Handmade Modern Wedding: Pom Pom Love!

A couple of months ago while lurking on our DOC blog I stumbled upon and fell in love with this picture.

I died over the cuteness and wanted it for our wedding. Unfortunately for me our floral budget is currently maxed out so I need to find a non-floral alternative if I wanted to make this beauty mine. Enter our amazing DOC, the creator of the above cuteness. She suggested using yarn poms in place of carnations to create the garland. Genius right? Off I went to our local Michaels in search of garland making supplies and stumbled upon this.

For those who aren’t in the know this little guy is a heart shaped yarn pom pom maker. My squeal of excitement when I found it could be heard throughout the store. I scooped it up along with some skeins of yarn in our wedding color and headed home for some heavy duty crafting. After some brainstorming and practice with the pom maker I discover that a garland similar to the one above would take a lot more poms than I was willing or capable of making so I had to simplify the design. Instead of stringing the poms end to end to create the full look the above garland required, I decided to space them out a couple inches apart.

I love the look and although it’s not as full and fluffy as the inspiration garland this garland definitely showcases the heart shaped poms while still maintaining the fun and cuteness of the original garland.

In order to make your own heart yarn pom pom garland you’ll need the following-

Large Clover Heart Shaped Pom Pom Maker
Skeins of yarn in your desired colors
Sharp scissors, preferable with a small thin blade
Embroidery thread in coordinating color
Large embroidery needle

When you get your pom pom maker you’ll notice that it comes in 2 pieces that connect together through a metal pin in the center.

When you put your two pieces together to make a pom it’s very important that both pieces face up. You’ll be able to determine which way is up by the heart printed on the front panel of each piece. If one heart points up and the other down your pom maker has been put together incorrectly and will need to be fixed before you start.

Once your pom maker is together, you’re ready to start wrapping it with yarn. Starting at the top of the arch neatly wrap your yarn until all the small ridges on the arch are no longer visible. Repeat on the opposite side until your pom maker is full.

To secure the yarn take your embroidery thread, and beginning at the center wrap around the pom maker making sure to pass between the 8 channels located around the maker. After you’ve wrapped your embroidery thread around the pom maker twice take your loose ends and bring them up to the center of the maker. Make a single knot by looping the ends together twice. Once you’ve tightened the string around the maker anchor the loose ends in the hooks that are located on each arch.

Now comes the fun part! Take your scissors and trim through the yarn in each ditch. I prefer using my sewing clippers because the blade is tiny enough to get into the small ditches. Repeat for all 4 channels.

Once you have cut through all 4 ditches take your scissors and working at an angle trim the yarn on the inside of the pom maker. This will help compact the yarn in the body of the pom and create a more even shape.

Now that you’re done trimming the inside of your pom remove the thread from the hook anchors and give it a good tug to tighten the knot. As you’re pulling you’ll notice the yarn pull inward and the pom maker will separate. Depending on the amount of yarn you wound around the arches the top of the pom maker may pop off, if this happens don’t worry you’ll be removing the pom from the maker in the next step.

With your thread knotted tight, lift the arches one side at a time and remove your pom. At this point you may notice that although it has the general shape of a heart the yarn is messy and uneven, this is fine as you’ll be fixing this shortly.Next you’ll want to give your thread one final tug and knot your string, this will ensure that your pom is secure and prevent it from falling apart.

To create the heart arches take your thumbs and at the top of your pom push down. This will define the heart shape. Take your scissors and trim the excess yarn in the ditch, do this on both sides.

Your pom should now have a nice defined heart shape. To finish your pom take your scissors and trim any stray yarn on the body of your heart.

It’s really easy to get caught up in trimming your pom pom and obsess with the over shape and symmetry of the heart pom but be careful not to trim too much our you’ll end up with a jacked up pom that looks nothing like a heart. Remember it’s a pom pom made out yarn and thus will not always be perfect!

Once you’re done making all of your poms it’s time to start your garland! For the garland you will need embroidery thread in any color of your choosing and a large embroidery needle.

Cut a piece of thread to your desired length and thread your needle. If you find it difficult to thread your needle it may be helpful to trim the end of your thread at a 90 degree angle. Take your first pom and insert your needle 1/3 down from the top of the pom and directly in the middle of the width of the heart. You want your needle to pass directly under the dent at the top of the heart.

The goal is to have the top 3^rd of your heart above the string and the final 2/3 below. This helps distribute the weight of the pom evenly on the string and will prevent your poms from twisting while hanging.

Once your pom is strung you may want to hold your pom up to test the weight distribution and ensure that your pom is not twisting on its string.

If you want to secure your poms in place on your garland simply create a knot on your string before and after you insert your needle. I’m choosing to leave my poms unknotted to allow changes in the spacing by our DOC during set up.