Introduction: Simple Pompoms

By www.zoepowell.com
About: Knitter, Textile creator, Designer, Teacher. Passionate about recycling and upcycling.

Intro, Tools & Materials

I have used this technique since I was a child and so I probably have 25 years of testing it out!

It's great to use in schools, workshops or at home craft projects as well as professional settings.

The nice thing about using the waste cardboard is that it is giving it a second use

The pompom circles as well as the waste can also be recycled afterwards.

Tools

  • Pen/ biro
  • Scissors

Materials

  • Waste cardboard
  • Yarn (wool, cotton, string or any other maleable yarn-like material

Step 1: Card & Circles

  1. Find some waste cardboard
  2. Draw around a glass or circle to create template outline using the pen or biro
  3. Make as many as you like

Notes

  • I chose the card of a tea box packet
  • You can use thicker card for bigger pompoms
  • You could also use flat plastic that can be recycled

Step 2: Cutting the Circles

  • Cut out these circles to make cardboard discs.
  • You need two discs per pompom.

Step 3: Keep the Waste!

  • Keep some of waste pieces for the next steps.
  • The most useful are the square or rectangular straight pieces.

Step 4: Cardboard Yarn Bobbins

  • Make small cardboard bobbins to wrap yarn around.
  • These will be used for threading through pompom hole.
  • It can be easier than trying to push through a loose piece of yarn or small ball of yarn.

Step 5: Cutting the Centre Circle

  • Cut central hole out of all circles.
  • Try to make sure these are all the same size.

Notes/Tips >

  • The size of the hole you make depends on size of circle.
  • Also how big/small you would like your pompom.
  • The wider the distance between the hold edge and the circle edge, the bigger it will be
  • Also the bigger your main cardboard circle is the more yarn you will need

Step 6: Loop Lasso

  • Make a loose slipknot (as in the image)

Step 7: Loop on Circle

  • Place your loop on top of your first circle.

Note: Remember the discs come in pairs

Step 8: Sandwich the Loop

  • Then sandwich the loop in between another circle, by placing the second circle on top.
  • You can see the two ends of the loop are sticking out to one side.
  • The rest is sandwiched between the two discs.

Step 9: Now Start You Pompom!

Start making your pompom

  • Hold the two discs together with the yarn loop in between
  • Using the prepared card yarn bobbins, start to wrap the yarn around the discs.
  • Continue wrapping until your discs are fully wrapped with yarn
  • It should have a spongy feeling when it is almost complete!

Note

  • As you can see the inside loop ends are still sticking out the side. This is what you want.
  • Keep the strings sticking out throughout the wrapping.

Please click here to see Simple Pompoms - Part 2 ... and what else you can do with pompoms!

Step 10: Other Uses for the Card!

As I was making this tutorial, I also came across a way of using these pieces as little weaving tests.

You could experiment with different kinds of weaving designs by changing colours and the way you overlap the yarns.

These could be used to test out a weaving idea if you were using a handloom for example.