Pom-Pom Bunting

So last week i said that i was making pom-pom bunting and this week it is finally finished in-between the football, working, decoupage (more of that in another post) and life.

These colourful beauty's had been sitting around for a while and were initially being made for a friends Bollywood Party, but that has fallen by the way, so i thought what can i do with them, and then lightbulb moment - use them for your own birthday BBQ in July, so back out they came this week and now as you will see it is finished and ready for sunshine, showers and good old British BBQ fun.

If you want to make this pom-pom bunting, it is so easy to do, and you can make the pom-poms in various sizes by using the Clover Pom-Pom Maker that i first saw on the Channel 4 show Kirsty's Homemade Show and was sold out every time i went to +Hobbycraft but patience paid off and now i am pom-pom crazy. Each pack has 2 pom-pom makers, i used the Large, which consists of 2.5" and 3.3/8"

Then i used 3 large balls of various coloured wool, on special offer in +Hobbycraft buy 3 pay for 2 and this offer is still on, but any wool is fine, but use double knit, one its thicker and 2 its quicker, especially when making tri-colour pom-poms. Then you open the maker on one side and wrap the wool around until you have approx a 0.5mm gap (see picture) snip off the wool and close that half. Then proceed to open the other half and repeat. Once this is done snip off from the wool and length to tie around the middle,  snip around the wool across the middle (like when you used to make them with 2 cardboard rings and then wrap the wool length around the middle and tie with triple knots to keep the wool in place. Open each side of the pom-pom maker, pull away the middle sections and then fluff up the pom-pom, trimming away the excess wool and loose ends.

Now you just need to make as many pom-poms as you want for your bunting i made 17 that go across a 6" fence panel, i wouldn't do more as the weight is quite heavy, but you could make a few to give a really visual effect.

I used 3mm satin ribbon, again in the bargain bin for £2.00 for 7 metres and a large eyed weaving needle, again for ease i went to +Hobbycraft but all items are available in other craft and on-line craft stores. I tied a knot in one end to stop the pom-poms moving and then proceed to thread them through, don't worry about even spaces at this time as you can dress the fence once you have them threaded, but do not cut the ribbon until all are threaded and you have measured your panel or where you want to hang the bunting. Once threaded and you have the length, knot the end and cut off leaving enough each end to make a hanging loop - then voila! 

Dish full of pom-poms
Satin Green Ribbon
Prym Weaving Needle

Colourful cheap and effective bunting made for £8.00, not bad considering what you would pay in the shops, and a great way to while away the football for the next few weeks.