DIY Shashi-Inspired Tassel Necklace

Have you ever seen a piece of jewelry and become obsessed with having it? I’m not talking diamonds, but these beautiful tasseled bracelets that I first saw on Birchbox.

The bracelets are made by Shashi, and when I looked at their website I found a bunch of other styles that I loved, too. I wish I could stock up on necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, but unfortunately, my budget is really tight right now.

So what’s a girl to do? I decided to try my hand at making a necklace inspired by Shashi’s Lilu Chain Necklace, and I’m so happy with how it turned out! Lucky for you, I’m sharing all the details. Don’t be intimidated: it’s really easy (I swear).

DIY Shashi-Inspired Tassel Necklace

Supplies:

• Embroidery floss (You need 3 colors. I used DMC 832, 3808, and 718.)
• Needle Nose Pliers
• Flat Nosed Pliers
• Scissors
• Crimp covers (I used Beadalon 4 mm gold crimp covers.)
• Jewelry chain (For a similar look, use a chain with small rings. Mine’s from Bead Landing.)
• Ruler
• Sewing needle, not pictured (The eye must be small enough to pass through a chain loop.)

Find all of these supplies at Michael’s or another craft store.

The first thing you need to do is measure a 30-inch piece of chain. Using your pliers, open a jump ring at the 30-inch point, and remove the excess chain. Slip the loop from the opposite end of your 30-inch chain onto the open jump ring, and then use your pliers to close the loop. You should now have a closed chain necklace that can be slipped over your head.

For an explanation of jump rings, check out this tutorial on opening and closing jump rings.

The closed chain.

Next, you need to cut your floss. You can use whatever colors you want, but for this example, let’s say you are using magenta, blue, and gold like I did. For each tassel, you will need 3 4-inch strands of floss.

Since the necklace has 2 blue tassels, 3 magenta tassels, and 4 gold tassels, you will need to cut:

• 6 4-inch blue strands
• 9 4-inch magenta strands
• 12 4-inch gold strands

You are now ready to make your first tassel. This tassel will be the center of your necklace.

1. Take three strands of the magenta floss and thread it on your needle, as shown below. (Note: each strand of floss is made of a bunch of individual strands. Don’t worry if one or two of the individual strands does not make it through the needle.)
2. Pull the needle through the center of one of the jump rings on your chain. This can be somewhat tight. Just gently pull on the chain as you wiggle the needle through.
3. Once the eye of the needle makes it through the jump ring, pull one half of the floss completely through the ring (see lower left image below).
4. To attach the tassel to the chain, make an overhand knot. Pull it tight, and then make another overhand knot, pulling it tight, as well. Don’t worry if ends of your tassel are ragged or uneven.

Making the tassels.

Place a crimp cover over the knot, as shown below.

Placing the crimp cover over the tassel knot.

Using the flat nose pliers, pinch the crimp cover closed tightly, covering the knot as you do so.

Covering the knot with the crimp cover.

Next, you need to trim the tassel. Measuring from the crimp cover, trim the floss so the tassel measures 1/2 inch long. Voila – tassel complete!

Finished tassel.

Add the remaining tassels in the same manner, spacing them 2 inches apart, as seen below.

Attach the tassels 2 inches apart.

Before adding the remaining tassels, it’s a good idea to lay out your floss. This will help ensure that you place the tassels in the correct order.

Lay out the floss so you know where to attach the tassels.

Finish adding the remaining tassels, and your necklace is complete! Isn’t it pretty?

So, what do you think? Does my DIY version live up to the original?