How to make a tassel chandelier on a major budget

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I am always looking for new projects, so when I saw these oh-so-popular tassel chandeliers, I had to give it a go!

Purchasing one of these guys from a retailer can run you upward of $200-300! That is so crazy! I created my chandelier for about $30 thanks to some great sales and coupons. Always use the coupons.

While I do not have mine set up to be lit, adjusting for a pendant light kit should only add $10-$20 to your project.

The biggest cost to create one of these beauties is your time. It really is a simple process, but it’s also very time consuming, especially if you are wanting to make a large or multi-tiered chandelier. Don’t worry though, it will be so worth it in the end!

My favorite part of this whole DIY is how customizable it is. You get to choose the size, material and overall design to fit perfectly into your home! Use crochet thread, cotton twine or yarn, but remember the thinner the material, the more you will need to use. Then pick your colors! One color throughout looks great as a statement piece but you could use several colors for fun bedside or kids room decor.

So now that you have all of the ideas brewing in your head, let me show you how simple it is to make your very own tassel chandelier!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

DIFFERENT SIZE METAL RINGS | YARN, TWINE OR CROCHET THREAD | SCISSORS | A BOOK | CHAIN HANGER

HOW TO

First, determine where in your home you are wanting to add a chandelier and how large you want to make it. I wanted mine to hang in our living room, so I grabbed an 18″ and 12″ ring. These were the only two sizes available in this rose gold color, so I decided to just make a two-tiered chandelier at the time.

Now it’s time to get to the meat of the project, the tassels! Like I mentioned before, this is going to be completely up to you. There are so many different types of threads, yarns, colors and thicknesses out there.

I would suggest first looking for inspiration to get the colors you like and then go and browse the craft stores! Seeing all of the materials in person is going to help you choose what you really like.

I did just that! I had a couple of colors in mind and once I got to the store I decided I really liked the sheen and thickness of this crochet thread. In the finished project, I used all one color (natural) – although I did play around with the idea of adding in some blue, which is why the tassel photos above are blue :).

Once you pick out some materials, follow the steps below to create your tassel:

1. Grab a book roughly the size you want to make your tassel (length wise).
2. Wrap your thread/yarn around the book to create the thickness of the tassel. Again this will vary by material. Since my thread was so thin, I wrapped about 100 times per tassel.
3. Cut one end to release the thread from the book.
4. Keep your thread folded in half. Tie and knot a piece of string at the top. You will want it to be long enough to tie to your ring later on.
5. Next, wrap some thread around the entire thing several times to create the head on the tassel.
6. Trim the ends.

Once you have a good chunk of tassels made, start tying them to your rings. I knotted mine two to three times to secure them.

You can start to get an idea of how many you want to make for each ring and how close together you would like each tassel to be.

We’re in the home stretch! After getting all of your tassels tied, trim the excess string. I left about half an inch hanging off, just incase I needed to tighten any down the road.

My two-tier chandelier took 4,200 yards of thread and created 130 tassels!

You can use string, wire or even chain to connect your rings. As of right now, I just tied the two tiers together with string in five spots. If I add another tier down the road, I will likely change the string out for chain to make sure each tier is supported and secure.

Now all that’s left is to hang this baby up! I am using a triple chain hanger, and I love the way it looks and how well it supports this heavy chandelier. Brush out your tassels and you are all done!

I am obsessed with how beautiful this DIY chandelier turned out and even more so that I could make it on a major budget! I would love to see how yours turn out, so please share with me @ruffandrenew on Instagram!

Update!

I finally added a third tier and it’s even better than before!

I switched out the string that I was previously using to connect the tiers together for a stronger 1.5mm cotton cord. This has held up so well! I also used the same cotton cord to create a new hanger for a seamless look.

The sizes for each hoop are now 18″, 14″ and 10″. Since I couldn’t find all matching finishes, the smaller two hoops are a different color than the top tier. Luckily you can’t really see the bottom two, so I didn’t worry about painting them and just worked with what I could find.

I did have to move around and make several more tassels to fill the two new sized tiers, but the process went so much faster and I think it makes this chandelier look perfect now!

The breakdown of tassels per tier on my updated chandelier:
90 tassels on the 18″ hoop
57 tassels on the 14″ hoop
42 tassels on the 10″ hoop.

PIN IT FOR LATER!