Once you start making tassels, it’s pretty hard to stop! They come to life so simply and dance around so satisfyingly, the tassel bug is definitely contagious. We caught it recently when we made our Beads + Tassels Necklaces, and so this week, we channeled this newfound tassel love into this beautiful Wool Wrap with Silk Tassels!

Wool Wrap with Silk Tassels | Purl Soho

With no sewing at all, this Wrap is all about tassels. You start with a cut rectangle of Lanecardate’s gorgeously soft and warm Lana Cotta Canberra wool (no hems or seams!). Then you edge the fabric with an abundance of luminous tassels, using our handy Small Tassel Maker and our sumptuous Spun Silk.

Wool Wrap with Silk Tassels | Purl Soho

This straightforward construction leads to an uncomplicated elegance with a playful flair… perfect for this season’s celebrations! -Molly

Wool Wrap with Silk Tassels | Purl Soho

Materials

Our Wool Wrap with Silk Tassels Bundles include…

  • 3/4 yard of Lanecardate’s Lana Cotta Canberra (Please Note: The materials for this project are no longer available. To search our full selection of fabric and yarn, click the respective links!)
  • 1 skein of Purl Soho’s Spun Silk, 100% silk
  • A 110-yard spool of Gutermann’s Cotton Sewing Thread
  • Purl Soho’s Small Tassel Maker

You will also need…

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Our Wool Wrap with Silk Tassels Bundles come in three palettes, from left to right (shown above): Oatmeal, Light Gray, and Dark Gray. Each includes…

  • Oatmeal 3/4 yard of Lana Cotta Canberra in Oatmeal
    • 3/4 yard of Lana Cotta Canberra in Oatmeal
    • 1 skein of Spun Silk in Golden Pear
    • Cotton Sewing Thread to match the silk
    • A Small Tassel Maker
  • Light Gray
    • 3/4 yard of Lana Cotta Canberra in Light Gray
    • 1 skein of Spun Silk in Silver Bark
    • Cotton Sewing Thread to match the silk
    • A Small Tassel Maker
  • Dark Gray
    • 3/4 yard of Lana Cotta Canberra in Dark Gray
    • 1 skein of Spun Silk in Candle White
    • Cotton Sewing Thread to match the silk
    • A Small Tassel Maker

Size

Finished Dimensions: Approximately 27 X 56 inches

Pattern

Cut

Square up the cut ends of the fabric. Do not cut the selvage edges.

Make the Tassels

You will actually be making two tassels at a time, which is a slightly different process than making one.

Wool Wrap with Silk Tassels | Purl Soho

Wrap the yarn around long side of the Tassel Maker 5 ½ times. Snip the yarn so that one end is at the top of the Tassel Maker and one is at the bottom.

Wool Wrap with Silk Tassels | Purl Soho

Thread a 14-inch length of the Sewing Thread onto your needle and pass it under all of the wraps at one end of the Tassel Maker. Tie a square knot around the wraps, but do not include the yarn tail closest to this end. Do not trim the Sewing Thread tails.

Wool Wrap with Silk Tassels | Purl Soho

Rotate the Tassel Maker and tie the other end of the wraps in the same manner.

Wool Wrap with Silk Tassels | Purl Soho

Pull the wound wraps off the Tassel Maker.

Wool Wrap with Silk Tassels | Purl Soho

Now cut a 15-inch length of the Sewing Thread, which we’ll call the Tie Thread. Pinch the top of the silk loops, as well as the tail-end of the Tie Thread. Let the silk tail that you didn’t tie hang down.

Wool Wrap with Silk Tassels | Purl Soho

Keeping your pinch tight, wrap the Tie Thread 10 times tightly around the pinched loop, ¼ inch below its top. Tie the two Tie Thread ends together in a tight square knot, securing these wraps.

Snip the Tie Thread’s tails so they are the same length and thread them both through the needle as if they were one thread. Then push the needle down through the center of the wraps and pull taut. Snip the tails to be 1 inch long.

Wool Wrap with Silk Tassels | Purl Soho

Rotate the Silk so the other side is now at the top and repeat all of these steps so that both ends look the same.

Wool Wrap with Silk Tassels | Purl Soho

Measuring from the top of the loops at one end, snip the first tassel off at ¾ inch.

Repeat to create the second ¾-inch tassel. Trim them both to be nice and neat.

Repeat this entire process 36 more times to create a total of 74 tassels.

Sew on the Tassels

Note: It can be hard to tell, but Lana Cotta Canaberra has a right side and a wrong side. It is felted stockinette fabric so the right side is the knit side of the fabric. If you look very closely you will see the “V” shapes of the knit stitch on this side. The wrong side will have the “U” shapes of purl bumps.

With the right side of the wool facing up, use the fabric marker to make a scant ¼-inch vertical mark every ¾ of an inch along one of the selvage edges of the cut wool. Make the beginning and ending marks a scant 1/8 inch from the fabric’s corner. This edge will be 27 inches wide so you should end up with 37 marks.

Repeat at the opposite selvage edge of the wool.

Wool Wrap with Silk Tassels | Purl Soho

Snip the Sewing Thread ends at the top of the tassel so that they are the same length and thread them through the sewing needle.

At the first mark on the wool, take a tacking stitch by passing through the top of the mark and then across the top of the tassel. Repeat two more times, sewing these stitches fairly loosely, as you would to sew on a button. The slightly slack area of the stitches between the fabric and the tassel is called the Neck.

Wool Wrap with Silk Tassels | Purl Soho

After you have taken these three stitches, wrap the needle around the Neck three times, again as if you were sewing on a button.

Wool Wrap with Silk Tassels | Purl Soho

Tie a simple overhand knot around the Neck and pull it to secure the wraps.  Push the needle down through the top of the tassel, through the middle of the wraps, and then snip the Sewing Threads to align with the bottom of the tassel.

You have now sewn on the first tassel! Repeat for the other 73 tassels!

Wool Wrap with Silk Tassels | Purl Soho