Graduation Tassel Tutorial

It’s graduation season and you may need a tassel for one of Lori’s many great graduation cards. The card that I’m making a tassel for is Lori’s 5×7 Gate Fold Graduation Card (SVG, Silhouette). Here is how I make them. I start with a yellow-gold color. Of course, you can choose your own color that will coordinate with your graduate’s school colors.

I then cut TWO 6-inch pieces. These pieces will be used to attach the tassel to the card and to assure that the tassel stays together. Set those aside.

Next, I start to wrap the thread through my fingers so that I can hold the end piece securely. This is also when I decide the appropriate length of my tassel for my project. For this project, the tassel is about 4 inches long. make sure to add about half an inch as you will trim the ends to even them up.

Then I wrap the thread around my fingers until I feel like I have enough thread to make a good tassel for my project. For this card, I did about 15 wraps.

Then I tie one of those 6-inch pieces at the top, doubling the thread so that I have 2 3-inch pieces after knotting the the thread. This will be the piece that gets threaded through the card’s hat top.

Then I will add the second 6-inch thread to wrap the threads together. I will tie this in a secure knot. If I feel like the thread isn’t feeling too secure I will put a small dot of super glue on the knot to help secure it.

Then I will cut the bottom thread pieces as well as the tied and knotted threads to evenly trim them up.

To help thread the tassel through the cap, I use some of my favorite liquid glue and add a small dot of glue to the ends and then twist the threads together. Set this aside to dry for a few minutes to make a “needle”.

When the glue is dry, go ahead and thread it through the hole in the cap, knotting the thread on the underside of the cap. I will usually knot it a couple of times to make a big enough knot so that it doesn’t slip through the hole.