How to make a yarn tassel in 5 minutes: Step-by-step photo tutorial

Tassels are a great way to quickly and easily embellish clothes accessories or home wears. Whether it’s a shawl, scarf, bag, cushion, key ring or curtain tie, they add an element of fun and are a fantastic way to use up left over yarn.

Below is a step-by-step 5 minute tassel tassel tutorial

You will need

• Yarn – the amount depends on how big you want to go!
• Yarn needle
• Sharp scissors
• A solid item to wrap your yarn around. This should be the size you want the length of your tassel to be. Most tutorials will show a square of cardboard but here I use a fish slice because it was there and it was the right size for my project! More commonly I use the lid to a Tupperware box!

Okay, now you have your materials lets go

How to make your tassel

Wrap the yarn round your chosen tool until the yarn reaches the required thickness.

I wrapped the yarn around 25 times but you can keep wrapping until you have your required thickness. Remember that the yarn on both sides of your template will all be included in the tassel

Fasten off the yarn at the same end you started winding.

Insert a shorter piece of the same yarn into the loops you have created at the opposite end to your cut yarn.

Tie it securely around the looped yarn. This is the top of your tassel

Take a second, contrasting piece of yarn and insert it at the other end of the loops. Tie it loosely (you will use this later to help you cut the loops)

Slide the loops off your tool

Take another piece of yarn and position it about 2cm (or as required) from the top of your tassel. Leaving a tail, wrap it tightly about 5 times around the top of the tassel

Use a yarn needle to secure the wrap, making sure you weave in both ends.

Pull the contrasting bit of yarn at the bottom of the tassel tight

Use this contrasting yarn to guide your scissors through all the loops.

Cut through the loops at the bottom of the tassels. When the contrast yarn is free, you know you have cut through all the loops!

Trim the ends

If you want to get super straight ends, you might want to try this technique I use for cutting fringing straight, though I would only work this on smaller tassels. Always be careful with sharp cutting implements!

Finishing

Note that you may wish to block or steam your tassel, especially if the yarn has been wound tightly. You can try this by hanging it over a steaming kettle (please be careful not to burn yourself!) or ironing it or, and this is my favourite, using hair straighteners on it!

Note – if you are using acrylic yarn, do not apply heat directly as this will melt it! Use steam or place a thick towel between the yarn and the heat source!

Then attach your yarn to the item it was intended for

You are done!

I hope you found this useful! Check out my other yarny craft tutorials here.