so that it doesn't start to unravel] and begin to trim the edges of the template [you may need to do this a layer at a time] until you can see the cardboard show through.

Now cut the wool, using the cardboard template as the guide [hold the centre to prevent any wool unravelling or moving] cut around the template.

Once you have cut all the wool, take another length of wool long enough to wrap around the pom-pom and thread it between the cardboard templates, securing as tightly as you can with a knot:

Once secure, remove the cardboard templates from each side:

...and you have your pom-pom.  Cut any length of wool that are a little longer and to fluff out, throw the pom-pom between your hands a little.

I cannot tell you how tempted I am to start sewing them to all my socks.

For varied pom-poms, you can change the size of the template, layer or change wool colour and, of course, you don't just need to use wool - long strips of fabric would work for pom-poms that you could also use for accessorising.