3/02/2011

Tassel Tutorial

I did a post on some of the many tassels that I have made, and you can see that post here. Several people asked me if I would do a tutorial on tassel making, so today I will show you how I made these two tassels in less than 1 hour.

First, you need to select something that you want to make a tassel out of. You can make a tassel out of just about anything. I selected a paper mache bunny and a 25¢ garage sale bell with a rose painted on it.

I will concentrate on the bell first. You need to be able to tie a ribbon from your object to hang when it's completed. Luckily, the bell had two small holes in the upper back where the ringer inside is attached.


I cut the string off and took out the ball from inside.

Supplies needed are a button, decorative or plain paper, old spool that you would normally throw away, the bell in my case and 1/4 inch ribbon.
I threaded my ribbon through the two holes in the button, through the paper, through the spool and up through the bell and out those two holes in a loop fashion. Both ends of the ribbon should come out the top.  I did use hot glue on the paper before I quickly pulled the string tight. By threading this ribbon all the way through everything will hold the whole tassel together. The decorative paper is there for when someone turns the tassel over (to inspect your craftsmanship), they would see a cute button and pretty paper.

I then glued the spool to the bell using hot glue. This just keeps it stable because it wanted to rock inside the bell.

This is where you can get creative. Gather together your supplies for what you want the tassel made from. In this case, I wanted fringe as a base, then ribbon and finally a piece of feather boa was used. This is also a good way to use up scrap ribbon since it doesn't take much.
Start layering using the hot glue gun.
For the ribbons, you can use them straight or bend in two, hot glue ends together and then glue the tops to the spool. It just depends on the look you want. For calculating the size, I just held up the ribbon to the spool and sighted a measurement where I would glue it and where I wanted the ribbon to end. If you are doing looped ribbon, loop four ribbons first all the same size then glue them on the spool one at a time going around the spool. You will be building layers up the spool from the bottom to the top.

Keep layering. Your next row of ribbons would need to be glued in the open spaces between the previous ribbons.

When you get to the top of the spool, your final layer should be something that would go around vs. hang down. I used the feather boa piece for this.

Final step was to add a bow to the ribbon up top to make it look pretty. This is an area where you can do whatever floats your boat. Be creative.

Okay, back to the bunny. He didn't have any way for me to thread a ribbon all the way through him, so I used a screw eye, screwed and glued between his ears.


I did the spool, button and paper method the same way, but instead, I just glued the spool and ribbon to the under side of the bunny.  I did some of the same techniques as the bell, but I put the fringe over some ribbon instead of first and I also have some ribbon straight instead of all of them looped. Like I said, this is the creative fun part.


I added a bow at the finished area on the upper spool with a lace scrapbooking embellishment. This is the area where something needs to go around the upper spool to hide the last row of looped ribbon. Lastly, I simply tied a ribbon through the eye hook between his ears and he is finish and ready for Easter! If you don't have an empty spool, you can buy little wooden spools at the craft store in the unfinished wood aisle.

Tassels can be made in various ways. I have just shown you ONE way to easily build a tassel tail by just gluing layers of ribbon or fringe on a spool.

Please try this. It is not only fun and creative, but inexpensive and impressive. Hang it from a door knob, a dresser knob, a curtain, a lid on the wall like I did or just anywhere. Trust me, these are so easy, you will get addicted!!

NOTE: You should be able to click on most of the pictures to enlarge to see further details.
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20 comments:

  1. Hey Terry!

    I did pull your media room from your blog (it's beautiful!). I'm new to the whole blogging world, so don't really know the protical...can I do that?
    Let me know if I can't and I'll take it down right away.

    Thanks,
    -Ness

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  2. OMGoodness, Terry!!! You are the MASTER!!! I have aways wanted one of those high end tassels, and I found one at a local gift shop not even as pretty as yours, and it cost $137.00!!! I wanted it so bad, but I just couldn't buy it. But now I can make one on my own!!!! I think I can really do this! And I will have the time this weekend :D

    Thank you so very much for this tutorial. You have made my day!

    xoxoxo,
    Ricki Jill

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  3. I love your tassels. I'm going to try my hand at making some. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  4. These are so much fun to make, aren't they? I am always on the look out for "toppers" in the dollar store...yours are cute!

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  5. They turned out GREAT! Thanks so much for sharing!!!

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  6. What adorable tassels. I never realized they were so simple to make. Thanks for the terrific tutorial.

    I would love for you to link this to my party. The link just went up tonight. And be sure to come by and join the excitement for "Funny Faux Pas Follies" this Friday.

    By the way, I just joined you as a follower.

    Liz @ the Brambleberry Cottage
    http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

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  7. Terry, this is a great tutorial! You make it look so easy with your instructions. This project is on my to do list.

    Thanks for sharing,
    Tracy http://allthumbscrafts.blogspot.com

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  8. They are adorable, love the bunny one! Thanks for showing us the tutorial!

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  9. oh my, what a beautiful and adorable tassels! i just got to try this sometime! thanks for the tutorial and i'm your newest follower! Blessings, Susan

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  10. Adorable! Thanks for the tutorial! I always wondered how these cute little tassels were made.

    Jodie

    www.lovelaughteranddecor.blogspot.com

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  11. Cute, thanks for the tutorial you made it very easy to understand.

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  12. I love your tutorial and I have a bell - I'm going to be making one today and maybe more! Thank you for sharing, you've got a lot of different tassels, very creative and so very pretty! Love it! I'm your newest follower and hope you'll stop by my linky party this weekend and share this project! Have a great weekend.

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  13. Thanks so much for the great tutorial - I would love to make some soon! They would be fun for Easter...

    Chelsea

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  14. They are both awesome!! And thank you so much for the tutorial! I've always wanted to try to make a tassel but didn't know where to begin.

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  15. LOVE this! I've never thought of making these before because I thought they were too hard. You made it look effortless and completely beautiful. Oh please hug yourself--it's straight from me!!!!

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  16. Thanks for the step by step lessons on tassel making. Your project is adorable and your instructions are clear.

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  17. This is an awesome tutorial! I love your tassels! Thanks for teaching me how to make these. I'm off to find something cute to try one! I'm a new follower! I can't wait to see more of your great ideas!

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  18. Love this tutorial! Thanks so much for showing how you made your beautiful tassels. :)

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  19. I don't think tassels ever go out of style! It's been seven years since you posted this beautiful bell tassel tutorial and I cannot wait to make it! I'm a "newbie" to tassel making, but your tutorial is so perfectly detailed, I think I just might be able to make it! Thank you for sharing your lovely creativity!

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  20. Thank you so much for the tutorial. Love it !

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It makes me smile to hear from you!