Inspired by my friend Doreen's post about her cotton reel tassels here, I challenged my sewing group ladies to make some today. Doreen kindly sent basic directions and with those in hand we started scraping and soaking off the labels on the ends of the vintage wooden reels. When clean we dried them and used fine sandpaper to neaten the ends. Next we searched my stash for laces, braids etc for the body. We layered them to get a really luxurious look. As today was very hot in Sydney we mostly took the easy way out and used ready made tassels but one clever lady made a beaded multicoloured one. These were threaded onto a large wooden craft button which was then glued to the base of the reel. Next we made hanging loops which were glued into the top hole with clear craft glue through another large wooden button. The ladies all glued beads, sequins etc around the top to dress them up. I sewed some beads on one thin braid on top of another wider braid around the middle of my reel, the copper, gold and green one in the photo. Thanks for the great idea Doreen, we had so much fun with these today.
2 comments:
Wow Christine they look fabulous and I'm glad that the ladies enjoyed making them.
My grandmother used to make these, as well as she would use the clear prescription bottles and glue miniatures inside them then glue the lids on. She would then glue ribbon on the edges outside and she would make a ribbon hanger so that you could hang it from the tree.
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