DIY Mini Tassel Fringe

Most of us have that one inexpensive throw that needs a little sprucing up. Mine was a thin, 100% polyester material that stayed buried in one of the baskets in the living room, barely used, in part because it was a ‘spare’ but also, it was not one that I wished to display. Recently, however, I wanted to change all that and decided to add these mini tassels along the outer edge.

Tassels are definitely having a real ‘moment’ in home décor these days. They first seemed to turn up in fashion, including hand bags and jewelry, but now we are seeing tassels everywhere in the home from pillows to light pulls to bed skirts and throws. No longer relegated to the graduation cap, tassels are a cute little décor detail worth adding to some of your less-than-stellar home décor items.

If you’ve got a basic throw or lap blanket like the one I used for this project, why not try jazzing it up a little with a DIY mini tassel fringe? The tassels I created for this project are the easiest, simplest tassels you can make. No special gadgets are required. Just the following 4 materials:

• throw
• embroidery floss
• scissors
• threading needle

Creating Your Tassels

You will be creating 4 mini tassels out of each bundle of embroidery. First, remove the paper rolls from the ends and lay out your floss. It should look something like this.

Cut the floss in two.

Separate 4 threads from each bundle.

Take one bundle and cut in half.

To create your mini tassel, you will need one of the small cut bundles and 2 of the long threads. Place one cut bundle on top of a long thread, creating a cross, leaving one long end and one short end. Tie a knot.

Flip the bundle over and tie a second knot on the opposing side.

Tuck the small end against one side of the bundle.

Pinch the bundle together.

Place the other long thread underneath the pinched bundle.

Tie a knot around the upper portion of the bundle.

Tie a second knot on the opposite side.

To ensure that your knots do not unravel, tuck each strand into the middle of the tied bundle. Do this by inserting your needle into the interior and threading the needle with one of the loose ends.

Pull the needle through.

The loose end should be visible at the bottom of your tassel.

As with the first, feed the second loose end through the interior of the bundle. You should now have two long threads peeking out from under the tassel.

Now you are ready to snip the bottom fringe of the tassel, creating an even edge.

You’ve just created your first mini tassel!

Once you see how easy it is to create your first one, the rest are a piece of cake to make.

Attaching the Tassels

After you’ve created all your tassels, it’s time to begin attaching them to your throw.  Space yours out according to your personal taste. Mine were spaced out a little over an inch apart.

 When attaching your tassels to a thin throw like this one, the tricky part will be to ensure that they hang directly below. The best way to do this is to thread the long tail through the bottom edge of the throw as follows.

First, thread the tail through your needle and feed through the bottom edge. I started from the back side of the throw.

Pull the needle through leaving just enough thread between the tassel ‘head’ and bottom edge of the throw so that the tassel will hang directly below (and not against the back side of the throw). Then flip the back side of the throw down and push the needle through the top of the tassel ‘head.’

To ensure your tassel remains securely in place, repeat what you just did above by following the same path of the first loop. Namely, push the tip of the needle through the back side of the throw and through the same hole. Push upwards, then back down through the top of the tassel head once more, needle pointing down.

Flip the throw over, so that the back side faces you once again.

Now you will need to create a finishing knot on the back. To make it as neat as possible, push the needle through the knot you have already created. Tighten and repeat one or two more times.

Snip the tail.

Here is a view of the back side.

And a view of the front.

Give your first tassel a good tug to make sure you are satisfied with your knot before attaching the rest.

At this stage, you will want to sit back and relax.  It will take a while to attach all your tassels. Even little Napoleon couldn’t stay awake long enough to see the finished product 😉

Even though this throw is a square, lap throw, I attached the mini tassels along two edges only. For rectangular throws and blankets, attaching them to the shortest edges will also work best, but it’s really a matter of style and taste.

Once you are done, you now have a sweet little throw that is both practical and worth displaying 🙂

I love the way this turned out so much that I’m now displaying the throw on the blanket storage ladder in our living room, though I can’t decide between the ruffled look…

…or the neatly folded look.

I loved the final outcome of this project. Instead of burying this little throw in a basket, I now love displaying my lap-blanket-turned-chic-throw.  And it’s all due to adding a small DIY mini tassel fringe detail to it. I can hardly wait to add more tassels to something else 🙂  Stay tuned 🙂

For more inspiring crafts, DIY’s and decorating tips from around the web, check out Mad Skills.