How to make a Yarn Pom Pom Garland without any Tools
Hey Guys! I can’t wait to show you how to make a yarn pom pom garland without any tools. Since Christmas, I have been wanting something to go on my mantle. I wanted a winter feel, but where I live we don’t get a lot of snow, so I didn’t want it “snow” themed. As I was ambling through the after Christmas clearance section at Hobby Lobby, I stumbled across these really cute log candle holders. They were75% off their original price (Uh…hello mantle start). I just LOVE when I get a good deal on something, don’t you?
Since I now had something to start the mantle decor I began looking for something for the other side. I knew I wanted something with a little height, but I was having trouble finding something that I liked that was within my budget. Then I accidentally stumbled upon this tree. It was just casually placed on a shelf in the wrong department. I took it to one of those price scanner kiosks and what do you know. This baby was only $4!!
Two great finds, but now I had to figure out how to finish out the center. I started looking through Pinterest, and HOURS later I”m on some page completely unrelated to mantles. I mean, I go to Pinterest looking for one thing and just keep clicking different stuff and before I know it I’ve totally lost my purpose….and not just for a few minutes. Does anybody else do this? I”m sure I can’t be the only one, right?!?!
Anyhow, I saw a few cute ideas, but nothing that just spoke to my specific mantle. I did see some yarn pom pom garlands on a couple mantles and decided that I wanted one for mine! I haven’t made a yarn pom pom in a while but they are super easy and all you need is to yarn. So to my craft room to see if I had everything I needed to make it! Fortunately for me, not so fortunate for my sweet husband, I have a decent craft stash. So, I already had the white yarn. I needed to go grocery shopping anyway, so I just picked up some gray yarn while I was out.
I came home, made lunch for “sister” and sat down to make this garland. It’s so easy to make and it only took about 45 minutes from start to hanging. I just love how it looks on my mantle! So I wanted to share a little of my joy with you all. So let’s get to it.
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Supplies:
- Yarn in your color choice(s)
- Scissors
Seriously that’s it! For this Yarn Pom Pom Garland NO special tools are required. This craft you just need your hands! The final pom poms from this tutorial will be approximately 3-3 ½ inches. Please see the NOTES at the bottom if you want to make a smaller pom pom.
How to make a Yarn Pom Pom without any tools
First, you will need to cut a piece of yarn that is about 8-10 inches. This will be used to tie off the middle of the pom pom. You will put this string between you middle and ring finger. Like this..
Next, you will need to position the string where the start of it hangs on the palm side of your hand even with the bottom of your pinkie and the part attached to the skein is going over the top of your index finger. To keep the yarn from slipping hold it between your thumb and your index finger.
Now, wrap the yarn around your hand until you have a pom pom width that you are happy with. I wrapped mine 100 times. You can do more if you want a thicker fuller pom pom, or less if you want it a little less full.
Once you find a size that you are happy with, cut the yarn when the it is on the downward wrap near the pinkie finger. Then you will turn your hand so you can see the back part of the string that we placed between our middle and ring finger.
Gently, pull this yarn string around the back of the wrapped yarn towards the front of your hand. Then grab the front string. These two strings will meet in the middle of the front to be tied together. This part can be tricky with one hand, so what I do is start tying the first knot and as I am pulling tight start gently sliding it off my fingers. With each shift, I pull the yarn tighter. You will want this to be as tight as possible without breaking the yarn, as this is what holds the whole pom pom together.
Next. you will need to cut all of the loops in your wrapped yarn bundle. Start on one side of the pom pom and work around it in a circle. BE VERY CAREFUL NOT to cut the yarn strings that we used to tie the pom together.
Once you have cut through one side you will need to run your fingers through the cut yarn. This does 2 things: it helps to ensure that you didn’t miss any of the loops and it fluffs your pom.
Then repeat cutting the loops on the other side. Once all the loops are cut you will look at your pom pom. You will notice that some of the yarn strands are much longer than the rest. You will need to trim these off to make your pom pom look more uniform.
AND there you have it! One completely finished yarn pom pom. You will repeat these steps for however many pom poms you need. My garland for my mantle took 9 pom poms.
How to Make a Yarn Pom Pom Garland
Once you have all your pom poms made, you’re ready to put your garland together. First, you will need to cut a piece of yarn that is long enough to drape your intended space. Then you will use those strings that we tied the middle of the pom poms with (this is why it was so important not to cut those strings, we need them!) to tie the pom to the string. Tie all of your poms on the string, and don’t worry too much about spacing right now..
After all of the pom poms are tied on the string you can slide them up or down to get your spacing just how you want it. After everything looks great you will just need to take those tie strings and trim them to match the rest of the pom pom yarn length.
And there you have it. A beautiful yarn pom pom garland that was made by you!
I hope that you enjoyed making your garland as much as I did. These are so simple, yet so FUN and beautiful.
A few NOTES:
- If you want a smaller pom pom you can use just your pointer and index fingers and follow the same instructions.
- For a smaller pom pom, you can also use a fork and just slide the beginning string between the prong
- you can use a yarn brush to make the yarn look more like a fluffy puff than yarn.
- They do sell a pom pom maker kit if you want to buy one that allows you to make 4 different sized pom poms.
As you can see in this picture, my mantle is not finished. It took me a little bit to figure out the final piece for this mantle decor, but I finally did! I’ll have a finished picture and a new tutorial coming soon. If you found this tutorial helpful please let me know in the comments below, and if you used this tutorial to make a garland post a picture. I would love to see what you created!