How to Make Fluffy Pom Poms & Tassels

As certified pom pom and tassel pros, we’re so excited to dive into how to make fluffy pom poms and tassels today!

For years, we here at TNTP have been obsessed with making pom poms and tassels with Omegacryl, a fine acrylic fiber that falls somewhere between a yarn and a thread. While delicately shaggy Omegacryl poms and tassels will always have our hearts, sometimes a project calls for fluffy, dense pom poms and tassels — ykwim?!

Enter Favorito: our new light worsted weight yarn that results in the most beautifully vibrant and squishy pom poms and tassels!

Available in 44 juicy colors and just $3/skein, Favorito yarn cannot be beat when it comes to making yarn pom poms and tassels. In this post, we’ll share our tips for making fluffy pom poms and tassels with Favorito, using a Loome pom pom and tassel tool!

Supplies You’ll Need

• Favorito yarn*, or another worsted or light worsted weight yarn
• Loome tool* (we love the regular size for pom poms and the XL size for tassels!)
• Pom pom trim guides*
• Embroidery floss* (pom poms only)
• Sharp scissors
• Tassel comb (optional but recommended for tassels)
• Bowl or tray to catch scraps
• Yarn winder (optional but recommended)
• Yarn needle* (when you’re ready to turn your poms and tassels into projects!)

*Item is included in our Pom Pom & Tassel Kit!

Prepping Your Yarn

Favorito comes in a log-like skein with one tail accessible from the outside, and the other tail hiding on the inside. When it comes to making pom poms and tassels, being able to wrap with both tails helps you cut down the time it takes to wrap yarn around your tool.

To access your interior tail, one option is to pull out the “guts” from the inside of the skein and search for the tail, or cut off the “guts” to create a new tail. The other, more recommended option is to wind your skein around a yarn winder to create a “cake.” Winding your yarn into a cake will enable you to easily access to both your interior and exterior tails, while also allowing you to place your yarn cake flat on a surface or in a yarn bowl.

If you’re only able to access one tail of your yarn skein, that’s okay too! The revolution charts we provide throughout this post list the exact number of times we recommend wrapping a single strand of yarn around your Loome tool, based on the size pom pom or tassel you want to make.

How to Make Fluffy Pom Poms

Click here for our video on how to make yarn pom poms!

Find one or both ends of your yarn and place the end(s) in a notch. Wrap yarn around the tool the number of times indicated on the pom pom revolution count guide below. If you’re wrapping with two ends, divide the revolution count by two. Leave a space below the wrapped yarn. When you’re done wrapping, place the yarn end(s) in any notch to secure it, then cut it off the skein.

Unwind roughly an arms-length of embroidery floss and thread it into the U-shaped space below the yarn. Wrap embroidery floss around the center of the wrapped yarn once and then a second time. Place on a flat surface so both ends of the embroidery floss are pointing upwards and perfectly centered on the yarn.

Tie a surgeon’s knot with your embroidery floss to ensure tension when you pull tightly. To make a surgeon’s knot: loop one embroidery floss end around the other (like the first step of tying your shoes), wrap it around a second time the same way. Pull knot to the surface of your yarn but don’t pull tight yet!

Carefully remove the yarn from your tool, then pull the knot as tight as possible without breaking the string. Use a spare finger to anchor the knot in place, secure with a single regular knot. (Again: like the first step of tying your shoes!) You now have a “pom pom pancake!”

To ensure it’s tied tightly, bring strings to other side & tie again. Spread the loops of the pom pancake, bring both strings around to the other flat side, tie a surgeon’s knot as tightly as possible followed by a regular knot. Trim excess floss close to knot. (Keep floss hanging long if you’d like to tie/sew your pom on.)

Trim open all the loops of your pom pom pancake, keeping the pom pom flat as you do. Pull up on the loops for an even cut. Be sure to cut all loops including the ones on the interior of your pom pom pancake!

Place a trim guide in the center of your pom pom pancake, press down and trim, cutting along the edge of your trim guide and turning your pom pom as you go. Bring trim guide to the back and trim again. Fluff pom with your fingers – it should be a football shape. Place trim guide in the center once more, press down & trim again.

Gently fluff out your pom pom by rolling it around gently in your hands and trim off any remaining stragglers until you have a beautiful round pom!

Your pom is now ready to be attached to anything you please!! Learn how to securely attach pom poms a number of different ways in our lesson How to Attach Pom Poms & Tassels!

How to Make Fluffy Tassels

Click here for our video on how to make yarn tassels!

Find one or both ends of your yarn and place the end(s) in a notch on the bottom arm of your tool. Wrap yarn around the tool the number of times indicated on the tassel revolution count guide below. If you’re wrapping with two ends, divide the revolution count by two. Finish wrapping, place the yarn in any notch on the bottom arm (same arm you started on), and cut the yarn off the skein.

Cut a new piece of yarn about three times the width of the yarn bundle. Hold the tool so the arm with the yarn ends in the notches aka the bottom arm is facing down while the other top arm is facing up. Thread the new piece of yarn through the center of your yarn bundle.

One easy way to do this is by draping the yarn strand over the opening of the yarn bundle, place the tip of your finger on it, then count to three and push it through in one quick motion. Works like a charm! You can also use a yarn needle.

Once it’s through the center of your yarn bundle, wiggle the yarn strand upwards toward the top of the tassel, moving back and forth until it wedges along the top surface of your tool.

Next, tie a single knot then pull it to the surface of your tassel, but don’t pull it tight just yet! Carefully remove your yarn from your tool then pull the knot tight and secure with a second single knot.

Hold your tassel with the loops pointing upwards. Working in small sections, trim open the loops on the bottom of your tassel, pulling up on them to get an even snip.

To hide your top strings, open your tassel flat and pull down the top strings so that they rotate 180 degrees, resulting in the knot rotating to the underside of the tassel. Close the tassel the same way you opened it. The result should be a neat tassel with a clean little loop on the top!

If you have a tassel comb, now is a great time to put it to use! Comb down the tassel strands so that your yarn is nice and neat.

Cut a new piece of yarn a foot or so long (depending on your tassel size) in either the same or an accent color. Wrap the new strand of yarn around your tassel twice, slightly below the top where you want your tassel head to form. Once the yarn is wrapped around twice, gently pull on both ends to compress the tassel and form the head, then wrap around multiple times until you like how the wrap looks. Secure wrap by double knotting the two ends of yarn together and trim off excess yarn if the wrap is a different color.

Give your tassel another comb through, then cut the bottom to be even. We recommend pressing down your tassel to be flat and trimming straight across, then rotate the tassel 90 degrees and repeat. This should result in an evenly trimmed tassel!

Your tassel is now ready to be attached to anything you please! Learn how to securely attach your tassel a number of different ways in our lesson on How to Attach Pom Poms & Tassels!

We’ve seen your Omegacryl pom poms and tassels over the years — now we can’t wait to see what you create with Favorito pom poms & tassels! Be sure to tag us on Instagram @theneonteaparty so we can see what you make!

Peace, love & neon,
Marisa