Unpopular opinion: I love tied quilts. Sure…it might be old-fashioned, or it just might be that neuro-spicy brain of mine that craves the additional stimuli that comes with the texture of the ties. It’s kind of like a built in “fidget” on a quilt; a little extra something-something to hold on to. Ties are especially great if you’re in a time crunch and on a budget and need to finish a quilt.

If you’re looking to zhuzh up your quilt beyond basic quilt ties, try tying your quilt with a mix of different weights and textures of thread and yarn. Looking for something with a little more oomph? Add hand quilting to the mix. Still not enough?! Are you ready to give your quilt the ole razzle dazzle? How about FELTED POM-POMS mixed with hand ties and hand quilting?!

Add visual interest to your quilt by adding quilted pom-poms; it highlights the quilting and piecing of your quilt top!

Materials needed:

finger protectors
felting needles
scissors
*there are many “kit” options available if you need to buy felting supplies that include felting needles and finger protectors (defo cheaper)

a 1 3/8” (35mm) Clover Pom Pom Maker
a curved upholstery needle (with large eye)
100% virgin wool tapestry thread (DMC)
a basted quilt sandwich

Step 1: Create the pom-pom

Open one side of the pom pom maker and start winding the yarn tightly around the two prongs. Feel free to use multiple colors of thread for a tie-dye/multi-color look. The amount of yarn wrapped around the prongs will determine the size of the pom pom. Be mindful of the amount of wraps around the prongs to keep a consistent sized pom-pom throughout the quilt top. Close the prongs by bringing them toward the center. Take the scissors and trim in the center of the two prongs.

Step 2: Attach the pom-pom to the quilt

Thread the upholstery needle with the tapestry thread, and pull it through the quilt leaving a two inch tail. Trim the thread two inches from the exit point, keeping the needle threaded. Set aside the upholstery needle. Take the tapestry thread tails coming out of the quilt top and tie a square knot around the center of the pom-pom maker tool (in between the two prongs). Tie the tapestry thread tails again to create a double knot, ensuring the knot is tight enough to hold the pom-pom in place. Lift up the prongs of the pom-pom maker and gently pull on each side of the tool, releasing the pom-pom. Tighten the tapestry thread tails to strengthen the square knot that attaches the pom-pom to the quilt. Trim the tapestry thread tails to the length of the pom-pom.

Step 3: Felt the pom-pom

Safety first! Put on those finger protectors on your non-dominant hand— being stabbed by a felting needle hurts (ask me how I know). Using your gloved fingers, pinch the pom-pom. With your dominant hand, shove/stab the felting needle into the small pinched surface area of the pom-pom. This agitates the fibers, essentially hooking and interlocking the wool fibers causing them to compress and create a mat, forming a solid piece of felt. The goal is to get all the loose threads into a ball, stabbing (felting) them into a ball like shape. This will take a bit of releasing the pom-pom and re-pinching it to felt into the proper ball shape. Make sure to get underneath the pom-pom, and all the loose threads into one cohesive ball. It will take multiple stabs.

Important Note:

Not just any needle will work for felting. Felting needles look nothing like sewing needles, and are notched/barbed to snag fibers to create a matted solid structure. The size of the needle is dependant on the size of the project (or pom-pom) you are creating. I recommend using a higher gauge felting needle (36 or 38) for this project. For more information on felting needles, check out this blog post.

As you start to stab you pom-pom to felt it, please start slowly to avoid injuring your fingies! Pay close attention to what you are doing, and where you are stabbing. Once you get in the felting groove, the process to felt a single pom-pom (depending on the size, of course) can take up to ten minutes. Here's what the felting process looks like for me (sped up).

Step 4: Wash your quilt

The pom-poms have been added and felted, and your quilt has been bound. What’s next? Time to pop it in the wash! Washing your quilt is great to achieve the perfect crinkle, and to help “set” your felted pom-poms. The agitation in the wash, in addition to the water and soap, will help finish off the pom-poms with a process similar to “wet felting.” I recommend using color catchers in the wash to trap dyes and avoid color runs, and stains. When washing your quilt, make sure to wash in cold water on delicate to normal cycle. For best results, remove quilt from washing machine as soon as the wash cycle is complete; this will help maintain color fastness and avoid colors bleeding into each other. Once washing is complete, air dry (air fluff on a dryer works well too). And at last, enjoy!

I spy with my little eye pom poms- can you?

I’m excited to see your pom-pom-adorned quilts! The possibilities are endless when adding them to the mix. I’m envisioning an adorable double gauze wholecloth quilt mixed with pom-poms and hand quilting and drooling over the idea of it. BRB- gotta add that to my list of quilts to make!

Make sure to use the use the #feltedpompomtutorial and #cobabeco hashtags to inspire others to zhuzh up their quilts with felted pom-poms!