Monday 7 November 2011

Fabric Origami Stars

Yesterday I spoke about my jelly roll strips that had had an encounter with Stiffy. Some of you expressed some curiosity about what I could be doing with this fabric. So the following is a quick explanation of how I turned them into stars.

Once you have applied your stiffener of choice (and I think we have now firmly established my liking for my Stiffy) if necessary press the fabric as flat as possible. I do not know if all fabric stiffeners allow you to do this but I do not have a problem with the Stiffy fabric being placed under a hot iron. Next you need to cut your fabric. I went with 8" x 2" but it doesn't matter the size you cut, more important is that the length be four times the width.

The stars generally look best if you use two contrasting fabrics.
Fold both pieces in half, wrong sides together, so that you have a crease in the middle.
Fold one piece up, using the crease as your guideline.
And one piece down, again using the crease as your centre point.
Now fold the other half in the opposite direction.
You should end up with two mirror image pieces as shown here.
Flip both pieces over and fold the ends over on the diagonal, towards the middle.
Place one piece on top of the other, with the diagonal slit in the middle visible to the outside, as shown above.
Fold over one point, using the inside diagonal edge of the triangle as the guide line for the fold.
Tuck the point of this triangle into the slit.
Repeat with the other side.
When bother points are tucked in it should look like this.
Turn it over, and repeat the process of folding in the triangles, tucking the points into the slit.
This is what it should look like when you are done.
If you wish to add a loop to your star, then just sew it on before you do the final fold.
Make sure that you sew it to the inner flap so that your stitch does not show on the outside of the star.
Even on a dreary day these stars shine brightly.


This morning I went to Ikea with a purpose in mind. I failed to get what I went for, but I did find several things that I decided I needed once there. In particular I thought that this little stand for hanging ornaments on (really, that was what it was sold as!) would be perfect to help me display my ornaments on my table on the weekend. It only cost less than £3!


And I picked up some of their polar fleece blankets with the intention of cutting them in to four and then using them to make quilted push chair/car seat blankets. These Ikea blankets cost very little and certainly cost less than if you went to a fabric shop and bought fleece as yardage.


Finally, I returned home to find an envelope had been delivered by the postman for me. It as full of these little nightmares. Time for me to face up to the fear and get on with making some pouches. Oh dear!


Susan

15 comments:

  1. All your Christmas ornaments are really cute. I'll be waiting to see what little pouches you create with the zippers. What fun colors!

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  2. Yey! The zip haul arrived! Just in time :-)

    I suggest some cute little coin purses in japanese prints to entice the small children...

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  3. Great idea for star decorations! And all your decorations look gorgeous hanging together on that stand. Perfect! Jxo

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  4. Clever Ikea - your ornaments do look good hanging out as a group....was it me or was there a bit of double entendre going on about length and width? Never knew you were such a whizz with the old origami! Who knew?

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  5. lovely stars wow how clever you are with them !! great little hanger too going to ikea tomorrow for something i didnt know i wanted !!!we will see what it is when we get there !!

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  6. Good ol' Ikea delivers again! Wooohoooo! What a zip haul! Gotta get me a haul like that!

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  7. Love the stars - very clever and all the ornaments look great on the display stand! Good luck with the zips!

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  8. Seeing all those zips in one spot (without any warning ) is enough to send me into therapy.

    Love that ornament stand. Brilliant idea for displaying your wares on the weekend!

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  9. Clever you Susan with the black belt in origami! Love your display they look all the better and will sell like hot cakes!

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  10. Love the IKEA buys, and hurrah for Jennie and the Zips!

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  11. Cool idea with the stars, and gotta love a good Ikea bargain! I have a pile of those zippers on their way to me too, but I can't wait to get them :oD

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  12. ah - that's what you do with the stiff jelly roll - very clever - and hanging in a row with the others like that will surely engender closer inspection and a sale or two.....gotta love ikea...and a parcel from zippit - excellent - pouches won't take you long once you get into the swing of them.

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  13. Oh, where do you get your zips? I buy mine one at a time in the local sewing shop, where they are rather expensive, and they don't have a huge choice of colour.

    Pomona x

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  14. the ikea fleeces are a genius idea, cheap and can be used for a backing and or wadding. Very clever thinking batwoman :-)
    I should have a parcel like that winging its way over any day now too... scary eh.

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  15. The stars are fab and I NEED a decoration stand. I don't know what for, but I do know I NEED one! Asda is perfect for fleece blankets - they're only £4!!

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