Friday, June 15, 2012

Head Over Heels Friday: Accessorizing with DIY Tassels! Tutorial Included!

Thanks to a fun little craft lunch I had with coworkers this week, I'm Head Over Heels for Tassels! 

They are chic little accessory piece for you OR your home decor, plus you can make your own in a few easy steps for under $1!!!  Check out my DIY tassel creations....

 There possibilities for adding them to your shoes or accessories are endless, I loved all of these ideas!


Adding them to your home decor is a little trickier, but I thought these were pretty chic examples!
Tassel Trim Window Panel   Black Tassel Furniture Accessories

Now I have to give my standard "Hammers and High Fives" to my work gal pals Lauren and Katie Lee for teaching me this new DIY skill!  I know there are plenty of these tutorials out there, but I think mine might be a simplified version (no cardboard needed).  Let's get started!

You can make tassels out of different materials (yarn, fabric, leather, etc.). For the tutorial, I used six strand cotton floss with a metal ring.  You can use as little or as much floss as you'd like, the more you use the thicker/bigger the tassel will be.

First, remove the paper wrap from the floss but KEEP IT IN THE LOOP AS PACKAGED!  That is the cardboard time saving step.  Next, carefully cut a 10-20 inch piece of floss to be used in later steps (shown in left photo).  Then, carefully line up the floss, lay it flat, and using a small piece of floss (or thread, this ends up getting cut off near the end) tie a knot around the middle of the looped floss.
Once the middle it tied together, grab scissors and cut the looped ends open on each side (show in left photos below).  Then take the metal ring and place over the middle section where the knot was tied.  Remove the floss/thread knot and fold in half. 
Take the 10-20 inch piece of floss you cut at the beginning and wrap around the folded floss just below the metal ring (shown below).  Lastly, trim the ends of the floss as needed to make sure your tassel has a clean finished look!
There you have it, easy as pie right?!?!  You can make them any size and length depending on how you want to use it.

  Here's another look at my lamp accessory piece, I made the tassel thinner and longer.
For the necklace I made, I actuall found the perfect chain in my grandma's jewelry box (which my aunt passed along to me).  I store my jewelry in the bottom two drawers but kept my grandmother's jewelry in the top.
I remembered that she had a couple gold chain necklaces and sure enough one of them looked perfect with the tassels I had made....
Super cute right?!?  I love it even more because of that sentimental touch!

Are you Head Over Heels for Tassels and this tutorial too?!?

What else are you falling for this week?

Glad it is the weekend!  I'm totally going to finish my chair project (finally)! 
Have a wonderful weekend everybody, hope you cross off something from your to-do list too!

8 comments:

  1. What a great idea. I especially like the adding it to shoes or as a necklace.

    Deb

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  2. Such a cute idea! I have lots of embroidery floss and a couple of old gold chains from my Mom, so I think I'll give it a shot! Even have an old locket from my 90 year old Aunt...

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  3. Such a cute idea and sooo simple! Great job!

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  4. This is super cute!!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the tassel necklace!!!

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  5. Love tassel, Thanks for sharing your tutorial :)

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  6. so simple. genius. I'm in love. totally going to pull out my embroidery floss and do this for a necklace!!

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  7. Just discovered your site and tutorial when I was searching for a tassel DIY. I needed to make a quick, easy, and stylish ornament for a party I'm heading to this afternoon, and yours definitely hit the bill! Now I can't wait to make more for myself ;)

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