Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Tassel mania




                      In our old house  I made full length panels of muslin for our dining room windows.  
                              These were just to frame our view and to give the space a bit of style. 

                             I really like the way the muslin looks in the light and when I found
                           a set of tassels at Goodwill they were just the finishing touch I wanted. 

                                        You can see them in the pic above on the tie backs. 
                                                      Standard, cream colored tassels. 
                                                                                    Pretty. 



                                  As time went on I knew I could dress them up somehow, 
                                so I  replaced them with something I came up with myself. 
                                         I enjoy trying things out to see how they work.

                           I started by stacking up and gluing some wood beads then painting them black, 
                                                 then Elmer's glue, then white craft paint. 
                                                                       
                                                                  Voila! Crackles!








I crashed my stash and found lace, beads, ribbon, yarn and fabric and cut 16" lengths. I cut the fabric into 1/2" strips and trimmed the ends at an angle. Then I got to the fun part; putting it all together!

I layered about 2 dozen pieces of "flair" and tied them in the middle with a long piece of muslin. I used a long upholstery needle with a large eye to run the muslin up through the center of the wooden beads. I tacked hot glue at the junction of finial and tassel and again at the top where the loop came out of the finial. I added beading and lace and ribbon and bows to the finial and then some buttons and....okay, I'm done. Voila!




SO much more my style! I think they look a bit like gauzy, summery, designer dresses worn by frail, painfully beautiful European models but that's just me. And since I can't leave well enough alone I made some tassels for my Etsy shop. Now THOSE are a bit more elegant and poofy and French looking. I've got a healthy price tag on them too after I researched the active tassel sales on Etsy, but I may have to adjust that, what do you think?


Just a bit more flair and pouf to the skirt and a wonderful music theme finial and fabric. I like it. I like it alot!

The music notes fabric perfectly matches the vintage sheet music I decoupaged on the finial, which I've buffed with gold to match the fabric highlights. Such a pretty poofy thing!



Here's the Belle of the Ball coming in at 19" from the tip of her loop right down to her gorgeous bouffant skirt. My tassels make me smile! And, this may be familiar to many of you, my husband thinks I'm crazy every time I show him a new one.

Have a great day, everyone!

9 comments:

  1. That looks so amazing! I love the classic colors!

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  2. Please, please give us the tutorial on crackle painting with glue! I would love to know that trick. Your tassels are adorable!

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  3. Ann, these are lovely! I especially love the music notes ribbon in there. That is soo pretty. I like them all "dressed up" :)

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  4. Love the music themed ones!!

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  5. Super fabuloso

    lovely blog u have here
    Thanks for the visit n lovely comment
    i really love ur art so joining u as follower hope u will join me back so that we are up to date with each other's work
    Hugs
    Shahana

    http://craftliciouss.blogspot.com/

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  6. OMGosh, lovvvve the tassels. Diane

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  7. You are so creative!! I love the way your tassels turned out! Thanks for visiting my blog!

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  8. Just found you, and you are fabulously creative. I am now a follower.

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  9. You Are Wonderfully Creative .

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I love your comments and read every one. They let me know if I'm on a good track with my blog. Thanks for stopping by!

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