I”m teaching a one-day workshop at The Oregon Garden’s Stitches in Bloom show on January 21, 2016 in Silverton, Oregon called Accenting With Creative Cords. We’ll be making a variety of cords, spending the morning making them by hand and the afternoon by machine. When I attended London City and Guilds, we spent six months at a time on various techniques. I recall when we came to the section that included cords, I wondered why I would ever want to make them when you could simply buy them. Well–first I found how much fun it was to make your own. When it comes especially to machine-made cords, you are only limited by your imagination. But the best part is you get to choose the threads, fibers, and even embellishments, coordinating a cord by color and size to your project. No more searching for the right one, only to be unable to find it.
Here are the sample boards I made for London City and Guilds with close-ups:
Hand-wrapped Cord Samples
Machine-wrapped Cord Samples
Then just to show you how other London City and Guilds students approached this technique, here are a few samples from my friend and STiTCH colleague, Jeri Oswalt.
Hand-wrapped skein of perle coton–Jeri Oswalt
Corded Tassel–Jeri Oswalt
Cord Close-up
Cord with small tassel–Jeri Oswalt
For just some ideas on how I’ve used cords in my work, see my Presentations and Workshops page.
I loved making those cords and tassels. Can you tell it was Christmastime for a couple of them. With the current trend for tasseled jewelry I have had the opportunity to make more small tassel necklaces. The proportion is better when the cord is a little thicker than the last one.
Jeri, I did notice the color scheme, but it never occurred to me you were in the holiday mode. I thought the proportions between the tassel and cord looked good, but you may be right.