Stablemate Scale Fringe
Something you’re not going to find in model scale is fringe. It only has a handful of applications, but when you want it - nothing else will do. Here’s a quick and easy way to make string fringe in whatever color combination you need.
Materials
Glue - I prefer Tandy Leather Bond but any glue that dries clear and flexible will suffice.
Double-sided tape
Embroidery floss/thread - I’m using pink and metallic silver thread
Tissue-thin leather - this can easily be skived from scrap.
Scissors
Tweezers
Instructions
Place the double-sided tape on your workspace. I like using my grid mat to give me defined boundaries. Remove some of the ‘tack’ from the tape by gently tapping it with your finger tips a few times - this will help the fringe pull up neatly later.
Tack the top 1/8 or 1/4 inch of your thread to the tape. I’m alternating three strands of pink with one strand of silver. Tweezers can be helpful - use them to gently nudge the threads into place or to press the threads onto the tape so that you can avoid touching it with your fingers. Use your scissors to trim the ends; I left 1/2 or 3/4 of an inch. If using floss that’s been wrapped on a card, avoid using the turn; it won’t ever lay flat.
Keep laying thread until you have the length you need. Refer to your project consistently to avoid doing more than needed; this fringe won’t store well.
When all of your thread has been placed, apply glue to your thin strip of skived leather. It should be about as wide as the thread that’s stuck to the tape and about a quarter inch longer; about a quarter of an inch wide by an inch long, in my case. I have skived a piece longer than I need and applied glue only where I do.
Place the leather, glue side down, over the threads on the tape and press firmly. Keep the leather as straight as possible. And then LEAVE IT. No touching until it dries! My leather is so thin that the glue has completely soaked through; this is okay.
Once the glue has completely dried, gently peel the leather - and threads - off of the glue. If some threads come loose, that’s okay - use a toothpick to apply some glue to it’s place and tack it down again. Slow and steady is key.
And there’s your fringe, ready to apply to your project!
I’m using this fringe on a barrel racing breast collar. Glue is applied to the prepared collar piece and the fringe is placed - leather side out - on top, keeping the bottom edge of the leather as even with the bottom of the breast collar as possible.
The raw top edge is trimmed flush and the rest of the fringe is evened up and brought to the correct length.
Finally assembled, the fringe is pretty convincing! It really needs to be secured by glue on both sides, so I don’t recommend storing unused fringe for any length of time. Hope this was helpful!
Psst - want to know how to do the silver studs on the breast collar? Read my blog post about micro beads!
This breast collar is part of a donation to Candy Land Live 2019.
