PRETTY POMPOM WREATHS
Use fabric to ring the changes from the more obvious wool wreaths
YOU WILL NEED
✽ Pompom maker (7.5cm) or 2 x 7.5cm diameter cardboard doughnuts cut with a slit in each
✽ Metal wreath frame (30cm) ✽ Fabric, cut into 1.5cm-wide strips (cotton and thinner fabrics work well. We used a set of fat quarters from hobbycraft.co.uk)
✽ Cotton yarn or thin strong string ✽ Glue gun (optional) TO MAKE
❶ Cut your choice of fabrics into 1.5cm-wide strips. To do this quickly, take one fat quarter, unfold it and cut it in straight lines down one side at 3cm intervals, stopping each cut 2cm from the edge of the fabric. Rotate the fabric
180 degrees and cut strips in the opposite direction again at 3cm intervals in between the previous cuts, again stopping 2cm from the edge. This creates long strips of fabric.
❷ For multicoloured pompoms, combine a few strips of different patterned fabrics and begin winding them around the pompom maker or cardboard doughnut. Follow your pompom maker’s instructions. When you have filled the pompom maker or doughnut and cut through the fabric to expose the maker or doughnut, use a length of cotton yarn or string to securely tie the pompom around the middle. Tie one tight knot, wrap the string back around itself, then tie a tight double knot.
❸ Remove from the maker, shake and trim away any long bits, but don’t trim away the string you used to tie the pompom together.
❹ Repeat with different mixes of colours and patterns until you have 10 pompoms.
❺ Arrange the 10 pompoms around the metal wreath frame. Use the string to tie each pompom to the wreath. If the pompoms are a bit wobbly, then use the glue gun to fix them securely in place.
❻ To make a hanging cord for the wreaths, plait
3 x 40cm lengths of fabric together and tie around the top of the wreath.