d.i.y. pom-pom mobile

Last time I went to LA to visit my sister Jenna, we visited a store called Yolk. I want to go almost every time I visit her because it's just a fun store and they carry a lot of unique and sometimes quirky items that you wouldn't find in Utah. When we went, I fell in love with a baby mobile there but seeing as how $140 for some pom-poms on string wasn't really in my budget, I just snapped a photo and kind of forgot about it. That is, until we started brainstorming ideas for the baby's nursery (or more like, the baby's corner in our bedroom—oh the joys of a one bedroom apartment!). I found this photo and decided it couldn't be too hard to make... which I was kind of right and kind of wrong about. But I am really proud of how it turned out and, honestly, anyone with a little motivation and time could make this so why not post a little DIY?

Here we go.

Oh, and forgive my crappy iPhone pictures in advance. Thanks!

First off, here is my inspiration photo that I snapped way back at the beginning of this Summer at Yolk.

STEP ONE: Find a variety of colors that you want to use in yarn and cut out a bajillion pom-poms. These may seem daunting but once you get going, it goes by pretty quickly. I used a fork for the mini poms (watch a tutorial here), and then just used my hand for the larger poms (watch tutorial here). Also, I found that a good fullness for the larger poms was about 130 wraps around my hand.

Once you are done with the pom-poms, and you have arranged them just for fun (not a necessary step) move on to...

STEP TWO: For the hoop, I hot-glued two cross-stitch hoops together because the wider the cross-stitch hoop, the more expensive & noone was going to see the actual hoop anyways. 

Then comes the tricky part. Because I wanted a stripe, I pre-measured and cut pieces of yarn and then wrapped them around the hoop individually. If you are planning on saving time, I would not recommend doing this, haha! It probably took the longest time for me. Ribbon or a solid color would definitely be easier. The original was crocheted but, I don't have the skills for that... haha so I just stuck with this and although it's not perfect, I really like the outcome of the stripes.

STEP THREE: There are a lot of steps within this step so I'll try and be clear.

–Measure out 5 segments of rope that will be tied in a knot at the top. We used white cord (can be found in any ribbon section of a fabric store). The cord is thick enough and strong enough to act like robe but just not as stiff, therefore, making it way easier to tie and work with in general. Our segments were 3 ft. 9 inches each leaving 1 foot for above the hoop and approximately 2 feet below and then a little extra for the knot at the top.

Oh, and are you wondering why I keep saying "we"? Well, Cam, as usual, was sucked into helping me with this project and it was a good thing because I can get sloppy with measurements and the minute details but he is super good at being exact so, because of him, this mobile is actually level and looks clean and crisp. Plus, I could never have done some of this stuff with just my two hands.. thank goodness for nice husbands! 

Anyways...back to the point.

–Mark your hoop in equal intervals where you want the five strings to be attached. This part is super important in accuracy so that you can have a level mobile. Our hoop was 12 inches in diameter making the circumference 37.68", putting our strings about 7.7" apart on the hoop (...now do you see why I needed Cam so badly?).

– String the poms that you want on the top foot of the mobile and then hot-glue the cord to the marks you make on the outside of the hoop. (also, pre-mark a foot on your string so that they are all equal).

I was skeptical about hot glue doing the trick for this but it definitely did the job and because we had to adjust a cord or two to make it perfectly level, it was also nice and forgiving.

And FINALLY, String the rest of your pom-poms on the cords below the hoop how you want them, then trim the dangling cords to exactly 2 ft. so they're all even and secure the bottom of the string with a knot/hot-glue to keep the bottom pom from falling off.


So, in the end, I now see why the store version was $140 because this thing is definitely a labor of love. But it turned out so cute and our grand total was only $25 so it was definitely worth it budget-wise too!

Baby's angle...

 Now we just have the rest of the "baby corner" to do and only a month left to do it!

Wish us luck!