Changeable Pom-Pom Beret DIY: Easy Way To Modify Your Look

In this post I will show you how I upcycled a vintage beret with two changeable DIY pom-poms (yes, I said changeable!). The inspiration for this DIY came from the looks I collected in my pom-pom beanie obsession post.

But first comes a story!

My First Pom Pom Beanie

When last winter Michelle and I decided to make Hat DIY Inspired By Piers Atkinson Nathan Pom Pom Beanie, one of the important questions was how to actually make pom-poms. When I was a kid, I used to make tons of pom-poms using the old good cardboard circle technique that requires poking the yarn through the hole in the circles. I mastered it to perfection, so I said: “No problems, I am a master of DIY pom-poms. I will show you a simple way how to make these gorgeous fluffy spheres!” Then we cut out circles from a cardboard and spent quite some time on making two medium size pom-poms we needed for the DIY. I am saying “quite some time”, but in fact it took us about two hours to make two pom-poms! Then we attached them to the beanie, published the DIY post and happily forgot about it.

Now, one year later, I wanted to upcycle a vintage beret I got at a thrift store with two colorful pom-poms. This time I actually decided to do a bit of research before diving into the creation process. And – ta-daaam! – I found an amazing post by homemade-gifts-made-easy.com describing how to make pom-poms fast. The post claims the technique is faster than the “traditional” one by 5 times. I am not sure if it is true, but I managed to make two medium pom-poms and one big one in one hour (not counting the time required to prepare the maker templates.) The big pom-pom took me 25 min to make while the medium size ones took me only 15 min each. A nice speed-up comparing to the old technique!

In my instructions below I use the fast technique, so firstly you should go to How to Make Pom Poms Five Times Faster! and follow the step #1 to prepare the pom-pom maker templates. Alternatively, you can buy a set of plastic pom-pom makers on Amazon.

 Materials You Need For This DIY

• a beanie or beret or any other hat you want to upcycle
• yarn in two colors; I took a red and lime green one
• the pom-pom maker templates; I used the 6 cm ones – the 9 cm pom-pom turned out to be too heavy
• a duct tape
• a thick crochet hook; mine was 4.5 mm thick
• a strong thread that will be used to attach a pom-pom to the hat
• scissors

Step By Step Instructions

Like in the template article, we will use the templates to make a pom-pom.

Put two pieces of the template together and start wrapping yarn around them.

After the middle of the maker is filled up, do the same with the two other pieces. In the end you should get two halves full of yarn like on the left of the picture below.

Put the halves together, so that they make a full circle. Apply the scotch tape on the rectangular tabs to hold the parts together.

Slide the scissors in between the two layers of the cardboard and cut the yarn all way around the circle.

After you are finished, it should look like on the image below.

Now cut off about 60 cm of the strong thread. Put it in between the layers and pull tight. Make a double know to secure it.

Remove the pieces of the scotch from the tabs and remove all the pieces of the maker from the pom-pom.

Now trim the pom-pom to make it circular. Cut off any bits that stick out.

Your pom-pom is finished!

In total I made two pom-poms: a red one and a green one. For the second pom-pom I re-used the same cardboard template.

Now let’s prepare the beret.

First, remove the button from its top if it has any.

Cut off about 40 cm of the strong thread.

Poke the hook through the top of the beret. First pull one end of the thread inside the hat.

Then, poke the beret again next to the first spot and pull inside the other end of the thread.

The thread should look like this on the inner side of the beret.

Now poke the hat again and pull the pom-pom thread inside.

Pull the thread tight to attach the pom-pom firmly to the hat.

Tie the threads in a bow, so that it will be easy to untie it in the future.

You will need it when you will want to replace one pom-pom by another.

More Pictures of DIY Result

Here come the DIY results! I like this DIY, because it allows me to easily customize my beret and make it match any outfit.

I have already prepared two outfits, one for each pom-pom. I will share them with you very soon, stay tuned!

Disclaimer: Yup, this post may contain affiliate links! If you buy something from me, I get some margarita money (not enough to buy a pair of shoes). Read more here.