DIY Tassel Angels

These beautiful DIY Tassel Angels are a quick and easy craft for all ages. We’ll show you how to make them with our 5 free angel wing cut files for hand cutting or Cricut.

I should know better by now.

Really, I should.

I can’t count how many times my babes has told me of a project idea that I thought was *meh* but which turned out amazing. Three come to mind without even thinking:

Our Dollar Tree snow-white nutcrackers from just last week.

She explained her idea to me, and my only thought was, “Jeezum Crow, woman, can’t you think of anything better for me to do than spray paint a plastic toy?”

But look how they turned out!

Then there was our DIY felt trees.

She first told me about them on one of our daily walks. But without a visual aid – without the Internet Crutch – all I had to go on was her rambling description. And try as I may, madam, the only image I could conjure was a garish kindergarten-looking mess of felt-and-popsicle-stick smeared with glue, glitter and a couple of dried elbow macaronis tossed in for good measure.

But then I made a few, and I was shocked and delighted to see that they looked like this!

And of course, our DIY yarn pumpkins. Before I poked a single strand of yarn through that very first pumpkin, I had to listen to The Loon’s mad ramblings about how awesome and easy they’d be. She showed me some pictures of others who had done something somewhat similar with round foam balls. What had so captured her imagination and launched this project looked to me like nothing more than a…a…well, a yarn ball, I suppose. A yarn ball with a stick poking out.

But then I made some according to my babes’ plan, and I found myself looking at these!

So yeah. I should know better. I should know that when my babes tells me a project is going to look good and be awesome, I should just shut up and believe her.

Because she hasn’t been wrong yet.

Well, there was that one time…

But it wasn’t a blog project, it was her choice for a wall color in the old house. [Good Lord – when will you drop that I wonder LOL – Handan ]

I call it The Mauvening. We try not to speak of it.

Anyway, a while ago, she showed me a picture online of some rinky-dink little ornament that seemed to be a bunch of string or yarn wrapped around a crude approximation of wings. The whole thing was passed off as an angel, and of course, Handan loved it and I didn’t understand it.

I offered my bland and insincere appreciation for it. “That’s nice, my babes.” Meanwhile, in my head, Hulk Hogan was wrestling the Monster Truck Bigfoot during a Metallica concert. My babes must have launched into an explanation at this point, because mental Metallica had to turn up the volume to drown out the background noise.

“So you’ll be making me some tassel angels this year, my babes,” she concluded.

“Mmmmm hmmmm,” I said, as flames erupted from Bigfoot after a vicious body slam from The Hulkster. “Tangle Assels. Got it.” I drifted away from my babes, and within seconds, all memory of the tangle assels was erased.

Until this past weekend.

“So, my babes,” she said, and I knew I was cooked.

Back in the olden days of 2016, I used to fear the phrase, “Hey, babes!” because it was always followed by a task or a chore or a labor that invariably intruded upon my inner peace and laziness. They were my least favorite two words.

But now she has a new one, and it is far more subtle and far more terrifying.

“So, my babes.”

It’s so innocent sounding! It could go so many ways, right?

“So, my babes, what’s for dinner?”

“So, my babes, what movie do you want to watch tonight?”

“So, my babes, would you like a martini or a glass of wine?”

Right?

Wrong!

Here’s how “So, my babes” plays out.

“So, my babes,” she’ll say, and then she’ll pause.

Whether she studied this pause for dramatic effect or whether it comes naturally, I cannot say, but after her words have hung for the exact amount of time it takes for a bead of sweat to pop from my brow, she’ll continue. “Have you [done/finished/started] the [project I’ve obviously not started and have likely completely forgotten about]?”

If I’m in the same room, this last statement is followed by The Look.

You know the one.

At this point, I launch from my seat and fairly fly into the craft room, whereupon I start digging through months of accumulated supplies looking for whatever the hell it is I’m supposed to use to make whatever the hell it is she’s yapping about.

“So, my babes,” she said this past Saturday morning, and I choked up the mouthful of iced coffee I had just swallowed. “Have you started the tassel angels?”

The Tangle Assels!

Before The Look could wither me in my place, I had launched 5 feet in the air, with thrusters on full towards the craft room.

