I'm in the process of making a paper pieced kite quilts (from Quiltmaker mag for Project Linus). I'm looking for a way to add "tails" to the kites.

I'm using the Project Linus pattern, but it is a shower gift, not a charity quilt so I can use embellishments.

Any ideas?

Maybe pieces of ribbon?

I'm thinking ribbon too or pieces of bias binding (like for stained glass or celtic quilts). A friend just did one with raw edge applique tails. Bet it's going to be cute!

Just occured to me that you could use couched yarn...if you haven't done that before, just lay the yarn down and zigzag over it.

The end of the kite comes to a nice sharp point (because it's paper pieced)so I'm thinking it would be hard to insert ribbon into that seam. But the yarn couching might work. I'll pick up some yarn tomorrow and give that a try.

Do you think the couched yarn would hold up to machine washing/drying? Do I pre shrink the yarn? I machine washed and dried the fabric before I made the blocks.

I like the bias tape idea.

I think the yarn would hold up okay. I'd buy a cotton or an acrylic, not wool. You won't need much. Good question about pre-shrinking. If you use cotton, I think it might be a good idea to soak it in some hot water first. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. That kite pattern is so pretty.

I quilted tails with yarn (with a large needle and pliers), then pulled 3/4" x 6" bias strips of fabric through the quilt along some of the tails (5 or 6 on the whole quilt) and actually tied those strips. Then I trimmed them to the size I liked.

doowopddbop-your kite tails are really cute.

Such nice even stitches.

I've got to get out and get some yarn to try out these suggestions.

I will post pictures when I finish