I am very excited! After all the detailed photo tutorials for this project, we finally reached the very last step of the fast and easy pouch tutorial.

…and yes, also this posting is again about tassels. They are (and will always be) one of my favorite medieval embellishments – especially when it comes to embroidered pouches. 😀

How I made the tassels for the bottom of the pouch was already the topic of the last posting. In the following photo tutorial you can read about the handling of the drawstrings for this pouch. In addition you will also see how I attached the tassel securely to the drawstring.

Todays motto is:
“Pouch drawstring & how to attach a tassel to the drawstring”

Like always in life, there is more than just one way to do something. And there are several ways to attach a “fast and easy tassel” to the bottom of a pouch, a cord or a drawstring.

In my posting “how to make fast and easy tassels” for the needle roll project I already showed you one good way to attach a tassel to the end of a cord. Today I will show you another good way how to attach a tassel securely to the end of your pouch drawstring.

But first things first – before we can attach the tassel, we need a drawstring to attach it to.

Pouch drawstrings

[emember_protected not_for=4 do_not_show_restricted_msg=1]…I am sorry, but this content is restricted to users with Premium membership.First we need two cords for the draw strings. The length for each of this draw strings should be at least twice the width of the pouch and a little bit extra.

A very good and period technique to create this cords is “braiding”. Some time ago I got very keen on a special braiding technique that many of you will know under the name “fingerloop”. At the next picture you can see the threads for the cord before and after the “fingerloop” technique.

It takes some time and practice but you can easily create lovely cords with this “fingerloop” technique. For the cord, as you can see it on the picture above, I used the number “29. A Broad Lace Chevron” braiding pattern from the book Tak V Bowes Departed – A 15th Century Braiding Manual Examined.

I can highly recommend this book to everyone who would like to make period and nice looking braided cords/bands. Unfortunately it seems that nowadays it is rather difficult to get hold of a copy of this book. Therefore – if you can get it via your library or find it for an affordable price – please get yourself a copy! 😀

But even if you don’t have or can’t get this book, there is still another good way to learn “fingerloop braid”/”finger loop braiding”. There are already many different videos from several “fingerloop” enthusiasts available on Youtube as well as some interesting websites covering this topic – I made a quick search with googles help for you:

• Fingerloop Braids by Mistress Rhiannon y Bwa (Lois Swales) & Mistress Azza al-Shirazi (Zoe Kuhn Williams)
• Loop Braiding by Ingrid Crickmore
• Sample Fingerlooped Braids from a Fifteenth-Century Manuscript by Carolyn Priest-Dorman

If you haven’t tried the “fingerloop” technique till now, please pick a tutorial/video you like and just try it. But be careful, it can be addictive once you tried it. 😀

…and now back to our pouch tutorial and the drawstrings. As you can see at the picture on the left, I am using one of my nailbinding needles for the next step. If you don’t have such a nice big needle, you can use everything that is a little bit bigger and to which you can easily attach a string.

Btw. in the past I used bigger safety pins for this task until I got this lovely nailbinding needles from Ragnhild, a very nice friend and artisan from Norway,.

For those of you who have never pulled a cord through a drawstring casing before:
You need something nice and rather big to get your drawstring cord through the drawstring casing. Whatever you use shouldn’t be too pointy or too big to avoid that its point gets caught in the fabric or that it gets stuck inside your drawstring casing.
Furthermore it should be also long enough that while you are holding the back, you can push the front through your casing, then grab the front part of it and release the collected fabric to the other, the back side… until you reach the other side of your drawstring casing. As you can see it at the next pictures:

Each drawstring cord needs to go through both drawstring casings. For example – if you start at the left, it needs to go through the front casing and then through the casing at the backside until you reach the left side again.

As soon as you pulled the cord through both drawstring casings you can make a simple knot at the end. Then start at the other side and pull your second drawstring cord through the casing at the front and the back. At the end you should have one single drawstring cord that ends on the left side with a knot and one on the right side, also with a simple knot.

This two drawstring threads are “opposing” each other. When you pull them tight, one is working as an “opposing force” to the other. A force that will also keep your pouch closed if your drawstring casing is not too big. 🙂

…and now we can start with the second part of this tutorial:

How to attach a tassel to the drawstring

As you can see underneath, some of the steps for this tassel are similar to the steps which I already described in my last posting about the tassels for the bottom of the pouch – especially concerning the start and the end of its making process.

First we need to cut some tassel threads. For this step I used 4 of my fingers to count about 20 wrappings of the thread before I cut them off. You can find a detailed description about this step in my last posting about the tassels for the bottom of the pouch.

You will also need a rather long thread for the wrapping of the body. Therefore you should also cut off a long thread for this step now. I normally cut off a thread of about 40cm or longer in a differing color.

And now we get to the next step and the difference compared to the previous tassel tutorial starts. This time we are using the tassel threads a little bit different! As you can see on the picture underneath, I take the tassel threads and place the drawstring and the knot, which we just made, in its middle.

