These paper ruffles are a blast to make and have tons of uses from journaling to gift giving to decorating. I can’t wait to see how you use your no-sew paper ruffles. Here is one I made in my junk journal…
I came up with a no sew tutorial, but you can also sew these in a sewing machine if you want for a different spin on this project! I wanted to make sure anyone can complete this project, without a sewing machine on hand. I taught this project in my creative community, The Creative Faith Club. I don’t normally share those projects, here, but thought this was too fun not to! They got the full video tutorial with tips and tricks, if you are looking for a beautiful Christian creative community you can read more here.
1. If you want to paint your papers do that first! Have fun bending the papers to your style and palette.
2. Cut your paper into strips – I made 1 inch wide strips, but you can vary these based on your needs. I used a guillotine cutter so my strips would be the same width. If you are using crepe paper leave as is.
3. I cut the colored strips to half the width of the thicker base piece. Then glue them down the center, using a glue stick.
4.Use scotch tape as your binding material instead of sewing. Stick a piece of tape to your table, sticky side up.
5. Start with your paper strips at the end and weave the paper loops back and forth down the tape, moving to the next piece of paper when on runs out. You can make these as long as you’d like!
6. To make the crepe paper with a fringed center, repeat the steps above with crepe paper.
7. For the center, fold a thin strip of paper in half lengthwise.
8. Next fold it a few times in half so you can cut multiple layers at once. Trim thin slits on the open side without the seam, as close to the seam as you can to create a fringed edge.
9. Use a liquid glue to place the fringed piece down the center of your paper ruffle. Once glue is dry fluff the fringe!
10. You can experiment with paper and color combinations all day long with this quick and easy project!
Supplies
Misc papers – book pages, crepe paper, sewing patterns, etc.
Scissors
Scotch Tape
Glue Stick
Fabri Tac or a liquid type glue
You can also paint your papers with watercolor or mica/ink/dye distress sprays
Save this idea for later:
What did you do with the ruffle afterwards? Put them on wreaths??? What are some ways to decorate with paper ruffles?
I have used them in my junk journals and on note cards mainly! They are a great embellishment for wrapping, cardmaking and paper crafting. You could add them to designs on a garland or wreath for sure!