tassel tips n tricks

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Over the years I’ve assimilated a few tips and tricks for making the perfect tassel – umm, aspiring to. I was simply going to share the link to this latest trick, except that the link does not open now without membership to the Japanese site/platform. Despite a fairly thorough search I couldn’t find a single video or pin where this trick was used, hence I made a quick collage.

With tassel earrings raking up quite a storm, it is a simple and neat trick to have in one's kitty. 

1. Cut a length of paper and roll it over the tassel. The length of the paper cylinder should be the desired length of tassel.
2. It is important that the cylinder is snugged up to the base of the tassel if one wants identical lengths as in earrings.
3. Then snip close to and along the lower edge of paper. Remove paper, and voilà, we have a neatly trimmed, perfect tassel each and every time!
4. This tip was shown in stepwise detail, by sekiraralace here to make red tassel earrings. 

Some more tassel-making links and tips

• Rachael Mohler’s video. 

• Silk thread tassel earrings using fork – uppunutihome’s video 
• Midway through the above video, notice how the threads curl and spread when she puts the scissors inside the tassel and cuts? Judith Connors had once highlighted this point in Craftree (sorry, don’t have a link) – Always cut across, never through the threads. This keeps the threads together and it really works.

There are loads more youtube videos, all pretty similar.

• When I shared Stephanie Wilson’s tip about using scrap threads, she sent me another tip – she adds a few strands of metallic scrap threads to the tassel!!!

• And lastly my own tips for a frayed tassel  

UPDATE (Apr 24, 2019): Patricia Lynn-Cobb has an excellent tutorial for a Great Tassel. Download the pdf from this post.

• DIY satin ribbon tassels video  

Do you have a tassel tip or trick or tutorial to share? I would love to add it to this list which will be on the Tatting Resources tab above. Waiting eagerly to hear from you …