I have a Goodwill addiction. More specifically, I have an addiction to wandering around the housewares section of Goodwill, culling the crowded racks for glimmering bits of Depression glass and crystal, pretty old candy dishes and antique cake servers. Whenever I’m in need of a shopping fix, but I don’t want to spend a lot of money, I take myself on a date to Goodwill, where I can leave with a clutch of new treasures for a cool 20 bucks.
On a recent such shopping trip, I unearthed a particularly good passel of decanters (including a beautiful crystal one—score!). I’ve been wanted to restyle my bar cart for the holidays, and I love the idea of decanting some of the less-than-beautiful bottles of vodka and rum I have and displaying them in pretty vessels with bespoke labels to match.
And that’s how these tassel decanter labels came to be. I made a matching set with different shades of rich purple embroidery thread and I etched the labelling letters into wooden beads with a nifty little wood burning pen. Scroll down for the full tutorial, and happy holiday decorating!
For this project, you’ll need the following:
• 3 skeins of embroidery thread per tassel
• 2 wood beads, size small and medium
• 1 crystal bead
• fine-tooth comb
• fabric scissors
• wood burner
1. Cut 12″ of embroidery thread from one your skeins.
2. Line all three skeins up at the middle of your piece of thread and tie the thread tightly, with two or three knots.
3. Hold the tassel by the tie you just created, then use a pair of sharp scissors to cut open the loops of thread at the bottom of the tassel. Then, smooth out the strands and cut along the bottom to create a straight line.
4. Using a fine-toothed comb (funnily enough, dog brushes work so well for this!), brush through the embroidery thread until you’ve separated all the little strands. This will help your tassel look nice and full and more professional.
5. Make another pass with the scissors to ensure you have a nice, straight edge on the bottom of the tassel now that you’ve brushed it out and fluffed it up.
6. Using a pencil, draw the letter you’d like on the bigger wooden bead. I opted to do R for rum, V for vodka, T for tequila, G for gin and W for whiskey, but you can obviously customize yours to suit what you have sitting on your bar cart.
7. Use the wood burner with a fine tip attached to trace over the letter you wrote in pencil. I added a line of dots to mine for a bit of depth and interest, but feel free to use whatever embellishment (or lack thereof) suits your style.
8. To finish assembling the decanter label, thread the bigger wood bead, the small wood bead and the crystal bead onto the top of the tassel. Then, tie a few knots so the beads are secure.
9. Give your tassels one last brush to ensure they’re nice and full, then tie them onto your decanters. Super simple!
I was so happy with how these turned out that I decided to pour me and Alex some celebratory glasses of whiskey topped with a splash of spiced apple cider. Quick, easy and effective DIYs are always a win, especially around the holidays when it seems we are all pressed for time.
And speaking of the holidays, a set of these decanter labels would make a fantastic little hostess gift or stocking stuffer!
