Pom Pom Tutorial – Hair Barrattes

So, you’ve made some pom-poms for your project and want to make use of it, to decorate it etc, but…. the size is too big or you want it in another shape other than round. You need to trim it, of course. Trimming needs skill and it is just like a hair dresser’s job. Lack of skill may cause over trimming and unevenness, the more you trim it and try to get to the right shape you want, the pom-pom become smaller and smaller. The worst part is, after hours spent in trimming, you still can’t get the shape you want and the original pom-pom is snipped beyond recognition, you get frustrated and give-up. What a waste!!! I have gone through this (I am not a hair dresser) so I know what you’re going to face with “the trim”. I found a good tip after some research. The following tutorial will show you how to trim your pom-pom to your desired shape and size easy and fast to me, it never failed!!!!

Trimming of Pom-Pom

First, make a cardboard template of the shape and size you want. Punch a thumb-pin through the center of the template. (Opppsss…. don’t get confused about the printing on the cardboard. I salvaged it from an Ikea packing :p)
I demonstrated it in round shape, but you can draw other shapes like oval, heart, or other shape you like.
(The original size of the pom-pom was about 50mm in diameter, made by using the 35mm pom-pom maker. And I wanted to trim it down to 30mm.)

Find the center of the pom-pom. The easiest way is to find where the string is tied, that is the center of the pom-pom.
Place the cardboard template onto the pom-pom with the thumb-pin tack on the center. Do it both sides.
Trim the pom-pom near to the template. Repeat again by moving the template 90 deg to the side of the pom-pom.
Remove the templates and fluff  up the smaller smaller pom-pom, see, it became smaller and still maintains its rounded shape, neat! Trim lightly on any unevenness so that you get a beautiful round pom-pom.

Hair Barrettes
Get the hair barrettes you want to attach the pom-pom onto.
Apply some fabric glue (my favorite) generously onto the place you want to stick the pom-pom to, wait about 5 to 10 minutes until the glue becomes tacky.
Tie the string to the hair barrettes to further secure it, trim off the extra string. Wait for it to dry by leaving it over night.
I finished 2 to make a pair of perfect gift for a little girl. This pair is for my daughter, to match with her Bareback Halter-Neck Knitted Top I knitted for her.
I am making more of this, watch out for my next pom-pom projects

Related posts:

1. Pom Pom Tutorial – Basic
2. Pom Pom Tutorial: Spooky Halloween Jack O’ Lantern
3. Pom Pom Tutorial: Eerie Black Widow Spider
4. Pom Pom Tutorial – Shaun The Sheep
5. Pom Pom Tutorial – Elmo & Cookie Monster