DIY Upcycled Plastic Bag Pom Poms!

Recycled plastic bag pom pom gift toppers

Pom poms made from plastic bags are so very festive and they look so great its very hard to believe that they’re made from plastic bags! So start saving those plastic bags, and put them to great use the next time you need an artistic gift wrapping solution, or some great party decorations. And as for the size of your pom poms, well you decide, since plastic bags work well for large pom poms as well as fairly small ones. In order to share the positive message about the idea of recycling, why not create some custom stickers with a message about environmental protection to use together with these fun pom poms, whether on gift boxes or cards!

Plarn plastic bag yarn balls

While one certailny can make plastic bag pom poms from strips of plastic bags, I recommend making plarn, (seen above) namely plastic bag yarn, from your hoard of bags, and using that to make pom poms as you would with regular yarn. So lets get started!

You’ll Need:

  • plastic bags, the light weight/partly translucent kind used generally by grocery stores
  • sharp scissors
  • string
  • cardboard scraps

How To Make Plastic Bag Pom Poms:

Step 1: Collect your bags and make balls of “plarn” like in the photo above. Instructions for making plarn can be found here. Pom poms can of course be made from just one color, but they’re even more stunning when made from a mix of colors.

Step 2: Decide how large you’d like to make your pom poms, and then cut a piece of cardboard whose width measures roughly the size of the desired pom pom. You can always make the pom poms smaller if they end up being bigger than needed. For the small medium and large pom poms I made, I cut pieces of cardboard that are 6″, 4″ and 2″ respectively, and my finished pom poms measured 7″, 4.5″ and 3″ after their haircuts.

Pom Pom from plastic bags how to

 Step 3: Wrap plarn around your piece of cardboard around 20 times, combining the colors of your choice.

Plastic Bag Pom Pom How To Step 3

Step 4: Remove the plarn from your piece of cardboard, and tightly tie a piece of string around the exact middle of the plarn, as seen above. For small pom poms, you will need to tie the string around the plarn before you remove it from the cardboard. You can do this by simply laying a piece of string on the cardboard before you wrap the plarn around it. In this way you will only be securing one side of the hank of plarn, but that is sufficient to hold it together.

Plastic Bag pom pom with three colors

Step 5: Cut through the loops of plarn using scissors, if it becomes difficult, just cut off the ends in order to open the loops. Fluff up the pom pom and then trim it to make it as round as possible.

That is it, welcome to the wonderful new world of plastic bag pom poms, you’ll be making them for years to come, I’m quite sure!

 

Comments

11 responses to “DIY Upcycled Plastic Bag Pom Poms!”

  1. RecycleCindy Avatar

    Love this and I will share it on our Trash to Treasures group on Ravelry. Very pretty and such a great way to use recycled plastic bags.

  2. sarah.a. Avatar

    nice idea but they’ve banned the use of plastic bags in our city (you have to bring your own bag or pay) so won’t be making any of these any time soon…

  3. Sara Rivka Avatar

    Thanks so much Cindy, and certainly the perfect present topper for one of your creations!

  4. Sara Rivka Avatar

    Fabulous, so glad to hear it! I thought of putting in a comment regarding those who live in places where plastic bags are banned, namely get your relative to bring in some contraband for you to craft with!
    Plastic bags are banned in the area in Northern California where I grew up too, which I just love! Unfortunately I believe California is a trend setter in this area, hopefully much of the world will follow.
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    Hi Sara Rivka,sarah.a. (sfeiglin@gmail.com) has left you a comment:
    nice idea but theyve banned the use of plastic bags in our city (you have to bring your own bag or pay) so wont be making any of these any time soon…
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  5. Liz Avatar

    Wow, this is such a great idea! My youngest daughter will have her birthday in a couple of weeks and I have an idea about what is hanging from our ceilings then! Thanks for this great decoration tip!!
    Liz

  6. cinti Avatar

    love this idea

  7. Ethel Avatar
    Ethel

    wow dis is great l luv coz l wanna practise cheerleading

  8. anna Avatar
    anna

    Hi, plz can i use this 4 my blog post.
    myannajournal.blogspot.com
    i will give u credit.
    thankx. will mention u 4 sure next week.
    check it out!

  9. myannajournal.blogspot.com Avatar
    myannajournal.blogspot.com

    thanx a lot, totally will.

  10. dayanita Avatar
    dayanita

    i is nice i love it

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