I stumbled upon this cool tutorial over at Sofie Legarth's blog. It's in Danish, so I endeavored to make an English version because I'm crazy about these super easy, no sew stars!
Cut 4 strips of fabric 3" wide and 10"-12" long (8 x 30 cm)
Fold in half long ways, open up, and fold the raw edges to meet each other. (I found it easy if I ironed the half to give me a line to iron the thirds to.) Press so you have nice crisp folds.
Fold this tube almost in half, leaving one end longer by about 1" Four of these tubes make one star!
Arrange your tubes so each fold is eating a raw end. Omn nom nom!Tighten so they are all snuggled together, but not too tight.
They won't be happy stars if they are so close they wrinkle their neighbor.
Important Note: Make sure your short ends are all on one side, likewise the longer ends should be to their own side. This will make the folding bit go much more smoothly.
Flip (or not) your baby star over to you have all the long ends facing you. Fold these over each other clockwise, slipping the last one over the third and under the first tube. This locks the whole shebang together. Snug things up again so it all looks happy.
You should have eight little raw tube ends from each side of the central square.
Now comes the cool folding bit!
Starting with either the longs or the shorts, fold each tube under itself to form a triangle, fold under again to form a pyramid. Be sure to do all the longs OR all the shorts, but don't alternate. Tugging things snug while you go along helps too.
Fold this in half, and tuck the raw end under the closest loop. ( I like to trim my longies before I tuck during this step, but do what works best for you.) Use your fingers, needle-nose pliers, or the tip of a closed pair of scissors to help poke that wee tube through the loop.
Once you have one side folded, repeat for the other.
Trim back the long ends of the tubes so they hide under their loops, and admire your handiwork!
I sewed a couple of these to pin backs so I could proudly display my handiwork, but you can also punch a hole through your star (Try using a leather punch) and thread a pretty ribbon or string through. Hang them on a tree or attach to a gift.
As you go along, be sure to gently tug on neighbor tubes to keep things snug and happy. I thought about putting a dab of glue on some of the ends (my shorties are quite short) but I want to see if it manages to keep itself together without. Seems cozy enough to me. Alternatively you could also tuck some wee stitches between each star point if glue seems too gauche to you.
Have fun!
EDIT: after wearing mine on my coat for the past few days AND tossing some extras into a bag to stitch later, you should tack the tucked under ends if these are going to get any kind of rough use. Anything more than an ornament hung up once a year should, probably, get a little extra TLC. <3
36 comments:
thank you! I saw the Danish instructions, too. I MIGHT have been able to figure it out from the pics, but I'm so glad you did the hard work for me :) Also, thanks for the tip regarding stitching or glueing the points.
This is fantastic! Thank you for sure clear, easy to follow directions!
I have made two dozen of these. To get the sharp crease, I used starch and steam. It made the fabric crisp and easy to fold. Thanks so much.
Thanks, I just made one. It is cute. It will make a nice Christmas Ornament to share. I am just going to use some Heat-N-Bond to secure the ends.
If you don't like the poofy fabric, use ribbon. I've made these from 1/2 inch grosgrain and they are cute, and lots easier than folding in and pressing all those fabric edges. Starch and a lot of steam make these crisp.
I've made several of these. After you tuck the ends in and trim them, 1f you put a little washable school glue (just the plain washable white Elmer's) on the tucked in end and then press with a dry iron, the ends stay in very nicely.
In Germany we call this stars Fröbelstern.
Thank you for sharing the instructions! I hope to try these for 2017
My Mum made belts using pretty lolly paper when I was a child using this design.The stars are lovely. So good to use up scraps .
Wow. Thank you. This reminds me of the strips we used to make as kids from Juicy Fruit gum wrappers. I would like to give this a try.
I'm ALWAYS looking new ways to use fabric & scraps to make holiday ornaments!!! Thanks for the new one!!
Definitely trim the extra off when making points, and to make pulling it through easier I found a pair of tweezers made like scissors. You can add hangers by threading 1/4 " ribbon behind the folds going own, then back on the back side. Great ornaments..love your directions
I've spent the last two hours making these out of ribbon, fabric, more ribbon, ribbon and fabric. What a blast! Thanks!
Thanks for this tutorial! I plan on appliqueing some on some pillows so the stitching should take care of any heavy use issues. Thanks again!
Thank you for a better explanation. I saw a different description and tried it and just couldn't make it work. Now I know what she missed. They are so cute and a great way to use scraps and make a fun christmas ornament.
Thank you SO much for these concise instructions on making these Beautiful fabric stars!!!!
I made these several years ago using weighty paper strips. The instructions were on line and listed them as "German Stars". Now they adorn my tree every year...just plain white stars...and I really like the depth they add. I somehow folded mine wrong, too, and ended up having an inverted ("outverted"?) convex, pointy center on each star. Probably couldn't do that again, if I tried. Ha.
I remember making belts out of gum wrappers, I still have mine, its over 50 yrs. Old! Ha, ha, ha! Funny.
I also want to mention, your directions are the best!!!! I have them memorized!! Thank you so much for sharing!!!!
I have looked at several tutorials on these stars and yours is the only one I could actually follow. Thank you!
I had a friend show me this only with ribbon.
I love these! Would like to make some to sell at church. Is there a copyright?
Thank you for sharing this. I can't wait to give it a try.
Could use on a key chain. Very pretty. Good fundraiser for guilds
There is a copyright on the instructions, illustrations and photos of this posting BUT there is no copyright or patent associated with making these items and selling/donating/giving them. Make and sell as many of the stars as you wish but if you copy or print the posted instructions, you're infringing on the poster's copyright. These items have been around for a VERY long time in many countries, and under federal law you can make and sell/donate/give as many of these items as you wish and retain all funds received under the sale. This information comes from several copyright attorneys posting on copyright law associated with sale of crafts.
Thx Anna will try it
An easier way to make the fabric ribbon is to use a bias tape maker. They come in different sizes. They fold the fabric for you. You just iron it as it comes out. Much faster
I have made the parchment stars like this for years, with the additional 3-D points....my mother taught me when I was a child....she had end reels of IBM computer tape (ticker tape)....so we had them in office paper colors......my daughter is now a third generation star maker......as an adult I wanted my mom to teach me how to do them....I had forgotten..... she had had a stroke and could not remember (this was in the 70's before being able to google things) I found a book with the directions....photos and words....but in Danish! she finally was able to work it out with the illustrations......oh and for a real challenge? try making them with quilling strips!
Gum wrappers! I won't tell how old I am, but we made gum wrapper chains in high school!
Brilliant. Thx for the translation. I’ll make some Christmas ones.
For years my mom made these out of paper. There is one difference, ours are 3 dimensional. There are 4 points on each of the flat sides.
They are very good made of material, similar to the Froebel Stars, but, those have another twist, that can be seen from the front, I have tried them many years , but I find them difficult, hope to make these ones. !!
I remember making them so these should be easier than I thought thinking of the gum. Thanks
We would make the length of the strip the height of the boy we liked!
Wat een leuke tutorial! Gebaseerd op origami denk ik, maar superleuk!
groeten,
Gonda
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