How to Make: the Perfect Pom-Pom - Part 2
Now that your yarn is all wrapped, your pom-pom maker is filled, let’s keep on going!
You’ll need sharp and sturdy scissors for cutting your pom-poms. Using dull and weak scissors makes this task a lot harder then it should be.
Go ahead and cut all the way around your pom maker as shown in the photos below. There’s a groove down the middle that you can follow with your scissors once you get started.
If you are having trouble cutting, try cutting it layer by layer.
Now that you’ve cut all the strands, your pom should look a little something like this.
Tying your pom-pom together nice and tight is extremely important.
If it’s not tight enough, it will fall apart.
Do not use yarn that breaks easily. Use a nice sturdy acrylic yarn. You can test it by holding a strand and pulling hard on it to see if it will break.
To tie your pom together, pry the sides of your pom maker apart far enough that you can wrap your yarn around the center. Tie a simple knot and pull it as tight as you can.
You’ll need to hold that knot tightly in place while you tie a second knot to secure it.
You can either have someone else hold their finger over the knot or do it yourself. I usually hold the knot tight with one finger, while awkwardly tying a second knot and pulling it tight while slipping my finger out of the way.
To make the pom extra tight and secure:
Flip your pom maker over, wrap the yarn around again and tie a second round of knots. You might get this second round of knots even tighter than the first.
Now that your pom is tied, open your pom-pom maker and pop out your pom-pom.
Using your fingers, fluff up the pom, shaking it and fluffing it.
You’re probably looking at your pom thinking “Well this is a hot mess”….
Don’t worry! Trimming will have it looking gorgeous!
To trim a pom, I do a mixture of things. I will hold a bunch of strands together like the photo below and cut off the extra yarn so that it’s even. (Once again, sharp strong scissors are key!) I do this multiple times holding together different strands. Afterwards, your pom should start to have some shape to it.
Next, I start trimming more and shaping the pom-pom. I hold the pom and start trimming until I start having a nice ball-like shape. As you are trimming, shake out the pom and fluff it with your fingers. This will make more strands pop up that need to be trimmed as well.
If your pom-pom is looking floppy and not full and fluffy… you probably need to trim more. the smaller you trim the pom, the less floppy it will look.
The more pom-poms you make, the more you’ll get the hang of it and be able to make fairly uniform sized poms.
I often get asked for advice on how to make big pom-poms, and the one thing people are always shocked by, is just how much I trim off my poms. All the fuzz in this photo is just from trimming one pom.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!
May your pom-poms be big, beautiful and fluffy!
Kindest regards,
Amanda Foster
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