If my babes wanted tassel angels, my babes was gonna get tassel angels!

Now, a quick word on ways to make these angels. We’re giving free cut files that will work for hand-cutting or cutting machines. These angels are so easy to make using kraft board and an X-Acto Knife (or scissors). If you have heavy cardstock, that will work, too. We made an assortment from both kraft board and basswood.

If you have a cutting machine, the cutout phase of the project is obviously much quicker. If you have a Cricut Explore Air 2, a Silhouette, or a Cricut Maker, you can make kraft board or cardstock wings. If you have a Cricut Maker, you can also make basswood wings.

While the kraft board wings look good as-is, if you have more time to devote to this project (which we didn’t), we think they would look awesome if you Mod-Podged the wings with old music prints or Biblical verses or anything angelic or Christmassy. Of course, you could do the same with basswood wings, but if you’re just planning to cover the wood, then you may as well use kraft board!

For the more adventurous, I think these tassel angels would look amazing with galvanized metal or even copper wings. The sky’s the limit!

DIY Tassel Angels

DIY Tassel Angels Tutorial

Using our cut files, prepare your wings from the material of your choice either with a cutting machine or with scissors or an X-Acto knife. If you want to have the same size angel wings shown in our pictures, either use the PDF file and hand cut it, or use the SVG file named “angel wings all” and resize it to 10.5×10.5 in Cricut Design Space.

I made two lengths of tassels for this project, depending on the wing size. There are two long, full-size wings, and for those, I made 9-inch tassels. For the smaller wings, I made 7-inch tassels. You can go longer or shorter according to your taste. The angel I made for this tutorial has smaller wings, so I used a 7-inch piece of kraft board to wrap my yarn around.

I used mostly Dollar Tree yarn for these angels, but you’ll see in the final photos, that we used other yarns as well, including some faux fur yarn. All in all, my favorite was the Dollar Tree Just Cotton yarn pictured above.

How much to wrap? Well, that depends on the thickness of your yarn. Thin cotton yarn, like the stuff I used for this angel, allowed for more wrapping. It’s up to you though – you can experiment with it!

I then measured out and cut a length of yarn for the hanger. This can be as long or short as you like.

I then measured and cut another length that when doubled over was just a little longer than 7 inches.

I threaded the hanger string under all the wraps.

I made a double-wrap for the first knot. This prevents the yarn from slipping once tightened.

To keep it secure, I followed with a single-wrap knot.

The easiest way to cut the bottom and make the loops into a tassel is to slide the scissors underneath the loops while the kraft board is still there.

Then I slid my wings into place.

I straightened out my second length of yarn.

I placed the angel on top of the yarn, just around lower-wing-level.

I tied another double-loop knot.

Followed by a single-loop knot.

I pulled the excess yarn downwards…

…and trimmed the whole bottom.

Back up top, I twisted the two ends of the hanger yarn and inserted them into the bead hole. With the larger beads, this thin yarn pushes right through the hole, but with the 21mm bead, like I used for this angel, I needed a little help to get it through.

Nothing a toothpick couldn’t handle.

That’s it! This tassel angel is finished and ready to hang!

Who did it? This guy!

Let’s take a peek at all the tassel angels I made.

These tassel angels look just as good with kraft board wings, I think!

I really love this one made with twine. I think she’s my favorite. What do you think?

I call this one “The Opera Singer.”

I used faux fur for this one. I’m on the fence.

We hope you liked our tangle assels tassel angels! Let us know what you think in the comments!

And now it’s time for you to get your hands on those cut files, so you can make your own!

FREE DIY Tassel Angel SVGs / Templates

We created today’s Free DIY Tassel Angel cut files as PDF, JPG, PNG and SVG files. The PDFs are not resizable, but all the others are resizable and compatible with Cricut and all other cutting machines.

Now go ahead and click on the button below to download today’s freebies – they are all in the “Christmas” and “SVGs – Stencils” section of the VIP PLounge.

If you’re not a Navage Patch VIP, you won’t be able to access our Freebies Library. But that can be easily fixed! Subscribe for free on the form below and become a Navage Patch VIP. Once you subscribe, a password will be sent to you in our Welcome email, and that will give you access to the VIP Lounge [Freebies Library].