With moving into a new Ward, I have a new calling – YW Secretary! It’s a lot of fun for me especially when I get to help plan crafting projects! 😉

This week we made fabric pom-poms. The original idea came from here: Fabric Pom-Poms

Here is how we did ours:

We searched high and low for paper lanterns but could only find the huge ones (9″ diameter and up), so we went with 3″ styrofoam balls. You can find them at your local craft supply in packs of 6 (they run about $5.00 over here) and use your coupons!

Next you’ll need some fabric. We used the $2.99/yard broadcloth from our local JoAnns. Each ball takes a folded width of 11 1/2″ wide. You can easily get two pom-poms from 1/2 yard of fabric.

The first thing you’ll want to do is cut out your circles. For the 3″ ball, we used 2 1/2″ circles. I had a glass that was the right size so we used it to make a template out of a cereal box. You’ll want to trace them with a pencil onto your fabric rather closely. From the 11 1/2″ piece you can get four circles across by eight circles down, giving you a total of 64 circles. Keep your fabric folded in half so you’re cutting two circles at a time.

Once they are all cut, the fun starts!

Using a single layer of fabric, fold your circle in half making a “taco”.

Fold that in half again.

To keep the shape, add a dab of hot glue a little bit away from the tip.

Then squeeze it closed.

Continue until you have 64 completed “petals”! Don’t they look fun all together?Now it’s time to grab your styrofoam ball and start adding the petals!

Put your pointer finger and your thumb into the opening of the petal and add a nice dollop of hot glue to the tip.

Squash it gently onto the styrofoam ball. The hot glue will melt the styrofoam a little bit, this is great for helping you to shape the petals as you put them on the form.

Hooray! You have one done!

Continue, making sure to place them every which way as you glue them on. You don’t want any type of pattern, just wonderful randomness! haha

Soon you’ll have this!

When you’re pom-pom is almost covered, cut about a 44″ piece of ribbon. Put a line of hot glue on the styrofoam ball and lay the ribbon over it, pulling down on the ribbon until it is stuck in the hot glue.

Finish glueing on your petals until it’s completed! Tie the ribbon in a bow at the top and you’re done!I’m excited to add embellishments to these and do them in holiday colors! I’ll share a completed embellished version once I’m done!

Materials:

3″ styrofoam ball
low temp hot glue gun and sticks
11 1/4″ cut of fabric
ribbon
2 1/2″ circle template

Tips:

You want to use a minimum of 64 circles. You can go up to 78 for a fuller look, any more than that might be overkill.
Don’t want to use scissors to cut your circles? Try using a die cut system with your fabric!