Last week I shared a tutorial for making a notebook out of paint chips with some cute handmade tassels attached. In that post I promised a tassel tutorial for making your own tassels and here it is! Below you will find a step by step DIY for making tassels out of embroidery thread or crochet thread and yarn. Enjoy!
Supplies Needed >> Embroidery Thread or Crochet Thread, Yarn, Gold 2-Ply Lame Cord, Gold Jewelry Jump Rings (small & large), Gold Jewelry Closures (small & large), 2 pair of Jewelry Making Pliers (I like the pointed end ones), & Scissors.
Step 1 >> Fold your yarn/thread back and forth on itself until you have a nice little bundle. You can also wrap it around some cardstock or your hand here. The length can vary according to how long you want each tassel to be. (Remember that this first length will end up being folded in half.) The thickness is dependent upn how big your jewelry chain rings are. If you get too much, it simply won't fit into the rings. I found that with the supplies I used I could do about 9-10 lengths for the thicker yarn and about 23 lengths for the thinner thread. Go ahead and play with this part at the beginning to get a feel for what you like and what will fit with your rings.
Step 2 >> Place the entire bundle you created in step 1 through your Jump Rings. The yarn goes onto the big rings and the thread goes onto the small rings.
Step 3 >> Fold the bundle in half over one side of the jump ring. Be sure to line up the ends of the thread as closely as possible.
Step 4 >> Take the gold lame thread and wrap it around the bundle close to the jump ring. You will want to wrap it around enough times so that it holds well and then tie it off with a double knot. I chose the gold lame thread here because I LOVE gold (the obvious choice) but you could also use thread or yarn instead.
Step 5 >> Use scissors to cut off the ends of the tassel and to trim it all up so the pieces are even. This is where you can cut the tassel to the length you want it. As you can see in the first image of all my tassels I played with the lengths and left some longer than others for variety.
Step 6 >> Take a small jump ring and use your pliers to pull it open. IMPORTANT TIP: Be sure to open it by moving one side away from you and one side toward you, rather than pulling it open horizontally. This will allow it to come back together nicely and maintain the circle shape at the same time.
Step 7 >> Thread the open jump ring onto the jump ring that is attached to the tassel.
Step 8 >> Now thread the closure piece onto the open jump ring as well.
Step 9 >> Use the pliers to close the jump ring by pulling the two ends back toward the center (opposite from how you opened them). If you opened it correctly, it will come back together nice and tight in it's original shape.
And here is a closer look at the finished tassels in both sizes! Adding the jewelry closure piece at the ends allows you to use your tassels in so many ways! You can hook it onto a jewelry chain and make a necklace out of it, or you can hook the smaller ones onto a bracelet! You can also hook your new handmade tassels onto a larger ring and make them into a keychain.
You can also leave the closure piece off and just use jump rings to attach your tassels to things. Here I used multiple jump rings to hook some onto the binder ring of this mini album to add some texture and color to the cover!
You can also see on the paint chip notebooks that I left the closure piece off and just threaded the jump rings onto the binder ring.
There really are so many possibilities with these and once you get the hang of it, they are pretty quick and easy to make! I like to make a bunch at a time so that I have them on hand for different projects! They would also be a fun and cute addition to a package! Have fun and let me know if you have any questions!
Happy Tassel Making!
xoxoxoxo
