DIY Decor - Make your own boho animal pendants with pom-poms
Llama, elephant, rhino, or maybe all three? A tutorial for wonderful animal pendants in a boho style. Perfect as Christmas tree decorations, gift tags, year-round decor, for Easter, or as a small gift. These colorful DIY pendants are quick and easy to make from fabric scraps and, for once, require no sewing at all.Here you can find even more sewing patterns with tutorials. Very easy to sew yourself.
What you need:
- Sweat fabric scraps in gray, brown, beige, or white (or any other color of the rainbow – no one can argue with a pink elephant, a turquoise llama, or a mint-colored rhino ;-)) (Tip: of course, this also works with felt or even cardboard)
- colorful cotton or jersey scraps
- Vliesofix (fusible web)
- wool for the pom-poms (best to use wool, wool blends, or acrylic yarn; these make prettier pom-poms than cotton)
- a fork
- satin ribbon, wool, or cord for hanging
- hole punch pliers
- iron
You can find the free eBook including patterns here
1. First, cut out all pattern pieces. Prepare three rectangles of sweat fabric in the corresponding color for each animal. The rectangles should be large enough that the template fits comfortably, including a little seam allowance.
For each animal, you also need 2 sheets of Vliesofix to match the fabric pieces.
2. Now, iron Vliesofix onto the left side of one of the sweat fabric rectangles. Ensure the fusible web is applied firmly and evenly. Do the same with the cotton fabric scraps. Peel off the paper backing from the Vliesofix and iron the sweat fabric rectangle onto your second piece of fabric.
3. Iron the second piece of Vliesofix onto the double-layered rectangle.
4. Trace your animal using the template onto the paper backing of the Vliesofix. The saddle parts are also traced onto the small cotton fabric scraps (2 each, one mirrored).
5. Now, carefully cut out the animal and the saddle (a small, delicate pair of scissors makes this easier).
6. Peel the paper backing off the Vliesofix, place the last piece of sweat fabric face-down in front of you and…
7. …iron your animal onto the remaining piece of fabric. Iron thoroughly from the back once more so the layers of fabric bond well together.
8. Now, cut it out once more. In case you are wondering why you shouldn't cut out all layers at once: the three layers are too thick, and if you were to cut them all at once, it would be difficult or impossible to achieve a beautiful result.
9. Now, iron on the saddles. First the larger one,…
10. … then position the smaller one. Repeat on the other side.
11. Use the hole punch to punch out the eyes, and for the rhino, the nostrils, on the template… (you can, of course, do this right at the beginning ;-))
12. …and transfer the dots to the fabric with a pen…
13. …then punch them out with the hole punch pliers.
14. For the eyes, I used the second-smallest setting, and for the rhino’s nostril, the smallest.
15. Another hole is punched at the animal's belly, between the legs, for attaching the pom-poms.
16. Now, get busy winding pom-poms (two per pendant). I use forks for this because it's much faster than with a pom-pom maker. You can find a detailed tutorial here.
17. For each animal, choose a small and a slightly larger pom-pom in your desired colors. Tip: It looks best when the colors of the pom-poms are repeated in the colorful fabrics.
18. Using an embroidery needle, pull a piece of yarn through the hole at your animal's belly…
19. …and knot it.
20. Now, pull both ends of the yarn through the needle eye and…
21. …carefully pull them through the larger of the two pom-poms. Be a bit careful here that none—or not too much—of the pom-pom's wool gets pulled out with it.
22. Afterward, thread the second pom-pom on in the same way.
23. Just knot the yarn ends and adjust the pom-poms.
24. Now you need to determine the correct point for your pendant's hanger. To do this, hold your animal loosely between two fingers and let it hang, then determine by eye when it is balanced, i.e., hangs straight. Mark the point you found and use the hole punch to punch a hole in the back. Finally, thread a ribbon through.
25. The elephant and the rhino now need a little tail. First, use the hole punch to make a hole in their rear.
26. Using the embroidery needle, thread a piece of yarn through the hole. Twist the two yarn ends several times in the same direction…
27. …and knot the two ends together. The yarn will now twist around itself automatically.
Cut off the excess…
28. …and your very special pendant is finished.
