Experimenting with Needlelace Tassels

I made these tassels for a friend's event some months back. I have wanted to try to recreate the style of woven tassel heads I have seen in some extant Elizabethan pieces, and this was my first experiment.

  The tassels are created in by winding threads over the hands, as seen in this picture tutorial: : http://broidermebethan.blogspot.com/2017/05/a-century-challenge-simple-tassels.html

The tassels were made out of crochet cotton because I wanted a fairly robust tassel. Silk would look very nice, I think.

Once the tassels were made up, I took a length of crochet cotton and anchored it with a big knot inside the head of the tassel, bringing the thread up near the centre of the tassel head. I then worked a detached buttonhole stitch around and around the tassel head, anchoring it to itself with a discreet knot when I reached the bottom. I then hid the tail of the thread back inside the body of the tassel before trimming the length.

The final part of the exercise was to add the rings of blue and white buttonhole stitch around the base of the tassel head. 

I'm really pleased with how these turned out. I would like to experiment a bit more with this style of tassel and examine images of extant ones. I think I remember seeing tassel making in Jacqui Carey's Sweet Bag book, but, as is always the way, I did not have a copy to hand when I needed it, so I had to work from  vague memories and imagination.

A selection of sixteenth and seventeenth century French tassels from the Met Museum metmuseum.org

 via Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/292945150746851405/

 

Making Tassels

I spent some time recently making tassels. It is another one of those quick little tasks that can really make the difference to an item. They are great on chairs, bags, clothing and banners and can really make an item look complete.

  
I always have grand plans to decorate the head of the tassel with detached needle lace - but there never seems to be enough time!

You can find a tassel making tutorial here: http://broidermebethan.blogspot.com/2017/05/a-century-challenge-simple-tassels.html


This portrait of a youth  by the Florentine School, traditionally identified as Francesco I de'Medici, shows tiny tassels on the ends of the shirt ties:

Image from: https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/paintings/florentine-school-late-16th-century-portrait-of-5287723-details.aspx