This Pom Pom Garland is a cute way to inject some color into your window or door décor in an easy and quick craft.
I have always loved the idea of pom poms. They are just fluffy and cute and relatively easy to make. And I wanted to find a way to incorporate them into my Halloween décor. Finally, I landed on making a garland because the doorway from the living room to the dining room felt a little sparse.
Plus, the idea of an orange and black garland really sat well with me. I started getting to work before I measured how long of a garland I would need. This was a bit of a mistake because I realized that garland needed to be really long – just over 13 feet. The 13 did feel very thematic for Halloween. But that also meant I was going to need a lot of pom poms.
While this pom pom garland was a little bit more of a project than I originally anticipated, it was a lot of fun to make and was relatively easy at that. The longer length just meant a little more repetitive work, but I think it was worth it. And I love the way it looks!
Check out the Craft section of MCG for more fun patterns in strings and things or more unlimited ideas.
Supplies
There is not much needed to make a pom pom garland. It’s only yarn. I did end up also using a bit of cardboard. The cardboard really helps in making a consistent pom pom although there are many ways to make them (your hand is always a good tool).
Process
The Cardboard Template
A major part of the pom pom garland is the pom poms. Makes sense, it’s half of the name! I use a two semi-circle cardboard method to make the pom poms. This just gives a more consistent result.
First, I cut the carboard into the two semi circles. I used a protractor to make a larger circle (~x inches) and a smaller circle (~x inches) with the same center. I cut out a chunk between the large and small circle because it’s easier to cut out the small circle and a gap will be good for later. The two pieces of cardboard will be against each other.
Making Pom Poms
Then it was time to bring in the yarn. I wanted two different color pom poms: orange and black. I started with a black pom pom. I placed the edge of the yarn, so it was facing towards the outside of the larger circle. Then I wrapped and wrapped and wrapped.
It’s important to keep the yarn loose because a pair of scissors will need to sneak in between the two layers of cardboard later. And the more that you wrap the semi-circle, the fluffier and fuller the pom pom will end up being.
After having the piece adequately wrapped, it was time to cut. I cut along the outer edge of the semi-circle, between the two pieces of cardboard. Keeping the stands together was a little bit of a struggle during this time because this step is just making a ton of small strands folded over the cardboard.
Finally, I got a small piece of yarn and slipped it in between the cardboard layers and tied it tightly. I did two to three knots because I’m paranoid. This is basically creating a belt at the around the center of the strands. I trimmed the poms a little this point if I felt anything got cut a little lopsided.
The Rope
Then I decided to do something that I thought was reasonable but turned out to be a little wild. I wanted to make a 5-string braid for the rope aspect of the pom pom garland. What I didn’t really think about what the face was that I wanted the rope to be about 160 inches long (about 13 feet long).
The main thing I did not think about is how tangled the downstream yarn would get while I was braiding. What I ended up doing was wrapping each strand into a ball in order to work with strands that were shorter than 13 feet. The whole process took a lot more time than I had originally anticipated but I do love the way that it looks.
Threading the Pom Poms
To bring together the pom pom garland, I had to scatter the pom poms across the rope. I chose a 160-inch rope in order to place the pom poms About 8 inches apart. I wanted them to be at a distance to avoid crowding but not look too sparse. It’s a fine balance.
The colors of the pom poms alternate because I wanted to have that scatter of color. One of my concerns was seeing the rope inside of the pom poms but that’s just a part of the project. In order to keep the pom poms in place on the rope, I knotted the rope around the center of the pom poms. This added an additional layer of knotting to keep the poms together.
Reflections
This project was more time consuming that I had originally expected but I do love the way it turned out. The pom poms look like sprites to me which really fits the Halloween vibe for this pom pom garland. I do wish I had made the pom poms thicker by wrapping more yarn but that’s all a part of the learning process. And it’s not as noticeable as I expected it to be in the end.
Lessons
Use Your Hands
While I used the cardboard cutout when making my pom poms, using my hands was my traditional method. Typically, I have wrapped the yard around four fingers (hand not including the thumb). Then I would tie the yarn in the center. This would leave loops that would need to be cut on both ends. The cardboard method is preferred because it does allow for less cuts to the yarn.
Pattern
Halloween Pom Pom Garland
Ingredients
- 1 skein orange yarn
- 1 skein black yarn
- 2 3.5 Inch square pieces of card board
Instructions
- Cut two pieces of cardboard into a 3-inch diameter circle. Then, cut out an circle, 1-inch in diameter, away from the center. Cut a slice out of the ring.
- Loosely wrap the black yarn around the carboard rings until bulky (all the way around, about 5 times). Cut the yarn along the outside edge while keeping the yarn around the cardboard.
- Place a string of yarn between the two cardboard rings, wrapping the center of all of the strands that are surrounding the strands of yarn that are folded over the cardboard rings. Tie two knots as tightly as possible.
- Repeat above to steps to get 10 orange pom poms and 9 black pom poms
- Measure out 2 strands of orange yarn and 3 strands of black yarn, all should be 200 inches. Do a 5-strand braid to make the rope.
- Tie an orange pom pom at the end of the rope. Measure 8 inches and place a black pom pom. Repeat the measurement and pom pom placement alternating colors. The final pom pom should be orange. Trim any excess rope.
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