I’m willing to bet all the loose change in my purse that 99% of you have extensive friendship bracelet experience. And just so you know, it’s fair to estimate that there is at least $14.22 of loose change in there and that’s enough money for like 2.2lbs of gummi bears from that overpriced candy shop in every mall on the planet.

Okay. Back to the friendship bracelet conversation. I’ve made about 17 grillion of them in my lifetime. I distinctly remember one summer where I was basically running my own one-woman sweatshop for friendship bracelet production. I would safety pin them to my shorts and walk around with embroidery floss dangling from me like a trail of TP on your shoe. Friendship bracelets were a big deal in the 80’s. They just were. Along with big bangs, scrunchies, layered socks and L.A. Gear sneakers. Today, I’ve outgrown friendship bracelets. And scrunchies. And layered socks. And big bangs. But if you give me some L.A. Gears, I will most definitely rock out like Zack Morris. And for those times when I’m jonesing for a friendship bracelet, I’ve got a project that jives with my current crafting sensibilities. It’s still colorful and it still uses those beloved skeins of embroidery floss.

What you need:

• Six skeins of assorted embroidery floss
• Scissors
• Strong crafting glue
• 2 pairs of jewelry pliers
• 1 medium sized jump ring (located in the jewelry findings section of the craft store)

Okay – now before you start using a collection of four letter words, this project is easy. EASY. Don’t be fooled by the number of steps. I literally photographed every. single. thing for this tutorial to be sure you see exactly what’s going on. In actuality, this tassel will take about 15 minutes to assemble. Service announcement over. Let’s do this:

1. Remove the sleeves from one of the skeins of floss
2. From the remaining five skeins, cut even lengths of floss measuring approximately one yard
3. Starting about one-third the way up the skein of floss tie one of the strands once around (no need to tie a knot)
4. Once tied, begin looping the strand around and around the full skein
5. Once you have looped the strand around a few times, tie it off as shown
6. Now add the second strand color by tying it onto the skein just as you did the first color

7. Continue looping the second strand around as shown
8. Continue adding color strands and looping until you have looped around the middle one-third of the skein. Be sure to tie off each color strand before moving on to the next color.
9. Use scissors to trim off the excess strands
10. Bend the skein in half
11. Tie on the last color strand as shown
12. Loop the strand around as shown and tie off

13. Add a dab of craft glue
14. Use finger to smooth the loose end into the craft glue. This will ensure that everything stays together and doesn’t unravel.
15. Trim off the bottom of the skein. HINT: Dip the bottom portion of the tassel into water before cutting. This makes it much easier to cut a clean even line.
16. Use pliers to open jump ring
17. Thread jump ring through the top of the tassel.
18. Attach jump ring to zipper pull and close with pliers.

I’m calling these “hula tassels” because they sort of look like little hula dancers, right?! I love ’em and by my math, you only need about $4 in embroidery floss to make them!

And now you must, must, must make a pit-stop at the Commonthread blog. Commonthread is the new home of DMC Thread – the makers of basically every yarn, embroidery and sewing fiber you’ve ever seen. You know that wall of rainbow embroidery floss at every craft store? Yeah – that’s DMC. I’m excited to be partnering with Commonthread to bring you a Damask Love take on their goodies. Be sure to visit their blog to see more deets on this post as well as an adorable pair ice cream sundae sneakers by my girl Kelly of Studio DIY.

Much love to Commonthread for partnering with Damask Love on this post. I received payment, product or both in exchange for this original content. All project ideas, photographs and wackadoo stories are all my very own.