Thread: How to Shorten Beaded Fringe?

So I'm performing dramatic weight-loss surgery on this ridonkulous green fringemonster costume that I acquired from a friend. Right now, I've removed over half of the fringe and the belt is about 40 lbs. lighter, but with the way the fringe is arranged in the front, it sort of forms a crassel that's longer than the rest of the fringe.

Nope, I'm NOT having any of that crassel B.S. I want it all an even length.

How do you shorten beaded fringe? More importantly, how do you shorten the fringe and make sure the knot stays sealed shut?

Halp!!!

(insert crassel emoticon)

Cut the very tip of the fringe.

Remove unwanted beadage, leaving you with a certain length of string.

Run that string over some Thread Heaven or beeswax.

Tie a loose knot and slip a large large needle through it.

As you pull the knot, slide the large large needle up to the last bead, pull all the way through, remove large large needle.

You can repeat, grabbing the first knot to make an even fatter knot.

Since I'm allergic to beaded fringe, I cannot do a photograph tutorial of this process but I'm sure others (such as Ozma) can describe their methods as well...

Thanks, Azh! Sounds very time consuming, but I think I'll give this a shot. Now where'd I put my flippin' beeswax? ,r:;

You might want to seal the knots with a little clear nail polish when you're done. Good luck!

Originally Posted by Azhia

Cut the very tip of the fringe.

Remove unwanted beadage, leaving you with a certain length of string.

Run that string over some Thread Heaven or beeswax.

Tie a loose knot and slip a large large needle through it.

As you pull the knot, slide the large large needle up to the last bead, pull all the way through, remove large large needle.

You can repeat, grabbing the first knot to make an even fatter knot.

Since I'm allergic to beaded fringe, I cannot do a photograph tutorial of this process but I'm sure others (such as Ozma) can describe their methods as well...

What Ahzia said... I've done this before and it works well. I haven't done this, but I've seen people sew the ends of each strand to the belt so it's all looped... looks kinda neat.

Originally Posted by nitara

You might want to seal the knots with a little clear nail polish when you're done. Good luck!

Excellent suggestion, I forgot this part. Or you can use Fray-Ease.

It is time consuming but gives the most durable results. It also gives you an opportunity to double check all of your existing fringe to see if you need to reinforce anything.

I'd add a dab of Fray Check to each knot to make sure it doesn't come undone.

Oh man....the fringe in the crassel area seems to be made of fishing line. It's so thick, I can't get a needle and the fishing line to pass through the end bead

This is a very oddly constructed belt in general. It's basically a bunch of prefab fringe and antique chains attached to a piece of doubled over grosgrain ribbon. Crassel annoyance aside, I might actually attempt to re-construct the whole thing on a sturdier base.

Hmmmm...

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

Oh man....the fringe in the crassel area seems to be made of fishing line. It's so thick, I can't get a needle and the fishing line to pass through the end bead

This is a very oddly constructed belt in general. It's basically a bunch of prefab fringe and antique chains attached to a piece of doubled over grosgrain ribbon. Crassel annoyance aside, I might actually attempt to re-construct the whole thing on a sturdier base.

Hmmmm...

You shouldn't need to get needle and thread through the end bead. No actual beading needed to shorten fringe...

I like the idea of "crassel removal surgery."

With the fishing line, can you tie a knot and then shove the fishing line back up the row of beads without a needle?

Originally Posted by Karnak

I like the idea of "crassel removal surgery."

With the fishing line, can you tie a knot and then shove the fishing line back up the row of beads without a needle?

No, I tried that, and the fishing line is too thick to go back up inside the end bead ,r:;

This costume truly defies the laws of logic.

How were the ends tied off originally?

Originally Posted by Karnak

How were the ends tied off originally?

Looks like they were double knotted and possibly burned with a match or a lighter....interesting. Guess that kind of makes sense, because that would melt the fishing line into a perma-knot.

You know, I wondered about that. The melting the ends of the knots with a lighter or something. Sounds like it would work as long as you're very careful not to set your costume on fire.

Originally Posted by shahla

You know, I wondered about that. The melting the ends of the knots with a lighter or something. Sounds like it would work as long as you're very careful not to set your costume on fire.

Yeah....it's interesting. The whole belt itself is somewhat FUBAR, since whoever made it basically just attached various lengths of prefab fringe and some decorative pieces of antique chain to a piece of reinforced grosgrain ribbon.

I think instead of burning my costume, I might just re-do the belt so it's a bit more stable and doesn't have a crassel. But if I run out of patience, I might try burning the fringe

Originally Posted by Azhia

Cut the very tip of the fringe.

Remove unwanted beadage, leaving you with a certain length of string.

Run that string over some Thread Heaven or beeswax.

Tie a loose knot and slip a large large needle through it.

As you pull the knot, slide the large large needle up to the last bead, pull all the way through, remove large large needle.

You can repeat, grabbing the first knot to make an even fatter knot.

Since I'm allergic to beaded fringe, I cannot do a photograph tutorial of this process but I'm sure others (such as Ozma) can describe their methods as well...

WOW! Exactly what Azhia said, but geeez! ,f:: no freaking way I coulf have found the words to write this in English (excuse mon français!) ..l;,..l;,

Have a lot of fringe fun!

Qamar

Hmm, now I've always shortened fringe from the top end, where all the individual threads of fringe run through the main, um, binding? I cut off at the very last bead where the strand I want to adjust goes through binding/ costume, remove beads from that end (or restring if you choose), then put needle through free end of thread and then sew and tie off the now bead free end back in place. This works best if you are removing a lot of beads from a strand; if you are only removing a few, its best to just restring the entire thread, so you will have enough length to sew it back in place.

ummmm...not to rain on anyone's parade...but just buy new fringe...

just kidding...it is a very time consuming process to do this. burning is good to tie off the ends. i used to do that to the ribbons on my pointe shoes. it works very well. have never done it on fringe though.
with shortening fringe...start from the bottom. it's easiest.

good luck.