How to Add Special Effects with Tasseling

December 03, 2010
By Steven Batts, Contributing Writer

I have heard that creating embroidery can be compared to cooking. Think about it: When cooking, you have different ingredients available so that you can make the final product appetizing. With embroidery, you have the threads, stabilizer and design with which to work. Embroidery veteran Walt Floriani once said that using just plain designs and threads is like cooking with only salt and pepper.

If you want to look for a way to spice up ordinary designs or create a new look for something without investing a lot of time, you might consider using the process known as tasseling. Also called fringe embroidery, tasseling is a little-known technique that is easy to do and can make for some really neat effects. It is the process of creating designs where part of the stitching is clipped, making those stitches loose. This creates the appearance of real-looking hair.

It is great for creating mustaches and manes on animals. The possibilities are really bountiful when you think of where you can put tassels. I have seen them used for hair coming off an orangutan’s arm, petals on a fuzzy flower and the tail of a lemur. You could even use it to jazz up large letters on monograms or any satin stitch. I have used this process to make a mustache for Einstein and a horse’s mane, among other things. I also have seen it used to make the tassels on a 1940s-style dancing dress

The sewing process for tasseling is pretty simple, and creating designs for this embroidery method is even simpler. You can even add it to existing designs. It is one of the easiest techniques and yields the one of the highest visual impacts in embroidery. If you can create a satin stitch, you can create a fringe design.

Fringe Digitizing
To create an area that will be tasseled, make a wide satin stitch that measures a half-inch or wider. The longer you make the satin stitches, the longer your tassels will be. When creating the satin stitch, turn off any underlay or “short stitches” for that column. You don’t want any stitching to be left underneath the threads once they are clipped.

On the side of the satin column that will be fixed, make a short satin column about 1.5mm wide to fasten that side of the column to the fabric. That is all there is to creating the fringe or tasseled part of the design. You can add this technique to an existing design by creating the tasseled area and then re-sequencing it to the beginning of the design.


Fringe Sewing
There is nothing special in the embroidery process of a fringe design. You sew it just like any other design — the only difference is you will use long satin stitches. You may encounter a problem if the stitches are so long that your machine thinks it needs to trim the thread after every other stitch. This is unlikely, but if it occurs, there typically is a machine setting that allows you to adjust how long of a stitch it takes to make the machine trim.

Once the embroidery is finished, flip the item over and clip the bobbin thread on the long satin stitches. Then flip the item back over and pull those stitches loose.

Voila! You have tassels and fringy-looking embroidery. You can even clip the threads to give it the exact length and look you desire.

Mess With It
Finish the process by messing with the stitches just as you would if you were trying to mess up someone’s hair. This makes it appear more like hair. That is the beauty of this technique: It draws people’s attention and they want to touch it, which, in turn, makes it look better.

So if you want to add a little spice your embroidery, try this technique. You will be surprised by how easy it is and how great it turns out. You also will create embroidery that people want to touch and feel.

Steven Batts, a consultant with 17 years experience in the embroidery industry, owns Righteous Threads, Greensboro, N.C., which offers digitizing, embroidery and machine maintenance services. Steven regularly leads seminars at ISS shows and is an industry speaker and consultant. For more information or to comment on Steven’s article, e-mail righteousthreads@gmail.com.



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