DIY Skull Pom Poms

🎶 What’s this?! What’s this?! A skull pom DIY?! 🎶
(Jack Skellington, anyone?)

We are SO EXCITED to share this wickedly cute pom pom tutorial with you!!! Whether you’re decorating for Halloween, Day of the Dead, or just love skull decor year-round, this DIY is sure to bring some spooky-scary-skeleton JOY to your home.

HOW TO MAKE SKULL POM POMS

YOU’LL NEED:

• Omegacryl* – The colors we used for this project are: Black and White, but any combo will work!
• Loome Tool*
• Embroidery Floss*
• 2″ Pom Pom Trim Guide*
• Yarn Needle*
• Sharp Scissors
• Bowl or tray for catching your trimmings
• Worsted or bulky weight yarn (if making a garland)

*Item is included in our Halloween Pom-Tassel Garland Kit

To make a skull pom pom, choose two colors of yarn: one for the skull itself, and one for the background. On the wide side of your Loome Tool, wrap 30 revolutions of your skull color, doing your best to keep it as centered as possible. Then, on top of your skull color, wrap 60 revolutions of your background color. Do your best to completely cover that center bundle with the outer color, wrapping even revolutions on the left and right sides. This will ensure that the skull is centered in your finished pom.

Next, tie your yarn bundle into a pom pom “pancake” with embroidery floss and trim using your 2″ Pom Pom Trim Guide.

New to making pom poms? Find the recommended steps in our How to Make Pom Poms tutorial.

At this point your pom pom should be nice and round with a white center (Oreo, anyone)?

The next thing we’re going to do is trim the center color into the skull shape, using the above visual as a reference!

Shaping Your Skull

Using the tip of your sharp scissors, trim the edges of the center color yarn into the skull shape. Do your best to trim only the skull color, leaving the background color in tact!

Start with the larger rounded edge of the skull, leaving the jaw for last.

Once you’re happy with the rounded shape and you’re ready to carve out the jaw, place your scissors along the bottom edge of the skull’s “cheek,” perpendicular to the direction of the jaw, and snip. This will help you achieve a clean bend from the bottom of the skull “cheek” to the right and left sides of the jaw.

Your finished trim should look something like this!

Adding The Eyes

Before you move to the next step decide if you want both sides of your pom pom to be uniform. This is important because once the eyes are added, the skull pom pom is a one-sided pom pom. Meaning, once the eyes have been added that backside will look like this ⬆️, while the other side will display the design.

If you want both sides of your pom pom to be the same, trim the skull shape into the opposite side of your center color, and you’re done!

To add your skull’s eyes, start by measuring out two strands (6 threads) of Omegacryl using the wide side of your Loome Tool as a guide.

First measure out the width of your tool, then fold your working yarn so you have double the width of your tool. Take that total length and double it. When you’re done your cut yarn should be approximately 4x the width of your Loome Tool.

Fold the entire yarn length in half, and feed the folded corner through the eye of your yarn needle. Pull the yarn through until your needle is in the middle of your total (folded) length.

Place the point of the needle into your pom pom where you want the first eye. Push the needle through the middle of your pom pom, and pull through.

Trim both sides of the newly threaded yarn so that the length matches the rest of your pom pom.

Repeat for the second eye.

You may need to use your needle to reshape the skull and eyes as you go.

If you plan to use your pom poms as table or home decor, you’re done!! If you plan to add the skull pom poms to a garland, move on to the next steps.

Skull Pom Pom Garland

Traditionally, you add a pom pom to a garland by threading the garland string through the center of the pom pom. Due to the layout of the skull pom pom, that would mean stringing through the skull’s nose — aka the design would get lost!

To add a skull pom pom to a garland, you’ll need to add yarn to the top of your pom pom (centered at the top of the skull) to tie it onto your garland string.

Cut a piece of yarn in your background color 8-10 inches long, and thread through a yarn needle.

Gently massage the center of the pom pom to find your center string — using your thumbnail almost as though your plucking a guitar string can help with this!

Thread your yarn needle under the center string, and pull through. Your pom pom is now ready to tie onto a garland!

These skull pom poms look great on their own, but they look even more spooktacular when paired with ghost tassels and pumpkin pom poms — the ULTIMATE Halloween garland!!

So Franken Cute!!! 

Be sure to share your creations on Instagram by tagging us @theneonteaparty. We can’t wait to see what you make!

Peace, love & neon! ✌️
Dorothy