Throwback Thursday - 2001 (Part 8)

Six Embellished Tassels


Tassel with Needlelace-Covered Head

This was a fun challenge, though it took some practice to get the needlelace to look symmetrical. It also takes a bit of finesse to keep the increases and decreases from looking too obvious. I learned it's very important to keep from piercing the fibers of the tassel head as I worked the lace.

This tassel is six inches long and made from brown 4-ply acrylic yarn. The needlelace is stitched with #5 perle coton.

Tassel with Whipped Spider Stitch Head

So ... think about technique here, rather than the ugly colors, OK? For this tassel, you divide the head into equal sections, then cover the head with a whipped spider stitch. It adds color and texture to the tassel head.

This tassel is six inches long and made from 4-ply acrylic yarn. The whipped spider stitch is stitched with #5 perle coton.

Tassel with Multiple Heads

I love this tassel! It was extremely easy to make, but packs a big visual punch. You simply put three collars around the tassel to form three heads. You've got to pull the collar in very tightly to get the poof you need. Wouldn't this type of tassel make an impressive statement as a curtain tieback, especially if made from a shiny rayon fiber and a collar of contrasting cording?

This tassel is 10 inches long and made from 4-ply acrylic yarn.

Tassel with Sectioned Head

I chose to divide my head into three sections, wrapped in coordinating fiber. Then I added a bell in the center.

This tassel is 8 inches long and made from 4-ply acrylic yarn. The sections and collar are wrapped in 4-ply yarn. 

I used a silver-colored jingle bell in the center

Covered Cord

We learned to to this technique in order to make the following tassel. It reminded me a lot of making coiled baskets when I was in high school. You basically wrap a narrow thread tightly around a cord about the diameter of a clothesline. It's the kind of thing to do while watching TV when you have a foot and a half of cord to cover.

Tassel with Chinese Knotting

This tassel is mostly about the hanging cord, and a little about the collar. I started with a 18 inch long cord, and covered it with crewel wool yarn. The cord was tied into a cross knot, then attached to a fairly plain tassel. I added some extra wraps around the hanging cord at the crown of the tassel head to secure the thick hanging cord.

For the collar, I mimicked the colors used in the covered cord by first making a dark green collar, then adding a lighter green collar on top of it, allowing the dark green to show at the top and bottom of the collar.

This tassel is 6 inches long and made from 4-ply acrylic yarn. The collar is made with crewel wool yarn. 

I'll share the last four tassels from this correspondence course in my next #throwbackthursday post.