How to make half-moon tassel embellishments

A while back I was browsing Anthropology and came across their selection of embellished lampshades. I saw their half-moon tassel embellished lampshades and suddenly had an idea of how to make my own which I want to share with you today. These aren’t only great for lampshades but can be used on baskets, purses, earrings, necklaces, or whatever floats your boat.

You guys know I am a big fan of tassels and have plenty of tutorials on how to make them as accessories for your home and fashion. One of my favorites is my stacked tassel tutorial where I used embroidery yarn, my leather tassel tutorial where I used remnants from an old couch, or my huge tassel tutorial where I used dollar store items including a mop. But this time I used macrame yarn again simply because I have it at home in abundance.

Let’s get started…

Materials needed to make the half-moon tassel embellishment

• I used ivory and black 4mm macrame yarn
• sharp scissors
• wooden half-moons
• Dremel and drillbit
• needle and yarn
• pencil
• comb
• accessories of your choice to add embellishments to

 

Instructions

Video instructions below

(click the triangle on the image to watch and if you are using a tablet or phone, hold your device horizontal for better viewing)

 

Start out by marking the placement of the 9 holes on the wooden half-moons. I marked the center and outsides first as you can see in my video tutorial and then filled in the rest which makes even placement easier.

After that, it is time to drill the holes. I placed a piece of wood scrap under the pieces so I wouldn’t damage the surface underneath. The Dremel made drilling super easy and the wood didn’t split like it usually does with a heavy-duty drill.

Tip: I tried out my woodburning tool to burn holes into the wood which worked as well, just takes a lot longer. I do like the look of the burned edges in the wood though.

Next, I cut the macrame yarn pieces. Like I mentioned above, the reason I used macrame yarn once again is mainly that I have plenty of it on hand, it’s affordable and easy to work with. You could use other yarn as well though.

I used two 5″ inch pieces of yarn per tassel and there are 9 tassels per half-moon, so you need to cut 18 5 inch pieces for each half-moon.

Unravel each strand of yarn into separate pieces.

If you want the tassels to be less thick then use less strands after unraveling.

Comb the two unraveled strands of macrame yarn.

I used some unraveled yarn from a different scrap piece to tie off the tassel in the middle of the 5″ inch pieces. It’s just like any of my other tassel tutorials which you can also see in my umbrella tassel tutorial for example.

Time to tie the tassel head…

… and knotting the tassel to one of the holes in the half-moon wood piece.

Trim the ends close to the knot but not too close.

Now repeat this 8 more times to finish the half-moon tassel embellishment but be sure that you keep the knotted ends on the same side, so the other side is clean and without knots.

I ended up trimming all the tassels to 2 inches all the way around.

To attach the half-moon tassel embellishments to the basket or lampshades, I used a needle and yarn like you would attach a button.

Make sure that you place the pretty side without the knots facing out and visible.

Let me show you what they look like on some baskets and lampshades…

My Anthropologie lamp shade knock off

Like I mentioned above these embellishments were inspired by the Anthropologie lampshades which they have in ivory and gray. I ended up making black and ivory tassels instead. For their version, they used gold metal half-moons which you could also do but it would end up being a lot more expensive and I happen to love the wood look.

Here I have them attached to my ivory lampshade and on my new blue lamp.

But I also attached them to my black lampshade.

Anthropologie’s other embellished lampshade below reminds me of my recent modern macrame tutorial. Maybe I should make that lampshade as well 😉

 

Half-moon tassel embellishments added to baskets

Ultimately I loved putting these half-moon tassel embellishments on baskets because they give them a really custom look. You could also add them to a clutch or purse.

I found the below unique basket at HomeGoods and decided to add the half-moon tassel embellishments with an added pom pom to the top. I also have a blog post about my pom pom making tips that you can check out. For this pom pom I wanted a more messy and imperfect look though.

Next, I found the below basket and bought two of them. One was turned into a hanging basket and the other one got my embellishments.

The end 😉 Is this something you would try to make? I love how they look!

Tschüß,

 

 

 

 

Check out my other tassel tutorials