T-Shirt Pom Pom Garland

by Ashley Weeks Cart

This weekend is my Alma mater’s Homecoming, which means that I’m going to be donning lots of purple and drinking my weight in hot spiced cider. Best. Weekend. Ever. Post-game I’ll be hosting a rendez-vous, so this DIY was done in preparation for the festivities. These poms are easy to make and add a touch of handmade festivity to a party. Rah rah, GO EPHS!

Materials:
Old but laundered T-shirt
Scissors
Twine or rope for stringing
Fabric dye (if desired)

Directions:

1. Cut the seam off the bottom of the t-shirt, then cut from the armpit seams across the t-shirt so that you just have a wide tube of cotton fabric.

2. Cut from the bottom upward in a circular motion so as to create one long strand of t-shirt. You can vary the width of the strand depending on how wide you’d like your pom pom bits to be. Mine are only about a centimeter wide.

3. Next, wrap the t-shirt yarn around your fingers (I wrap anywhere from 20-30 times). Again, you can vary the number of fingers around which you wrap, and the number of times you wrap the yarn to vary the look of the pom pom.

4. Once done wrapping, remove from fingers and cut off the left over yarn.

5. Using a shorter strand of t-shirt yarn, tie off the loops through the middle of your yarn wrap.

6. Cut through the loops on either side.

7. Flush the edges and trim as needed.

8. Create as many poms as you’d like to be strung from your garland.

9. If desired, dye your poms using fabric die. (Actually, in hindsight, I would recommend dying the shirt PRIOR to making the poms – as mine looked rather bedraggled after dying, although I purposely did the washed effect which I adore.)

10. Finally, string a piece of thin rope or line through the pieces of yarn that tie each pom through the middle and hang for all to enjoy!

Photos: Courtesy of Ashley Weeks Cart