If you’ve never made a pom pom before, then you’re in the right place! Learn how to make a pom pom and how to attach it to your accessories with this free photo tutorial.

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Pom poms add a little flair to your everyday accessories, and make your handmade projects look more polished and “put-together”. In this tutorial, we’re going to be using a Clover Pom Pom Maker to make a large pom pom to add to a loom knit beanie. I love these tools; they’re colorful, easy to use, and they make this project a breeze!

The Clover Pom Pom Makers come in sets of different sizes. I bought the Large set, which includes a medium green size and a large blue size. The large blue size is perfect for making pom poms to go on beanies and other things that need one that’s nice and fluffy.

Read on for the full tutorial and find out how to make your own pom pom!

Materials

1 skein of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick in Slate

1 large (blue) Clover Pom Pom Maker

Scissors

Tapestry needle

How to Make A Pom Pom Tutorial

Take your pom pom maker, and open up the arches, like so. These blue arches are how we’re going to form the bulk of our pom.

Start wrapping your yarn around the left side of the two top arches. You’ll start wrapping on the left, and move across to the right.

Make sure that you’re wrapping the yarn nice and tight. This holds the arches firmly in place, and also ensures that you won’t have any thin or sparse spots in your pom. You don’t want any of the arch to show through your yarn. Here’s the method I use to wrap the yarn:

Wrap the yarn tightly around the arches, but not close together, like so.

Then you can go back and manually push those loops back so that there aren’t any gaps.

Once you make it to the right side of the arches, start wrapping again, this time back towards the left side. This covers up any gaps you might have in the first layer, and helps bulk up your pom. The more yarn wrapped around the arches, the denser your pom will be, so I recommend making this layer pretty thick for a nice fluffy pom!

After wrapping the second layer, go back one more time and wrap one more layer, until you get to the right side again.

Now push the arches down, and line up your yarn with the space in between the two bottom arches, like so.

Pull the yarn through the gap and under the bottom right arch. Here’s what it looks like from the side:

Then start wrapping the yarn around both bottom arches, just like you did with the top set.

Again, make sure that you wrap your yarn tightly, and be careful not to leave any gaps or spaces where the arch shows through.

Once you reach the right side of the arches, go back and wrap another layer to the left side, just like before.

And then back again to the right side, for a total of three layers.

Now close both sets of arches.

Here’s where we start cutting our loops of yarn. I like to use the little grooves on the side to wrap my working yarn around, and hold it in place.

Grab a super-sharp pair of scissors. The loops are surprisingly tough to cut, so you might want to break out your fabric scissors or something equally sharp and strong.

Start cutting down the middle of the arches, placing the blade of your scissors in the little valley between the arches. This acts as a guide for your scissors, and keeps your pom from looking lumpy and uneven.

Your yarn will start to puff out, like this:

Cut all the way to the other end of the top set of arches.

Now that the yarn isn’t keeping the pom pom maker together as tightly, make sure you hold onto the middle, so it doesn’t pop apart too early.

Now start cutting across the other set of arches.

Your pom will start to look like a funny little macaroon, with all the sides puffing out.

Once you have all the yarn cut, unwrap your working yarn from the side groove and pull it out.

You’re almost there! Cut a length of yarn, at least 8″ long. (You might be able to cut it smaller, but you definitely want enough to work with. I always end up cutting mine a little bit too short, as you can see from the pictures.)

Take this piece of yarn, and pull it through the middle of the pom pom maker.

Make sure you pull it as tightly as you can; this is what’s going to hold our pom together.

Flip it around to the other side, and take the strands of yarn. Pull them tightly and tie them together.

When you tie it, your pom maker might start to come apart a little. Just keep holding onto the middle to keep it together. I like to double knot it on one side, then flip it around and double knot it again.

Now open up both sets of arches carefully.

Take both sides of the pom pom maker, and gently pull them apart.

If you tied your middle strands tight enough, your pom should come right off in one piece.

Gently fluff it so that it’s even all around. You can use your sharp scissors to trim any straggly or loose strands, and to shape any uneven sides.

Once you trim it to your desired shape, your pom is finished and ready to be attached to something!

Attaching

For this part, you’ll want a sturdy tapestry needle and some scissors. Thread one tail of your pom through the needle.

Insert the needle through the very top of the beanie, usually where the seam from finishing it off is.

Then pull the needle all the way through.

Do the same thing with the other tail, threading it through the needle and pulling it through the top of the beanie, in a spot next to where you sewed the first tail.

Now flip the beanie over so that you can see the inside. Take the two tails, and tie them tightly together.

Again, I like to double knot it, just to make sure everything stays in place. It also helps pull your pom down onto the top of the beanie, so that it doesn’t flop around while you’re wearing it.

If you happen to have the tail of your beanie still unwoven, then you can use it to add an extra layer of security. Thread your needle with it.

Insert your needle up into the pom from the base, through the middle, and out the top.

Now Insert your needle into the top, and pull it back down through the bottom.

Trim the tail as close as you can to the base, so that it won’t be seen. Fluff it one more time, and you’re all done!

I hope you enjoyed using this tutorial! You can use poms for lots of different crafts and projects, and to add some unique flair to your wardrobe and accessories. Share your projects and ideas on social media with the hashtag #emsfiberarts for a chance to be featured!

If you love the beanie featured in this tutorial, you can learn how to make your own with this helpful pattern and photo tutorial! You can also sign up for the Loom Knit-A-Long to get all kinds of insider goodies, including free PDF loom knitting patterns and access to the members-only facebook group. Grab a knitting loom and learn a fun new craft by signing up right here!

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Looking for some crochet projects to adorn with pom poms? Try these patterns from Em’s Fiber Arts:

Toasted Marshmallow Throw Blanket

Stone Harbor Crochet Scarf

Easy Corner To Corner Baby Blanket

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