When I was designing the nursery for our baby girl, I knew I wanted to create a space that was soft, bright and inviting, feminine with neutral tones/colors, a mixture of vintage and new. As it slowly came together, I was on the hunt for the finishing details and fell in love with this oversized tassel garland from Pottery Barn…until I saw the price tag. With all the other stuff we had to buy, I couldn’t justify spending $100 on something I didn’t necessarily need. Want vs. need is a constant battle for me, but as I’m getting older it’s become a little easier to walk away from things, and sadly this Pottery Barn garland was one of those moments where I told myself “you have to walk away.”
I shopped around a bit more, checked out Etsy and other stores, but had no luck finding anything under $75. I was so in love with the idea of this garland and couldn’t picture anything else over the bookshelf, so I decided to try and make it myself. I watched a few videos on how to make yarn tassels, ordered some wooden beads, and spent about a week putting this together. It’s not perfectly symmetrical, but I seriously love it so much. It’s the perfect mix of feminine/neutral/whimsical, and most importantly, it doesn’t take away attention from the wallpaper, which is hands down my favorite part of her room.
I’ve listed out the items I used and broken down the steps for this DIY Tassel garland below!
Pottery Barn Oversized Garland White and Blush Garland from Etsy
DIY Tassel Garland
Things You’ll Need:
- Yarn
- Wood Beads
- Leather Cord (could probably use yarn, but I wanted to make sure the garland was strong/sturdy for the weight)
- Book or cardboard for wrapping yarn around
- Crochet hook (optional)
- Sharp scissors
I spent a total of $33.75 on this DIY project. ($17.25 for yarn, $5 for wood beads, $2 on crochet hook, $9.50 on leather lace cord with coupon). The specific items and colors I used are linked below:
- Yarn Bee yarn in the following colors: Soft Shell, Ivory, Mauve, Soft Pink, and Blush
- Suede Leather Lace in color Ivory
- Natural Wooden Beads – 100 pieces, 16mm, color beige
- Crochet Hook – 2.25mm
How to Make Yarn Tassels
Step 1:
Cut 1 piece of yarn about 6-8” to act as tie for tassel and place on top edge of cardboard.
Step 2:
Keeping the ends from the piece of Step 1 out, lightly wrap your yarn around the cardboard. The number of times you wrap it is all personal preference, as this will determine how thick your tassel is. I used 5 different colors and each one was a little different in texture/thickness from the other, so I wrapped mine between 20-35 times to make them all similar in size.
Step 3:
Cut the string off the yarn bundle, and slide your wrapped yarn off the cardboard, keeping the shape of the loop and also keeping the ends from Step 1 piece out.
Step 4:
Pulling on the top of the loop, cut through the bottom of the loop.
Step 5:
Lay the yarn bundle flat, and using the piece from Step 1, tie yarn in the middle, securing with a double knot.
Step 6:
Fold yarn in half at the knot you just tied, making sure to put the tails from Step 5 on the inside of the fold.
Step 7:
To create the top knot of your tassel, cut another piece of yarn about 8-12”, and tie that around your folded yarn. You should tie it anywhere between 1/2″ to 1″ down from the top, depending on how big you want the tassel knot to be.
Step 8:
Brush out tassel ends with your fingers and trim with scissors to make sure tassel strings are all even.
Make as many tassels as you need for your garland. I believe I made 40 tassels, and used 35 of them.
Assembling the Wood Bead Garland:
Cut a piece of leather cord (or yarn, whichever you are using) to the length you want your garland to be. I used about 24″, leaving enough excess on either side to make loops for hanging. String the wood beads through leather cord, leaving a little space/slack in between each bead for when you attach your tassels. Next, tie knots at either end to create loops to hang, and thread the excess knot tail through the bead next to it for a cleaner look.
Attaching Your Tassels to Garland
NOTE: Through trial and error, I found it easiest to hang my bead garland on the wall first, and then attach my individual tassels after. It allowed me to better visualize the layout and create the “V” shape I was going for, since I could see how each tassel would lay/hang and could adjust the height as needed.
Starting to map out my design/color pattern Adjusted each length as I hung them until I liked the shape
Step 1:
Cut one piece of yarn for each tassel you’ve made/want to hang from garland. I had 35 tassels, so I cut 35 pieces of white yarn, each 18” in length.
Step 2:
Using crochet hook, pull the piece of yarn through the middle of the tassel knot. Secure with double knot, and use your crochet hook to hide the knot ends down in the middle of the tassel for a cleaner look.
Step 3:
Create pattern/color layout of your tassels. Then tie your tassel in between the wood beads, securing with a double knot and cutting excess yarn at the knot. Adjust the length of tassel/pattern as you go. I opted to hang my tassels on every 1st and 2nd beads, trying to create a “V” shape without making it too symmetrical.
