Transform Everyday Pillows with Pompoms

Nicole Smith, contributor

15 users recommend

Add pompoms to dress up a basic throw pillow.

Zach Desart and Burcu Avsar

Use a pompom maker to make your fabric embellishment.

Zach Desart and Burcu Avsar

Sew your finished pompoms to your pillow or use a pin backing to make it removable.

Zach Desart and Burcu Avsar

Add pompoms to dress up a basic throw pillow.

Photo: Zach Desart and Burcu Avsar

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Whether you’re embellishing pillows, lamp shades or even making a brooch, pompoms add a fun and quirky touch to just about any project. You can completely transform a boring pillow with a fun, frothy fabric pompom.

With all the new tools available, making pompoms is surprisingly easy. But did you know that you can make them with materials other than yarn? Scrap fabrics are perfect for creating a raw but sophisticated look. We combined coordinating fabrics, but you can also use anything that you can wrap around the tool—try bits of roving, ribbon, trim or raffia. You can even customize the pompom to any size or shape your crafty heart desires.

What You'll Need:
• Fabric, 1⁄8 yard
• Hand needle
• Pillow, 18-inch square
• Pompom maker (We used a large Clover Pom-Pom Maker; Clover-USA.com)
• Scissors
• Thread

Make pompoms from scraps
Fabric pompoms offer a sophisticated way to use up scraps and add a simple flourish anywhere you wish.

1. Cut fabric strips. Cut fabric strips across the width of the fabric from selvage to selvage. You’ll want two strips for each side of the pompom. At left, one strip is approximately 3⁄4 inch wide and the second strip is approximately 1⁄2 inch wide.

2. Wrap the strips around the pompom maker. Following the tool’s instructions, wrap two layered fabric strips around one side of the tool, as shown above. Wrap the two remaining fabric strips around the opposite side of the tool.

3. Cut and finish the pompom. Follow the tool’s instructions to cut and finish the pompom.

Hand-sew several stitches to secure the pompom to the pillow. Or, to make the pompom removable, sew on a pin backing to it.

excerpted from CraftStylish Restyle, p. 66

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Comments (3)

NewKnitty writes: Cute idea! I tried this but I'm not quite getting the same look. What do you recommend to use to tie the pompom together? I tried thread and yarn but neither really worked. I may be that one of my fabrics is a little stiff. Thanks!
Posted: 9:27 am on January 10th

LisaHandmadeEvo writes: I love this idea! What a great way of using up coordinating fabrics too.
Posted: 5:49 pm on January 6th

TeacherTeacher writes: Now this looks like the perfect way to dress up the pillows in my living room and give this space a boost to fight the Winter blah's. Great idea!
Posted: 2:47 pm on January 6th

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