Get The Technique
I've received several requests from viewers for a detailed process of the leather fringed wool shawl that I made for Martha's cozy show. For those of you who plan to make their own shawl or scarf, hopefully this post will helpful.
A woven fabric is said to be cut on the bias, or cross-grain, when the fabric's warp and weft threads are at 45 degrees to its major seam lines. Every piece of woven fabric has two biases, perpendicular to each other. Non-woven fabrics such as felt or interfacing do not have a bias.
To make a triangular fringed shawl, choose a wool fabric that is about 60" wide or more. You will need a square of fabric, so be sure to purchase two yards. Remove the selvage on the fabric and trim it to be a square. Woven fabrics can be ripped along the grain to get a straight edge. Use a rotary cutter and ruler to cut the fabric diagonally, at a 45 degree angle, through the square of fabric.
You can use one of the bias cut triangles as your shawl or you can cut on the bias in the perpendicular direction to your first cut and seam the four triangles together. Overlap, about a half inch, each connecting edge to the adjacent triangle's edge and machine sew each seam with two straight stitches about a quarter inch apart. This will make your shawl a bit larger.
1 Agnes modeling one of the shawls. This one was pieced together using four bias cut triangles.
2 Pieced together bias cut shawl.
3 Seaming the triangles together with two straight stitches about a quarter inch apart.
4 For a 60" wide piece of fabric, my resulting bias cut triangle needed about 50 tassels along each side, starting from the point of the 90 degree angle.
1 This rectangular scarf is the width of the fabric (which was 60") by 13 inches. On the 13" sides are about 25 leather tassels that hang 12" long.
2 The tassels start a quarter of an inch in on each end and are a half inch apart from one another. Line up a ruler a quarter of an inch into the edge of the fabric and punch holes at every half inch.
3 A Martha Stewart Crafts screw punch, fixed with a 1/16" tip, is ideal for making the holes in the fabric. Cut 50 leather laces (from The Leather Guy or Leather Impact) to 24 inches long.
4 Prepare a thin piece of folded wire to use as a needle. Fold a piece of leather so the suede sides face each other and sandwich between the fold of your wire needle.
5 Pull the leather through the top of the fabric until you have a loop on the under side.
6 Remove the needle and flip the top length of leather to be suede side up. Both lengths should be suede side up at this point.
7 Fold the leather over the edge of the fabric and through the loop.
8 To tighten the loop, pull the leather close to the hole. You should not see the suede side of the leather from this side. Keep adding tassels until you complete one side. Repeat process on opposite end of fabric.
From: Ramona | 3/10/12 at 3:43 pm
Super stylin as always. I'm living the seaming idea for the triangles just to give it more of a designed feel. Thanks for the fringing demo - super helpful
From: Kimberly | 4/7/12 at 5:11 pm
In the process of making this. I have to say that a triangle formed from a 60" piece of fabric requires MUCH more than fifty tassels each side. As I read the instructions, the holes were to be punched 1/2" apart along each 60" length. That's 120 tassels each side.
One question, I was not able to get true leather laces and had to use a faux suede. Once knotted, the synthetic fabric doesn't stay tight. Should I tighten them and then add a dot of glue to keep the knots in place?
From: Kristin St. Clair | 4/9/12 at 11:30 am
Hi Kimberly
I actually stopped the fringe about half way up the two sides of the triangle. I preferred it without going to the ends because I wanted tassel free space so that I could knot the shawl or pin it without having the fringe in the way. If you would rather have more, you could absolutely go to each end, but you do run the risk of tassels being caught and tangles in your purse handles or even your armpits!
I actually love that you used faux suede instead of leather. You can certainly add a dot of glue to hold them in place or even tack each one with a few stitches if you prefer. I would recommend Fabri-tac glue made by Beacon Adhesives. Always test before you work on your final piece. You will only need a very little bit.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
And send photos of your finished piece!!!
kristin
From: Barb | 4/27/12 at 5:13 am
This is not a comment, but a question. A few weeks back Marths did a childs t-shirt with shapie pens( they looked like flowers when done. I have los the direvtions for doing them. Could you help me. Thank you.
From: Kristin St. Clair | 4/27/12 at 9:46 am
hi Barb,
the directions can be found here:
http://www.marthastewart.com/893105/sharpie-tie-dye-t-shirts
thanks!