Doll Pom-Poms From Rubber Bands

Doll accessories can be surprisingly expensive over time. Here's a quick way to make pom-poms from rubber bands and ponytail holders. You can get 100-packs of rubber bands for $1.50 at Daiso. Here, I'm using them from a large box of rubber bands I had lying around, but the steps are the same.

For one pom-pom:

100-pack of rubber bands

1 ponytail holder

You'll also need a pair of scissors.

Instructables has a great tutorial for How to Tie a Slip Knot without using the ends of the string, which is a good thing because ponytail holders don't have an end.

Before pulling it tight, a loop with a slipknot in it looks like a pretzel.

Pull it very tight. Ponytail holders are great for this because they're very strong ... except at that rough spot where the ends are glued together. We'll be pulling parts of the ponytail holder through small loops, we need to keep track of this glued spot because it will catch on those loops.

A slipknot in a ponytail holder can slide either way. Make one side the large loop, and the other one the small loop. Make sure the glued spot is on the large loop side.

You can probably see where this is headed.

Take the large loop side and thread it through the small loop. Make sure the glue spot gets pulled past the small loop.

Then, tighten the small loop until it looks like a solid ball of thread.

Lastly, pull as much of the large loop as you can through that tiny knot.

Instructables also has a great tutorial on How to Tie an Overhand Knot.

Tie an overhand knot with the large loop end.

Tighten it by separating the ponytail holder after the overhand knot, and pulling each side of the ponytail holder away from the other as hard as you can.

Take the scissors and cut the rubber bands across the middle.

The end result looks like a bunch of spaghetti, doesn't it?

Use what's left of the large loop to attach it to the doll's hand.

Go TEAM!!!