Blackberry tassels.

As a 'filler' project in the evening, while working on the construction of the English smock during the day, I made a couple of blackberry tassels from a little kit I have had for a while from Windflower Embroidery. I also have their strawberry kit, which is stitched rather than beaded.

This one was a lot of fun and a welcome change from the scale and colours of the smock.

You begin by cutting a small shape from black felt.

It's about 4cm across the wide part.

You fold this in half and stitch up the side to form a little cone which you turn inside out and gather around the top. Filling it with wool stuffing, you draw it up to form a little knob, fasten off and add a cord.


Using the cord as a handle, you then bead the entire outside surface with a mix of black and dark purple beads.

The stalky leaves at the top are formed by drizzle stitch - basically casting on a series of loops just like casting-on in knitting, then securing in the same way as a bullion knot is secured.

The result is quite charming.

I plan to use mine as the ends of a drawstring on a bag - but that's another project!