“Rule of the thumb” is here: the middle of the tassel threads* should be located above the knot. (*= the middle of the tassel threads can be easily estimated by folding one thread)

Then I “pack” the knot tightly in tassel threads as you can see on the picture underneath.

You remember the “long thread for the wrapping of the body” which I mentioned shortly after cutting off the tassel threads? We need this thread now. Take this longer thread, place it above the knot of the drawstrings and wrap it about 1-2 times around the tassel threads. Pull this thread as tight as possible and make 2-3 knots to fix it in its position. This loop and its knot should be as firm as possible.

Now we are going to secure this loop because it will become the basis of the upper part/beginning of the head of our tassel. The next step will assure that the tassel doesn’t fall off if we accidentally pull at the tassel in the future.

Take a needle and thread it with one thread end of the thread we just used for this loop and knot – you can take the longer side. Take the tassel into your fingers that you can see the knot we just made. Turn the tassel by 180° around its vertical axis and stitch near this loop through the tassel threads and drawstrings. Pull the thread through and as tight as possible, turn the tassel again, stitch through it, turn again,… all stitches as tight as possible until you think that this tassel thread beginning is “dead certain”… 😉

Now you can take the other half of this thread and make a tight knot.

Take the upper half of the tassel threads and turn them down over this enforced loop. You will see that it now looks much more like a tassel already.

Take the thread which you just used and start with the wrapping of the tassels body as you can see underneath. This is very similar to the step which I already described in my last posting about the tassels for the bottom of the pouch. The difference here is that I don’t need to start a new thread and the thread I am using is already attached.

Go with your thread through the loop – as you can see above – and pull it as tight as possible. Now you can start wrapping the body of your tassel with this thread – by wrapping it into the opposite direction. That means, if the thread comes from the left side, you need to wrap it from right to left. 🙂

From now on you can proceed with the tassels like I already described it in the previous posting about the tassels for the bottom of the pouch. Secure the thread ends of the body wrapping inside the newly created tassel body, cut off parts or strings of your drawstring cords which don’t look like your tassel threads, cut the tassel threads at the bottom to the desired length,…

…and – voila – you just made your very first tassel at the end of your drawstring! 😀

I hope you enjoyed todays new tassel tutorial. This way you can create a nice tassel at the end of your pouch drawstring which looks good and doesn’t fall off when you accidentally pull at it. 🙂

With this last posting the fast and easy pouch tutorial is finally finished. 😀

You can find all postings about this project in the category:
Craft with Racaire – #2 fast & easy pouch

Short overview of the postings till now:
Step 1) Fast and easy pouch tutorial & how to work with “rapports”
This posting explains how to calculate the needed fabric for the easy pouch tutorial. I also added some extra information: “how to work with rapports” (repeating patterns).
Step 1.1) Hand sewing stitches: Running Stitch…
This posting is an in-depth description of the first and most basic hand-sewing stitch you will need for this tutorial – the Running Stitch.
Step 1.2) Hand sewing stitches: Back Stitch (and Stem Stitch)…
Another in-depth description of a basic and helpful hand-sewing stitch you will need for this technique – the Running Stitch.
Step 2) Hand sewing the sides
Here you can find a detailed step-by-step photo tutorial about how I hand sew the sides of the “fast and easy pouch”. It includes all important basic steps for this process including the pinning, how to start with the sewing, how to secure your thread from slipping,…
Step 2.1) Hand sewing the corners
Another detailed step-by-step photo tutorial that shows you how to hand sew the nice pointy pouch corners of your fast and easy pouch.
Step 2.2) How to start a new thread & hide it…
Here you can see how I start a new thread while I am working at a seam finishing and how I hide the beginning of the new thread as well as the end of the old thread inside the seam.
Step 3.1) Hand sewing the top – pinning
This posting is about how I pinned the top of the pouch for the final hand sewing.
Step 3.2) Hand sewing – how to start a new thread & hide it .2 🙂
Sounds similar to “Step 2.2” above but is very different – in this step-by-step tutorial you can see how I start and hide a new thread in an already finished seam.
Step 3.3) Chain Stitch and how to use it for hand sewing
Another in-depth description of a basic embroidery technique – the Chain Stitch.
Step 3.4) Chain Stitch and how to use it for decorative hand sewing
This step-by-step photo tutorial shows the practical application of the Chain Stitch for decorative hand sewing as described in Step 3.3 above.*
Step 3.5) Chain Stitch & how to start a new thread
This detailed photo tutorial explains how to start a new thread while you are using Chain Stitch for decorative hand sewing (or embroidery).
Step 3.6) Last seam finishing for the pouch 🙂
This tutorial explains all steps which are needed to finish the last seam finishing and the top part of the pouch.
Step 4) Tassels! Tassels! Tassels!
A detailed step-by-step photo tutorial which shows how I made the tassels for the bottom of the fast and easy pouch.

* You can find an example of Chain Stitch used for a medieval inspired embroidery project here: 14th century hood with daggings, long liripipe & decorative chain stitch embroidery