This cooler weather in October gives me the desire to cozy up my house with things that offer warmth and texture. Last week I worked on a DIY craft project to achieve that: a wool felt pom pom trivet for use in the kitchen or on the dining table.
I gained a love of crafting with wool felt pom poms when I completed this paper leaf garland for my holiday mantel. Their soft and fuzzy texture is just so charming and I love that you can buy them in larger sizes and in any color imaginable.
Plenty of DIYers have created a version of this felt trivet project and many of their projects do it with a needle and thread. I wanted to get the look but quicker and easier so I used hot glue instead of stitching the felt balls it together. Using the hot glue method, this really is one of the quickest and easiest DIY projects I’ve ever done.
For this craft project I used the Arrow Fastener Dual Temperature Glue Gun with wool felt pom poms purchased in four colors and a cork base found on Amazon.
I purchased 2cm wool felt pom poms in colors that were fall hues but would also complement my kitchen. The colors you see are gray, snow, stone, and olive wool felt pom poms from Crafty Wool Felt on Etsy (the shop 90+ colors available).
The process is incredibly simple. Find the middle of the cork trivet base and glue the first felt ball down. Work your way around with hot glue, holding each pom pom in place for about 10 seconds to keep the arrangement tight.
I confess the ideas started out as a circle trivet but as I got to the edges I thought at the last second, why not turn this into a hexagon instead? It’s just a matter of squeezing the glued wool felt balls into corners and making straight lines around the perimeter. If you want to recreate this shape take it one felt ball at a time, holding each one in place as you form the geometric shape. Or you could trim the cork base into that shape beforehand.
Consider protecting your final trivet with a spray of ScotchGuard to resist stains.
The textures of these wool felt balls are oh so cozy to the touch and you can recreate these in any color palette or pattern you like. If you create your own, I’d love to see what color combinations you choose!
Some of you might question if the cork visible underneath. It is just a little bit if you look at the cork directly from a straight angle. You could use thinner cork bases and not have that issue, but since it sits on top of a counter or tabletop it’s not too noticeable.
It’s a fun and easy afternoon craft project, perfect for a rainy day, and a project you can complete in under an hour, just in time to enjoy a hot cup of tea. :)
Happy Fall, y’all.
*This post brought to you in partnership with Arrow Fastener tools! All opinions are mine, thank you for supporting the brands that support this blog. :)
Love this!
Going to go with a long rectangle for our family of six. Thinking of a modified table runner. We have a deep black/brown stain in the table, so some deep tones with a burst of bright. Have you seen these Pom-poms of sorts available at Michaels? Sometime soon a girl needs to see craft stuff up close!?
Lovely idea! You’ll need a lot of felt balls for that but great idea to extend to a runner.
I haven’t seen this size or the same variety of colors at Michaels. You really do want to use the thicker larger ones if you’re using hot glue like I did. The thickness creates a barrier so the glue is not reactivated.
I repaired a lampshade with a hot glue gun. The heat from the lightbulb reactivated the glue. I wonder if you will have that problem with hot items on your trivet?
Unlikely, I used it with my hot teapot and that didn’t happen, but I’ll keep an eye out and report back if it does. These 2cm felt balls are thick enough, but yes you’d likely have that problem with smaller ones.
Looks great, Katie! Thanks for sharing!
I was wondering the same thing about the glue being reactivated by the heat of a kettle or teapot. If you scotch guarded the finished project, would that protect it from the heat too, I wonder? Not sure. But this is a really pretty project and Marion’s idea for a table runner sounds great too.
Can you tell us roughly how many poms are used?
Approx. 100 for this project
A sponsored post about a pom-pom trivet, without even a word about the shooting in Las Vegas?
That’s rather unfair Cindy. I mentioned my sorrow on Instagram. Posting creative and contractually obligated content on this blog does not take away from the tragedies of both the violence in Las Vegas and the devastation in Puerto Rico. I do not ignore the sufferings in the world. I mourn in my own way and offer support where I can. This world is hurting and in need of change. Meanwhile let’s give each other more kindness and understanding.
We were in Monterey for a long weekend last weekend. It was gorgeous and I loved wearing a jacket! We have been unseasonably warm in St. Louis this year. I’m ready to break out the hot tea, but it’s just not cool enough yet. Adorable trivet!
I am ordering the wool pom poms now! I showed my 10 year old daughter and she is so excited to get started on this project! She is way more crafty than me, so I thought if I enlisted her help it would come out much better ;) Thank you for the fun and useful idea!