We’re still playing with poms here at Sew4Home. After reviewing the Clover Pom Pom Makers, we couldn’t quite shake the balls of fluff from our brains. For this project, we downsized, stringing mini 1″ poms on cord to form a colorful garland, then looping the garland through a split ring to create a whimsical lanyard. Keeping track of your special keys just got a whole lot more fun.
This project falls into our ScrapBusters category because it uses just little bits of yarn and cord/twine. It’s also a no-sew project so you can give your sewing machine a breather.
We chose some of our brightest variegated yarns, coordinating each leftover skein with string, cord or twine as the garland’s base. We even used colorful split rings
Don’t want to make a lanyard? Turn the garland into a cute little girl necklace.
Intertwine the pom garland with twinkle links for a clever party decoration.
Embellish a plain pillow.
Poms on a string are ready for anything.
Supplies
- Yarn
- Yarn darner needles
- Clover Pom Pom Maker in Extra Small
- Twine, string, heavy yarn or jute
- Optional beads to embellish ends of garland
- Optional split rings for lanyard
- Scissors
- Clear ruler or tape measure
Instructions
- Cut a length of string (or your chosen stringing material) to your finished length plus 4″ – 5″ to account for the knotting – add a few inches more if you want more poms closer together. You can always trim down the tails prior to making your final knots.
- Our lanyard finishes at 40″ where it attaches to the split ring and has approximately 3″ tails below the ring for a finished total of 43″. We started with 48″ of string.
- Decide on your pom spacing. We alternated between spacing of 2″ and 3″ to give the garland a more random look.
- With your spacing figured out, make all the needed poms. We used 13 poms for each of our garlands. If you are new to using a Clover Pom Pom Maker, check out our step-by-step tutorial.
- Thread the string through a yarn darner needle. Pass the needle through the center of the first pom. Pull the string all the way through, leaving an approximately 3″ tail.
- Measure your chosen spacing. Our initial spacing was 2″.
- Make a knot at the measured spacing.
- Re-thread the needle (if necessary – we simply left the needle threaded), and pass it through the center of the next pom.
- Pull the string through until the pom snugs up against the knot.
- Tie a knot at the opposite side of the pom.
- Pull this second knot tight to secure the pom in position, then hide the knots within the fluff of the pom.
- Continue in this manner to string as many poms as needed for your project. Remember, we opted for an alternating spacing, so our next knot was at 3″.
- When you get to the end, adjust both the first and last poms so they align. Make a final knot to hold each in place, then knot the tails together.
- If making a lanyard, wrap the tails around a split ring.
- And knot to secure the garland to the ring.
- Finally, knot the very ends of the tails to prevent raveling, adding a bead if you’d like.
- If making a necklace, simply knot the tails together rather than securing to a split ring. And, if using as a garland, make the final knots to secure the first and last poms, as described above, and leave the ends free to weave through a stand of tiny twinkle lights.
Project Design: Liz Johnson
Sample Creation: Debbie Guild
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