Pom-Pom Therapy

Hey. Nothing bunches my britches more than a DIY tutorial being confusing and non-tutorialistic, so I’m breaking it down, and making it easy to follow for you.

Enter subject: This bean of a tutorial from a recent Better Homes & Gardens issue was particularly confusing. I mean, I don’t actually know what it’s trying to tell me, but I do like that poofy flower, and I wanted to make one. Consider yourself forewarned, this is a nail gun-free post.

Their way:
1. Cut a tissue-paper strip from a pom-pom garland (a what?), leaving the ribbon attached (what ribbon?)
2. Fan out the strip (it was fanned?)
3. Fluff the fanned-out strip to form the pom-pom (forget it.)

And just know, I really, really love me some BHG. We subscribe, and I have for years. And I before that I read my mom’s issues and dreamt wildly about being a homeowner. I do glean a lot of inspiration from the pretty pictures and landscapes that they profile, so that stuff, BHG, keep it up. 

But this broken tutorial. I’m breaking it down. Making it simple. Making it overly simple. So make this flower yours.

Step 1: Cut a single piece of tissue paper into 6 quadrants.

Step 2: Layer the quadrants into a stack. Begin to fold them together like an accordion.

Step 3: Keep going with the accordion-making, like a paper fan from your childhood.

Step 4: Tie something around the middle of that completely accordion-ed paper. Tie it firmly, but do not cinch it tight. I used embroidery thread (like the BHG tutorial) but anything would work. Ribbon. Twine. Your choice, it doesn’t really matter much in the end.

Step 5: For the peony-esque look, I rounded off the ends of the bound accordion with a few snips of the scissors. Consider this an optional step.

Also consider doing fun cuts into the ends, make them pointy, make them fringed, make them concave curving.

Step 6: This is where things got more intuitive. Those 6 layers of paper? Pull them apart carefully, slowly, gently, starting with the layer at the top.

And then keep peeling back and fluffing as you go. Voila, this is so cute.

I don’t think I need to tell you to keep doing the same with the second side of the accordion. That seems obvious.

Since I used a full piece of tissue paper, my flower was pretty substantial. Compared to my hand, it stood this tall. Man, I love flowers.

And it looked sweet on top of a baby shower gift, attached with a dab of glue. (Yes, I used embroidery thread for the “ribbon” too, just like the magazine tutorial. Simple, and less expected, it keeps the focus on the flower. I bought a whole rainbow of it at the store, so other friends, you can expect to see it on your own gifts in the future.)

I hope that’s a little easier, fellow DIYers. Now go, make something pretty.