Tuesday, July 23, 2013

DIY: Put a Tassel on It

I loved the “global chic” trend this summer and especially loved all the tasseled sandals on the market as the result of the trend.  I did not, however, want to buy a new pair of sandals that I knew I wouldn’t get much use out of.  As much as I love “global chic” it’s not exactly my daily aesthetic and I didn’t think the cost-per-wear would be low enough to justify new sandals.  Instead, I decided to put a tassel on some sandals I already own… leading to my very first DIY!
 
I’m going to show you how to turn these:

 
 
Into these:



First, you need some sandals.  I chose my Jeffery Campbell pair because they already have a sort of casual/boho feel to them.  And the t-strap is the perfect place to put some tassels:


 
For tassels, I purchased some faux-leather ones on Etsy at Bohemian Findings for less than $5.00.  I was able to message the vendor requesting two of each color and specifying the colors I wanted.  In addition to tassels, you will also need small (3/4” or 7/8”) gold-tone safety pins:

 
 You will need three tassels and four safety pins per shoe.
 
Step 1 – Put one safety pin on each tassel.

 
 
Step 2 – Attach the first tassel to the sandal.



Step 3 – Attach the rest of the tassels to the shoe.


As you can see, instead of attaching my tassels to a buckle, I attached them to a cross-strap so they’d hang where I wanted them.  But, you can certainly attach them to a buckle or other hardware.
 
Step 4 – Repeat on the other shoe.
 
Step 5 (Optional) – Once all three tassels are on, attach the fourth pin crosswise, so they’re grouped together.

 
 
Step 6 – You’re done.  Wear your newly tasseled shoes as you see fit.

I wore mine with all-white for yesterday's Two Birds' Inspiration Monday.
 
Note: I chose to put my tassels on the front of my shoes, but they’d look equally cute hanging from the ankle.
 
And there you have it, my very first DIY.  As you can see, it’s both cheap and easy! 
 
Happy Tuesday, All!
 
Gracey