DIY Pom Pom Dress: Get the Look for Less

Learn how to make a DIY pom pom dress for a fraction of the retail price. These dresses are sold for $141, but you can make one for under $20. Gingham pom pom dresses have been popular this summer, but I can’t find one for a reasonable price. So I figured I could simply sew on some pom poms to a less expensive dress and make it myself. In this post you’ll see how I recreated this popular pom pom dress for less.

This post contains affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you were to purchase any of the items linked at no additional cost to you. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I often find myself seeing something I like, but when I look at the price tag I immediately think, “Oh I can make that myself.” This was the case when it came to this dress!

I originally saw this style of dress on Caitlin Covington, who is one of my favorite bloggers. She has the best style, but what she wears isn’t always affordable for everyone. I’ve also noticed that this dress or a similar style is sold out at most of the retailers where it was available.

How to make a DIY Pom Pom Dress

Here are the materials and steps to recreate this pom pom dress for yourself.

Materials Needed

• Tiered Dress
• Yarn
• Pom pom maker (optional, but strongly recommended)
• Scissors
• Sewing needle
• Sewing thread

Step One: Pick Out a Tiered Dress

The first step in recreating this look is to find a dress. The dress doesn’t have to be gingham, but I chose that because it’s my favorite print. This is the dress I ended up buying from Shein for $16 because it was the closest I could find to the inspiration dresses.

You will definitely want to buy a tiered dress, because you will sew the pom poms to the bottom tier. Finding a dress that was gingham, tiered and had the tie straps was difficult. Here are some other options that could work well:

Step Two: Pick Out Yarn for the Pom Poms

After selecting the dress, you will need to pick out the yarn to make the pom poms. I chose to go with white, but you could pick a brighter color to have more fun with it.

Note: You do not have to make the pom poms at all. If it seems like too much work, you can simply buy some pom poms and then sew them on instead. I, however, decided to make them because it was less expensive and I already had the materials.

Making the pom poms and sewing them on took me a couple of hours. But it was a relaxing activity for me to do while I was watching Sweet Magnolias on Netlix, which if you haven’t seen that I recommend you check it out.

Step Three: Begin Making Pom Poms

As I mentioned above, a pom pom maker isn’t needed but it is strongly recommended. You can make pom poms by just using your hands, but it will take you more time. Click here to watch a video on how to make pom poms without a pom pom maker.

Otherwise, to make all 24 pom poms for the dress with a pom pom maker, watch this video. I made a total of 24 pom poms, 12 for the bottom of the dress and 12 for the sleeves. I used the smallest pom pom maker in the pack, a 1.4 inch diameter.

Step Four: Sew Pom Poms on the Dress

Once you have your pom poms made, place them on your dress to make sure you like the way they look. Then begin to sew them on with a needle and thread.

I liked the way it looked with 12 pom poms at the bottom of the dress, evenly spaced out, but you can add more. I also sewed three pom poms to each of the ends of the sleeves. The inspiration dresses had more pom poms on the bottom, but I liked having just 12.

Sewing tips:

• I sewed through the knot inside the pom pom at first to make sure I could get a secure hold on it.
• For the sleeves, I sewed each pom pom on the very end and all on one side.

Once you’ve got them all sewed on, you’re finished! And you’ve successfully achieved the look of a $141 dress for a fraction of the price.

DIY Pom Pom Dress Cost Breakdown

Since I had most of the materials already, I only had to buy two products to create this look, the dress ($16) and the yarn ($3.69). So I spent a grand total of $19.69 to get this look. That’s a savings of $121.32 if I had bought it for the retail price of $141.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this DIY post! Be sure to check out some of the below DIY projects if you’re feeling inspired!

• How to Reverse Tie Dye a Sweatshirt
• DIY Pearl Hoop Earrings
• How to Make a Pearl Hair Tie

Thanks for reading!

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