I can’t remember when I originally started work on my first pompom rug, sometime last summer, but I’m afraid it got stuffed in a cupboard while I got on with other projects. I was determined to get it completed in March.
The first one was designed by my daughter, she had some definite ideas. She wanted it circular and in black and white with an hourglass shape. The latter part gave me some concern until she drew it out and I realised she meant alternating quarters.
The main construction work to a pompom rug is very simple, in that you tie pompoms to a canvas. Rug canvasses are simple to find in either craft shops or online. I sourced mine from Zweigart, I’ve found them to be good quality and the grid helps when counting out threads for spacing.
The circular rug was on a 100 x 100cm canvas. By the time it was trimmed the final rug was 90 cm in diameter.
The pompoms themselves I made using a fork style pompom maker. I got mine from The Wool Haven but they are also online at The Range
Simple to use, you wrap the yarn round either of the ends and then tie around their center in the gap. It is possible to cut them while they are on the prongs, there is a channel for the scissors, but I found it quicker to take them off and then cut them. It’s the same principle as using a fork.
For my pompoms I used the larger size of the maker with 100 wraps (yes I counted) To speed things up I would use either 2 or 4 balls at a time. Got quite a production line going one night with me wrapping and a friend cutting them.
I worked out I could get approximately 21 pompoms from 100 gm ball. The yarn I used was Stylecraft Special DK, it’s my go to yarn for craft products. I’m not sure how many balls I went through because some was diverted for other projects.
My first rug was definitely a practice one, despite it’s size (85cm diameter) I originally tied the pompoms on too close together which caused the rug to curl and buckle. Once I worked out what the problem was I thinned out the pompoms.
When I have a free afternoon I plan to rearrange the remaining pompoms so they sit better.
I did however sew on the binding so that the rug edge didn’t fray. I found the tutorial below very helpful even though it is on a latch rug.
My second rug went much smoother. I already had around 210 pompoms left over from the first rug. I got a smaller piece of canvas 50 x 100 cm
I had more white than black so I started a center line of 5 black pompoms and then worked out from there finishing with a white oval. I ended up having to make only 11 more to complete the rug.
It works out as roughly 5 balls black yarn & 7 of white in total
I spaced these much further apart with a gap of 6 between each horizontal pompom. They were then placed alternately with a gap of 4 between each horizontal line.
Once I’d got them all tied securely, I hot glued the knots and trimmed the ties. This gives a much neater back and the glue increases the grip.
Finally, I sewed the binding. I think this took longer than the rest of the rug making but was a lot easier doing straight lines than the curve of the first rug.
