DIY Tassel Bag Charm

Honestly, who doesn’t love tassels?! We adore them hanging from handbags, shoes, jewelry, and just about anything. So when we discovered that super soft, pre-cut leather fringe was so readily availableto ship, we immediately whipped up a handful of danglers for our barren bags. After all, more is more is more! And of course you can make tassels using old fashioned method, but if you’re ever short on time this is a speedy and easy shortcut.

You’ll need:

• 8-9″ piece of leather fringe
• tacky glue
• 2-5 inches of ball chain
• 1 ball chain connector
• rubber band
• scissors

The leather fringe from Tandy Leather comes in a 36″ strip. Divide the strip into four 8-9″ pieces to create 4 tassels.

From one of the fringe pieces, cut off a single fringe. Cut an inch or so off the top. Place a small drop oftacky glue in the upper right corner of the inside of the fringe piece.

Place the longer strip on top of the glue and another drop of glue on top of that. Fold the leather strip over to create a loop. Allow to dry for a couple of minutes.

Now start rolling around the loop tightly. Place a very small strip of glue along the top of the fringe and continue to roll.

Finish the wrap with a small amount of glue at the very end. Wrap a rubber band around the top of the tassel until it completely finishes drying. Don’t worry if any of the glue seeps out as it will eventually dry clear.

Thread the tassel, or tassels, onto a few inches of ball chain and add the connector to secure it.

We dare you to make just one!

DIY Tassel Earrings

You’ll need:

• 25 meters (79 feet) of bunka cord
• 2 corrugated brass beads 5/8″
• 2 corrugated brass caps 1/2″
• 2 eyepins
• 2 earwires
• E6000
• pliers
• wire clippers
• scissors

Japanese bunka cord is a very fine, high quality knitted rayon square cord that is perfect for making tassels. It usually comes in 6 meter skins. Start by unraveling the skeins of cord. Cut 2 3″ pieces and set them aside. Then cut the rest into multiple 8-10″ pieces. (For this tutorial, I used shades of peach and orange but of course, you can use just one color.) Separate the strands into two groups, approximately 20 strands each.

Lay the strands flat and pull them up from the middle. Take one of the 3″ pieces and slip it under the middle of the bunch. Tie into a double knot and trim away any excess.

Thread the eyepin through the bottom of the bead cap. Insert a small amount of E6000 into the bead cap.

Take the bunch of cord and stuff tied off middle section all the way into the bead cap. Hold in place for several seconds. Thread the corrugated bead on to of the bead cap.

Take the pliers and bend the eyepin 90 degrees to the left. Then wrap the eyepin clockwise around the right side of the pliers.

Bring the eyepin all the way around. While gripping the loop with the pliers, take the excess eyepin and start wrapping around the base of the loop.

After winding it around twice, trim away any excess wire.

Thread the loop through the earwire and trim the tassel to a desired length.

Repeat the same steps to complete your new pair of swinging tassel earrings!

So glam, so easy!